WASHINGTON, D.C.: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced actor, director, playwright, educator, and arts strategist Reggie D. White as its next artistic director. He is the third artistic leader in Woolly’s 46-year history, following the seven-year tenure of Maria Manuela Goyanes, who stepped down in September 2025, and Howard Shalwitz, the company’s co-founder, who led the theatre for 38 years. White will assume the role in spring 2026. He plans to engage with staff, artists, audiences, and D.C. theatre peers; review programming pipelines and commissioning opportunities; deepen community partnerships and accessibility initiatives; support the theatre’s ongoing antiracism and equity commitments; and collaborate on strategic vision for Woolly’s 50th anniversary. He was previously the senior director of artistic strategy and impact at Arena Stage, where his world premiere of Fremont Ave received an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award (it will next play South Coast Rep). He holds Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre, international stages, and administration credits, including Atlantic Acting School (artistic director), Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (associate artistic director), Vineyard Theatre (resident artist), Matthew López’s The Inheritance on Broadway, and Goddess at the Public Theater.
DALLAS: Dallas Theater Center (DTC) has named a Texas native, director Jaime Castañeda, as the sixth artistic director in the theatre’s more-than-60-year history. He will assume the position in July 2026 and will present his inaugural season at DTC in 2026-27, partnering in leadership with executive director and former artistic director Kevin Moriarty. Castañeda succeeds current interim artistic director and resident playwright Jonathan Norton, who will complete the 2025-26 season that includes Norton’s play Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem. Most recently, Castañeda has directed at American Conservatory Theater, South Coast Rep, Huntington Theatre Company, and La Jolla Playhouse, where he served as associate artistic director in 2014-18. He also worked Off-Broadway as an artistic associate at Atlantic Theater Company in 2009-14. In 2012, Castañeda directed DTC’s production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz. Castañeda began his career more than 20 years ago in Dallas-Fort Worth by founding Firestarter Productions while attending Texas Christian University. In addition to directing at DTC, other local credits include Kitchen Dog Theater, Amphibian Stage, and Circle Theatre. Castañeda is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award and the Drama League Directing Fellowship. He holds a BFA from Texas Christian University and an MFA in Directing from University of Texas at Austin.
LOS ANGELES: After 40 years of leadership, Gary Grossman will step away from his role as producing artistic director at Skylight Theatre Company, in order to devote full-time efforts to commercially producing world premiere projects. Under Grossman’s direction, Skylight became a hub for innovation, diversity, and community engagement in Los Feliz, spearheading critical initiatives such as SkyLab, a professional playwrights’ collective, and development platforms such as INKubator, designed to nurture new storytellers. Commissioned playwrights have included Sigrid Gilmer, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Roger Q. Mason, Amir Abdullah, Penelope Lowder, and Nathan Alan Davis. Grossman worked at the Public Theater, Café La MaMa, and Sheraton Square Playhouse before traveling west in the 70s to join the emerging theatre movement in Los Angeles. He has produced over 300 stage plays, including over 100 world premieres.
His successor will be Cameron Watson, who begins on Jan. 1. Watson is a multiple award-winning theatrical director and filmmaker whose career has crossed over many genres and formats. He is a recipient of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for distinguished achievement in directing. He has worked with Pasadena Playhouse, Antaeus Theatre Company, Rogue Machine Theatre, Road Theatre, Ensemble Theatre Company, Fountain Theatre, New American Theatre, and more. In film and TV, Watson wrote, directed and produced the comedy series Break a Hip and the Miramax feature film Our Very Own, starring Allison Janney.
NASHVILLE: Nashville Repertory Theatre has announced that Jessica Francis Fichter will be its new artistic director, filling the role held by Micah-Shane Brewer. Fichter’s appointment reflects Nashville Rep’s commitment to bold storytelling and deeper community connection, by welcoming new audiences, supporting emerging voices, and producing theatre that reflects and celebrates the people of Middle Tennessee. Fichter is a director, playwright, book author, and teaching artist whose national career spans the Carolinas to New York. She comes from Trustus Theater in Columbia, South Carolina, where she was the executive artistic director and directed Into the Woods, Aida, Dandelion (original musical), Stupid Fucking Bird, and Little Shop of Horrors. She is the founder and artistic director of Evolving Door Theatre Company. She has worked with Food of Love NYC, Flat Rock Playhouse, Ensemble Atria, the Edge Theatre, the Connelly Theater, The Tank, Feinstein’s/54 Below, and more. She holds an MFA in directing from the Actors Studio Drama School, a BA in theatre education from Winthrop University, and an MEd in divergent learning from Columbia College.
PORTLAND: Profile Theatre, Portland’s resident playwright-focused theatre company, has announced that its new managing director is Suzanne Raether, a writer, fundraiser, and nonprofit executive. In a new position for the company, she will work in co-leadership with artistic director Josh Hecht, who’s been with the company since 2016. Raether brings nearly 15 years of experience in stewarding nonprofit organizations towards sustainable futures, having raised over $16 million across 26 organizations since 2011. Originally from Louisiana, they have designed funds and programs for philanthropic institutions and worked with grassroots and large organizations to achieve financial sustainability. She led the New Orleans-based organization The Roots of Music as executive director, and expanded music education programming across the city. At the Greater New Orleans Foundation, they raised over $2 million annually to support grantmaking programs, and designed and capitalized the South’s first LGBTQ-focused fund at a community foundation. Raether led fundraising efforts for Junebug Productions, the organizational successor of the Free Southern Theater.
BOSTON: As HowlRound Theatre Commons transitions to a new era of fiscal sponsorship with the NYC-based Producer Hub, it has announced leadership changes: co-founder and director Jamie Gahlon will step into an advisory role, and current HowlRound staff members Ramona Rose King and Julia Schachnik will become HowlRound’s new co-directors. They will continue to work alongside team members Vijay Mathew, Ashley Malafronte, Munroe Shearer, Thea Rodgers, and Yaşam Gülseven. Schnacknik said that the organization will continue “to curate progressive and disruptive content, to model commoning, and to provide the free and open access that has defined our work, while also creating new content streams and pathways for connection, co-learning, and collaborative resourcing.”
