HILLSBORO, ORE.: Bag&Baggage Productions (B&B) has named Nik Whitcomb their new artistic director. Whitcomb, the program director of the Black Theatre Coalition, succeeds Cassie Greer, who was appointed artistic director in 2019.

“I have been a longtime fan of Bag&Baggage’s work from afar,” Whitcomb said in a statement. “When the opportunity to join the team arose, what excited me was the type of work we would have the ability to create. B&B is rooted in a long legacy of classic storytelling, and I am excited to put my spin on this tradition.”

A native of Omaha, Neb., Whitcomb is a core ensemble member with the Performing Arts Collective at the Union for Contemporary Art in his hometown and is also a member of the advisory committee for the Union’s Shirley Tyree Theater. Whitcomb has held various roles at the Guthrie Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Goodman Theatre, among others. He has directed works for the Theatre School at DePaul University and Collaboraction Theatre Company, among others, and is a resident director at the Twenty-Sided Tavern. This magazine also profiled Whitcomb as a Theatre Worker You Should Know in 2020.

“I have had the chance to get to know Nik, and he really is the perfect fit for B&B,” Scott Palmer, B&B’s founder, said in a statement. “He and I share a belief that folks who live in the ‘burbs and in rural areas deserve access to life-changing theatre just as much as people who live in the big city. He is an artist who wants to call Hillsboro home.”

B&B will host a meet and greet event with Whitcomb on Dec. 16 following their performance of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea.

Bag&Baggage Production’s mission is to unpack the stories we carry with us and to use them as the groundwork to create transformative theatrical experiences that explore our shared humanity. They strive to weave creative expression into the fabric of civic life in Hillsboro through conscious relationship-building. As of 2021, Bag&Baggage’s budget was approximately $368,700.