Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's new artistic director, Reggie D. White, is pledging to put D.C. talent on stage in every production he oversees.

White, only the third person to lead the company in its history, told WAMU on Wednesday, Sept. 16, that every show he produces will feature at least one member of Woolly's resident company of artists. He said the theater will prioritize hiring local actors and designers across the board.

"Theaters belong to the community and they should show the artists that actually live in that community," White said.

The commitment comes as White launches a 2026-27 season built entirely around premieres. Five new plays will debut at the Penn Quarter theater, starting with Venus, a dark comedy by Steve Yockey, creator of HBO's The Flight Attendant and Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives. White directs Venus himself. The production runs through Oct. 4 and stars D.C. actors Kimberly Gilbert and Regina Aquino as two women whose first date goes terribly wrong, according to the Washington Blade. The remaining playwrights are Max Posner, Kate Cortesi, Matt Schatz and a.k. payne, according to Washington City Paper.

White succeeds Maria Manuela Goyanes and co-founder Howard Shalwitz. He told Washington City Paper that planning and fundraising for a full season while settling into the role turned 12-hour days into 17-hour ones.

He told WAMU that D.C.'s theater ecosystem holds extraordinary talent, but that over the past 10 to 15 years, an influx of commercially driven big musicals traveling to or from New York has crowded out local artists. White said that trend left a platform missing for the artists who live and work in D.C.

White's path to Woolly started in a college classroom. A pre-law student at the time, he wrote a research paper on the company while studying the post-war counterculture movement. He met Yockey years later at Impact Theater, a basement venue in Berkeley, California.

White's local-first approach arrives as D.C. performing arts face a shake-up. The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees voted Sept. 16 to immediately close the main building for a two-year renovation, shuttering the Concert Hall, Opera House and Eisenhower Theater, Time reported. White told WAMU that roughly 90 theater companies operate across the D.C. region, reaching more than two million audience members a year. A Theatre Washington report released in November 2025 found those companies pay nearly $70 million annually to artists and staff.

White said he wants Woolly to become a nexus of culture in D.C. and to showcase the best of what the city has to offer the world.

Upcoming

Theatre Week, organized by Theatre Washington, runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 11, with discounted tickets at $25, $45 and $65 for more than 25 productions and free community events.