Fremont Ave.

REGGIE D. WHITE

Playwright

Reggie D. White (Playwright), currently serving as Arena Stage's Senior Director of Artistic Strategy and Impact, is an award-winning artist and educator whose international career spans almost two decades. His acting credits include Matthew López's Tony-winning epic The Inheritance, Goddess (Public Theater), Bayard Rustin: Inside Ashland (People’s Light), I and You (59E59), Hundred Days (New York Theatre Workshop), The Luckiest (La Jolla Playhouse), and Macbeth In Stride (American Repertory Theater). His directing credits include Atlantic Theater Company, The Public, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and Indiana Repertory Theatre. Reggie co-conceived Lessons in Survival: 1971, based on the iconic conversation between Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin, at Vineyard Theatre (NYT Critic's Pick). He also co-conceived and appeared in the digital anthology series of the same title (NYT Best of 2020). His play In Case You Haven’t Heard premiered at Bay Street Theater, and his play Fremont Ave. will have its world premiere at Arena Stage and South Coast Rep. Reggie 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. Reggie is a recipient of the Colman Domingo Award, the TCG Fox Fellowship, the TBA Titan Award, and the RHE Artistic Fellowship, and an NAACP Theatre Award nominee. www.reggiedwhite.com

LILI-ANNE BROWN

Director

Lili-Anne Brown (Director), a Chicago South Side native, works as a director, actor and educator, and has performed in, directed, and produced many award-winning shows in Chicago and nationally. Recent directing credits include Play On! (Signature Theatre); Fela! (Olney Theatre); Ain’t No Mo’ (Woolly Mammoth/Baltimore CenterStage); Acoustic Rooster... (Kennedy Center, National Tour); The Color Purple, The Nacirema Society…, School Girls, and the world premieres of Ike Holter’s I Hate It Here and Lottery Day (Goodman Theatre); Two Trains Running (The Acting Company, National Tour); Dreamgirls (McCarter Theatre/Goodspeed Musicals); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre); Waitress, Rent, The Color Purple (The Muny); Once on This Island (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); and Put Your House in Order (La Jolla Playhouse). She is the former Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, where she focused programming on Chicago-premiere musicals and new play development with resident playwrights. She has received two Helen Hayes Awards, five Jeff Awards, two BTA Awards, and one African American Arts Alliance Award. She is an inaugural recipient of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Award and a 2021 recipient of the 3Arts Award for Theatre. She is a member of SDC, AEA, SAG-AFTRA, and a graduate of Northwestern University. www.lilbrownchicago.com

TIM MACKABEE

Set Designer

Tim Mackabee (Set Designer) Arena Stage: The Age of Innocence. Broadway: The Elephant Man (starring Bradley Cooper), Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth (dir. Spike Lee). West End: The Elephant Man. Off-Broadway: MCC: Seared (OCC Award); Atlantic: Guards at the Taj (Lortel Award), Describe the Night, The Penitent, Our New Girl; Roundabout: Darling Grenadine, The Last Match; MTC: Poor Yella Rednecks, Vietgone, Important Hats of the Twentieth Century; LCT: Luce; Vineyard: Gigantic, Heathers The Musical. Music Video: Carly Ray Jepsen’s “Surrender My Heart.” TV: Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo (HBO), Gotham, Smash, The Today Show, Football Night in America. Education: North Carolina School of the Arts, Yale School of Drama. timothymackabeedesign.com @timmackabeedesign

JOS N. BANKS

Costume Designer

Jos N. Banks (Costume Designer), a true Renaissance man, is a multi-award-winning visual/performing arts artist, costume designer, teaching artist, and LGBTQ+ trailblazer. Tours/ International: Lola in Kinky Boots, Hud in Hair, Harpo in The Color Purple. Select Regional: Steppenwolf, Goodman, Yale, Arena Stage, The Muny, McCarter, Goodspeed, Drury Lane, Paramount Theatre, The Second City, Orlando Shakes, About Face Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre, Writers Theatre, Congo Square, Definition Theatre, and many more. Film: Ocean in Showtime’s The Chi, Dr. Greg Martinson in Showtime’s Work in Progress, and Rise Against’s “Make It Stop” (lead). He is a four-time nominee for “Best Costume Designer” at the Black Theater Alliance Awards. Jos also serves as an Artistic Associate with About Face Theatre in Chicago and was afforded the company’s first-ever costume designer residency. Rep: The Mine Agency. www.fearlessjos.com Instagram: @josnbanks

KATHY A. PERKINS

Lighting Designer

Kathy A. Perkins (Lighting Designer) has designed for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theaters, including American Conservatory Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory, Seattle Repertory, St. Louis Black Repertory, Goodman, Steppenwolf, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper, Yale Repertory, Two River Theater, and PlayMakers Repertory.  Internationally, she has designed in South Africa, Switzerland, Cuba, and Canada. In 1995, Kathy co-curated the exhibition ONSTAGE: A Century of African American Stage Design at Lincoln Center in New York. She is the editor of seven anthologies focusing on women of the African Diaspora. Kathy is the recipient of numerous research and design awards, including Ford Foundation, Fulbright, NEA, the Henry Hewes, NAACP Image Award, and the USITT Distinguished Achievement Award for both Education and Lighting Design. Kathy is a graduate of Howard University and the University of Michigan.

ANDRÉ PLUESS

Original Music and Sound Design

André Pluess (Original Music and Sound Design)’s Arena Stage credits include Ride the Cyclone, Right to Be Forgotten, Indecent, Smart People, Metamorphoses, Equivocation, The Arabian Nights, Legacy of Light, 33 Variations, and Passion Play. Broadway credits include Good Night, Oscar, The Minutes, 33 Variations, I Am My Own Wife, and Metamorphoses. Off-Broadway credits include The Clean House at Lincoln Center, and Milk Like Sugar and BFE at Playwrights Horizons. Regional credits include multiple productions with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Center Theatre Group, Yale Repertory, McCarter Theatre, Steppenwolf, Chicago Shakespeare, Court Theatre, Berkeley Repertory, Williamstown Theatre Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, and South Coast Repertory. He’s received multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards, an Ovation Award, Drama Critics Circle Award, Barrymore Award, Helen Hayes Award, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel nominations for composition and design. André is an ensemble member of Lookingglass Theatre Company.

LaSHAWN MELTON

Wig and Hair Designer

LaShawn Melton (Wig and Hair Designer) is a native Washingtonian hair and wig designer. DC Area: Folger Theatre: Julius X (wig design), The Winter’s Tale (wig design); Woolly Mammoth Theatre: The Great Privation (wig design), The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes (wig design); Signature Theatre: Play On! (wig design); Olney Theatre Center: Senior Class (wig design), Comedy of Tenors (wig design); Studio Theatre: Paradise Blue (wig design); Arena Stage: Death on the Nile (hair and wig design), The Other Americans (hair design), Tempestuous Elements (wig design), Snow Child (hair and makeup design); GALA Theatre: On Your Feet! (wig design); The Kennedy Center: The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 (wig design); Round House Theatre: School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (wig design). Regional: Utah Shakespeare Festival: A Raisin in the Sun, Emma The Musical, The Play that Goes Wrong (wig design). Film/TV: Lioness (hairstylist), White House Plumbers (hairstylist), Rustin (hairstylist), Fellow Travelers (hairstylist). Education: BA in Art, The University of the District of Columbia.

GREG GEFFRARD

Assistant Director and Intimacy Consultant

Greg Geffrard he/him (Assistant Director and Intimacy Consultant) Regional: Revolution(s), The Color Purple, The Nacirema Society (Goodman); Sanctuary City, Choir Boy (Steppenwolf Theatre); Hot Wing King, The Band’s Visit (Writers Theatre); Strange Loop, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Huntington Theatre); Beneath The Willow Tree (Pulse Theatre); Tambo & Bones (Refracted Theatre); The Factotum (Chicago Lyric Opera); Comedy of Errors (Chicago Shakespeare); Once on This Island (The Drama Group); Fen (Court Theatre); A Third Way (Actor’s Express); Fairview (Theatre Cedar Rapids). DC Area: The Color Purple (Signature Theatre); White Noise (Studio Theatre). Upcoming: Christmas Carol (Stage Door Theatre); Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Goodman). Other: Guiding Faculty with Theatrical Intimacy Education.

MURNANE CASTING

Casting

Murnane Casting (Casting) casts for Broadway, tours, and regional theater. Current and recent projects include tours of TINA, Dear Evan Hansen, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Sound of Music, Grinch, and Kinky Boots. Developmental work includes Anne of Green Gables, The Boy Who Loved Batman, and Fremont Ave. We regularly collaborate with major theaters nationwide, including Arena Stage, Asolo Rep, Bay Street, Denver Center, Goodspeed, and The Hollywood Bowl. Learn more at murnanecasting.com.

RAIYON HUNTER

DC Casting

Raiyon Hunter (DC Casting) is a casting director, producer, and arts administrator from New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently works as the Casting Director/Line Producer of Arena Stage. Previously, she worked as the Casting Director of Children’s Theatre Company and the Spelman Leadership Fellow at the Alliance Theatre where she has contributed to a multitude of shows in varying capacities ranging from casting associate to director on productions such as Do You Love the Dark?, Darlin’ Cory, Bina’s Six Apples, Good Bad People, Confederates, and more. Additionally, she has been in residency at Oregon Shakespeare Festival under Nataki Garrett and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis under Hana S. Sharif.

JAMIE BERRY

Stage Manager

Jamie Berry she/her (Stage Manager) is thrilled to be back at Arena and honored to be part of the team for this beautiful production! She prides herself on ensuring spaces are safe, equitable, and joy-filled for casts and crew. Her most recent/selected work includes Play On! (ASM, Signature Theatre), We Are Gathered (ASM, Arena Stage), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (ASM, Arena Stage), the First National Tour of Back to the Future (Sub SM), Dreamgirls (PSM, McCarter Theatre 2024 and Goodspeed Opera House 2023), and the five-time 2024 Helen Hayes Award recipient, Fela! (PSM, Olney Theatre Center/Round House Theatre). Instagram: @jamiedreamsbig

LAUREN PEKEL

Assistant Stage Manager

Lauren Pekel (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be part of the stage management team for the world premiere of Fremont Ave. Some of her favorite DC credits include Data (world premiere) at Arena Stage; Job, Private Jones (world premiere), and Selling Kabul with Signature Theatre; Paradise Blue, Fat Ham, Fun Home, Good Bones (world premiere), and People, Places & Things with Studio Theatre; and Teenage Dick and The Second City’s She the People: The Resistance Continues! with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Her DC credits also include productions with Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Theater J, and Theater Alliance. Lauren is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Theatre Program, with a BFA in Stage Management, and is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association.

SOUTH COAST REPERTORY

Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964, is led by Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel. SCR is widely recognized as one of the leading professional theaters in the United States. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern plays and musicals, SCR is renowned for its extensive new-play development program—The Lab@SCR— which includes one of the nation’s largest commissioning programs for emerging, midcareer, and established writers. Of SCR’s more than 550 productions, one-quarter have been world premieres. SCR-developed works have garnered two Pulitzer Prizes and eight Pulitzer nominations, several Obie Awards, and scores of major new-play awards. Located in Costa Mesa, CA, SCR is home to the 507seat Segerstrom Stage, the 336-seat Julianne Argyros Stage, and the 94-seat Nicholas Studio. www.scr.org