Read our Q&A below to learn more about White, what brought him to DC, what he loves about the city and his plans for Woolly.
DC is excited to welcome Reggie D. White to Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company as the successor to Maria Goyanes. White is just the third artistic director in Woolly Mammoth’s 46-year history and brings nearly 20 years of theater experience with him. In addition to his work as an actor on and off-Broadway, White is also a writer, director, musician and educator. He has received numerous accolades and awards (including the prestigious Colman Domingo Award) and brings a deep passion to the development of transformative theater curricula for youth.
Q: What drew you to Woolly Mammoth and DC in particular?
A: Woolly has spent the last 46 years at the forefront of DC's rich, robust, thriving theater community pushing the boundaries for imaginative, bold and unmissable theater. DC offers audiences a taste of everything there is to love about theater – the familiar and the brand new – created with immaculate quality and a deeply connected and supportive community of artists. What more could you ask for?
Q: What’s one of your favorite things about the wider theater scene as it exists in the District?
A: I love that so many theaters are within walking distance to public transit. The idea of riding home on the Metro from a play at Woolly on the same train as someone leaving a musical at Arena Stage, an exhibit at the The Phillips Collection or a Nationals game is such a magical part of living in DC’s bursting arts and culture scene.
Q: What are some creative spaces you love in DC? Where do you go when you need to get the creative juices flowing?
A: In addition to my work at Woolly, I’m also still doing a lot of my own writing and the co-working space at Eaton Workshop is so cool and so vibe-y. Even the most aggressive writer’s block has no chance. Also, it’s a little chilly, but in warmer months, I love sitting around in Franklin Park downtown.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Q: For someone who has never been to a show at Woolly, or maybe in DC at all: what do they stand to gain from seeing live theater, here in particular?
A: Nothing beats seeing a piece of live theater. There’s no substitute for that kind of immediacy and the fact that you get to experience something for the first time in a room full of people that will never be seen again in the same way. Hearing a room full of 265 people explode into laughter at a perfectly delivered joke or gasp at a scene change or a surprise reveal tucked ever so delicately into a monologue is an intoxicating experience.
Woolly’s programming explores big questions with a singular brand of theatrical imagination that is guaranteed to stay with you for weeks and turn first-time theatergoers into theater-lovers.
Q: What’s your dream production to stage in your new role at Woolly?
A: It hasn’t been written yet. 😉 I love new plays, so I can’t wait to see what fresh work comes across my desk.
Q: What was your first DC theater experience?
A: Seeing Bootycandy at Woolly. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life!
Love, Makoto / Dear Sushi © ShotbyEM
Q: Let’s say you invited a friend to see your next show and they had a free day to explore. What three non-theater experiences would you recommend in DC?
A: I definitely had to resist the urge to put down three restaurants, but: omakase sushi at Love, Makoto, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and DC’s only major professional tennis competition, the Mubadala Citi DC Open.
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