Interview: Theatre Life with Reggie D. White

Today’s subject Reggie D. White is currently living his theatre life two fold. He is the Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, only the third in the company’s 48 year history. He assumed the position in January of this year. That position is a full time job all by itself, but Reggie is also the director for the company’s current production of Venus. The show is the inaugural production for White’s first season as Artistic Director and plays through Oct 4th.

Reggie is an award-winning actor, director, playwright, educator, and arts strategist. His artistic accomplishments have been seen on both sides of the footlights for almost twenty years.

Performing credits include The Inheritance on Broadway, Goddess at The Public Theater, Bayard Rustin: Inside Ashland at People’s Light, I and You at both 59E59 and Merrimack Rep, Hundred Days at both New York Theatre Workshop and La Jolla Playhouse, The Luckiest at La Jolla Playhouse, The Last Tiger in Haiti at Berkeley Rep and La Jolla Playhouse, and Macbeth In Stride at American Repertory Theater.

He has also directed productions for The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Vineyard Theatre, Arena Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Indiana Rep, and The Feast. 

As a playwright you might remember his Fremont Ave. from Arena Stage’s last season.

No stranger to the management side of thongs, Reggie previously served as Artistic Director of the Atlantic Acting School (2018–2022), Associate Artistic Director of The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (2022-2024), Senior Director of Artistic Strategy & Impact at Arena Stage (2023-2026), and is a Vineyard Theatre resident artist, a founding member of the multi-generational theater collective The Commissary, and a founding company member with The Feast, a living-wage theater company. 

If you have been going to Woolly Mammoth for any length of time, you know how edgy and thought provoking much of their stuff is. Venus is no exception. With two killer performances by Kimberly Gilbert and Regina Aquino, Reggie D. White’s inaugural production keeps the tradition of what Howard Shalwitz started 48 years ago going strong.

Reggie D. White is truly living his theatre life to the fullest and is most definitely a welcome addition to the DMV theatre community.

How did you first get interested in working in the theatre?

I loved acting and had always dreamed of performing on Broadway, but never really thought it was a sustainable career path until I discovered educational theatre (shout out to the Berkeley Playhouse, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and all of the TYA contracts that kept me fed and insured for years). I got to spend my days inspiring the next generation of theatregoers, and it also developed my skills as an educator which really came to serve me later in my career.

Where did you receive your training?

I studied at Cal State Hayward and at the Atlantic Acting School

What was your first professional job in the theatre?

My first paid gig was in a production of Zora Neale Hurston’s Spunk in 2007 at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre in San Francisco.

Can you please talk about how you made the production choices for your inaugural season as Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company?

Woolly has built a legacy for itself as a legendary launching pad for incredible new plays and new playwrights. So much of my career as an actor, director, and playwright has been informed by the work I’ve done on new plays, so what better way to introduce my curatorial voice to the community than to program a season composed exclusively of world premiere plays by writers whose work has never been seen at Woolly.

You are not only the Artistic Director but also the Director for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s first production Venus. Was this a conscious choice?

It wasn’t a choice I set out to make (I had actually hoped to direct the last slot in the season, so I could catch my breath for a second), but when all of the pieces were coming together and schedules were clicking into alignment, it turned out that way. Season planning is such a marathon or relentless iteration, and I’m actually really happy that it turned out the way that it did.

What was it about Venus that convinced you it would be perfect as the opener to the season?

Steve’s writing really draws you in. It leads with an unmistakable wit and precision, but under the surface are deep questions that seek to interrogate the darkest corners of our psyche. Our collective consciousness has grown so incurious about why we are the way that we are, and I thought a play that forced us to laugh at ourselves in service of ultimately forcing us to look at ourselves was an excellent way to begin the season.

Woolly Mammoth has a long history that started with Founding Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. How do you as Artistic Director balance honoring the company’s artistic history while moving it forward?

Howard and Maria Manuela Goyanes have both left extraordinarily large footprints for me to fill. I’d long admired the work Woolly had done, so when I was asked to become its 3rd Artistic Director, the gravity of that legacy wasn’t lost on me. Not only am I inheriting a rich theatrical history and an incredible building, but I’m also inheriting a brilliant, multi-disciplinary Company of Artists. When I announced my first season, I committed that every project would feature at least one Company Member and on the opening night of Venus, I inducted four new company members (Gisela Estrada, Mina Morita, Nikkole Salter, and Steve Yockey). I plan to continue growing the company and deepening our relationship with DC theatre-makers of all disciplines. I also want to strengthen our new play development muscles. I’d love to see more plays commissioned and developed here in the legacy of Aaron Posner’s Stupid F***ing Bird, Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy, and Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone.

Where would you like to see the company in 5 years?

Continuing to lead with boldness, continuing to platform local artists, continuing to deepen connections among cultural, civic, arts partners, across the district as we work to make Woolly’s DC’s nexus of culture.

Special thanks to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications Suemedha Sood for her assistance in coordinating this interview.