Interview: Theatre Life with Ethan Heard

Today’s subject Ethan Heard is currently living his theatre life as the Associate Artistic Director of Signature Theatre. You can currently see his directing brilliance in the ARK with What Became of Us which plays through July 26th. The show is unique as it is a two character play with two different casts performing on alternating days. Read on for Ethan’s experience of rehearsing a show with that kind of cast set up.

Since coming to Signature Theatre, Ethan has helmed the company’s productions of Pacific Overtures, Soft Power, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Bridges of Madison County and Which Way to the Stage.

Other area credits include La Susanna at The Kennedy Center.

Regionally Ethan has directed productions for Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Philadelphia, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Berkshire Theatre Festival and more.

His Sunday in the Park With George at Glimmerglass garnered him an International Opera Award for Best Musical.

What Became of Us is one of those plays that if put in the wrong hands can be maudlin and sentimental. Ethan’s direction finds just the right balance of humor and pathos, so the audience doesn’t feel as if the show has any forced emotion.

I highly urge you to get on over to Signature Theatre and witness What Became of Us. It might be one of those shows that going in you think might not be for you but by it’s end Ethan Heard’s direction, and the performances will absolutely win you over.

Ethan Heard is truly living his theatre life to the fullest and DMV theatregoers are very lucky for that to be sure.

At what point did it become apparent that working in theatre was going to be your chosen profession?

I was one of those kids who, at age two, was dancing around the living room to The Nutcracker. I was a strong boy soprano, and my parents encouraged me to audition for shows – at school and professionally. By the time I graduated from high school in Washington, DC, I had probably done 30 shows. In college, I majored in Theater Studies and began directing. I had always been an A student, but I remember getting a B on a paper, probably because of how busy I was with extracurricular shows, and deciding that I didn’t care: I wanted to be a professional theater-maker, and grades were less important than accumulating experience. After graduating, I moved to NYC, freelanced for three years, and then applied to Drama School for directing.

Where did you receive your training?

I got my BA in Theater Studies and MFA in Directing at Yale. I also want to shout out places that I trained as a younger person: Washington Ballet, Levine School of Music, Interlochen Arts Camp, Camp Pemigewassett…

What was your first professional job working in the theatre?

I was paid $300 to play Charles Wallace in an operatic adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time in Northern Virginia. I loved it! I went back the next year to play Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth. It was my first time collaborating with adults in a professional setting.

My first serious professional directing jobs after Drama School were at Berkshire Theatre Festival (thank you for the amazing opportunities and trust, Kate Maguire!). I directed John Willard’s murder mystery The Cat and The Canary (featuring Sophie von Haselberg and Willa Fitzgerald, both students at the time) and Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music (you could hear a pin drop while Kate Baldwin and Phillipa Soo performed “Everyday A Little Death”).

How did you come to be Associate Artistic Director at Signature Theatre?

Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner reached out and asked if I was interested in applying. He knew of me and my work through mutual friends. (Turns out we were members of the Washington National Opera’s Children Chorus together years before!) I was beyond flattered, and it felt like so many stars aligning. I had been running Heartbeat Opera in NYC for 8 years and commuting to teach at Yale for 6; I was overextended and tired after the pandemic; I was excited about focusing on one full-time job; I wanted to try a bigger theater organization and continuing to learn new things; I wanted to direct more musical theater; my husband and I were excited by the prospect of moving to DC (where I grew up and my parents still live) and starting a family; and I had always admired Signature – I had seen my first Sondheim productions there as a teenager. I interviewed for the job, got it, and started work in March of 2022.

What was it about What Became of Us that attracted you to directing it?

I loved the script – the story of a sister and brother, across two whole lifetimes, and the unique, poetic language. I loved how it’s about immigration and assimilation. It reminded me of my mom and her parents, who immigrated here from China in 1947. I could envision the show thriving in our intimate ARK theater, in the round, with the audience gathered around the family’s living room table.

The playwright suggests the show is to be performed by alternating casts. Is this more of a requirement? Can you please talk about how the rehearsal schedule was laid out so equal time could be given to both sets of performers?

Shayan actually doesn’t require this. He just suggests that producers consider it as an exciting option. We definitely loved the idea. It draws attention to the genius of the script – how it is full of specific details and at the same time tells the story of any family coming from the Global South to the Global North.

We have an East Asian cast and a Latine cast. We did table work all together. We actually started staging the show together but then realized it would be more comfortable for the actors to work separately. That gave one cast time to review lines while the other cast worked with me on staging/acting. In tech, we spent 80 minutes with one cast, took a 10 minute break, and then switched over to the other cast etc. Our lighting and sound designers had slightly different show files for each cast, although 90% of the staging and designs were the same. 

What do you enjoy the most about being a part of the DC theatre community?

I love that DC is such a vibrant, diverse, international, sophisticated, educated place. There are so many terrific theaters working at a high level. But the community is more intimate than in NYC. We really get to know each other. And we get to collaborate with each other multiple times on different kinds of projects.  

What does the rest of 2026 and into 2027 hold in store for you workwise?

Next up, I’m directing The Secret Garden at Signature, with performances Dec 8, 2026 – February 21, 2027. Next spring, I direct Kimberly Akimbo at Olney Theatre Center in MD, March 18 – April 25, 2027.

Special thanks to Signature Theatre's Publicist and Marketing Manager Zachary Flick for his assistance in coordinating this interview.

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