Meet Reginald l. douglas
mosaic’s artistic director

Reginald L. Douglas is a DC-based director, producer, and new play advocate dedicated to creating theater that connects audiences of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Throughout his career and in this new position, he will create and produce theater that serves as a catalyst to conversation, social change, and community building. He comes to Mosaic after serving as the Associate Artistic Director at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and previously as Artistic Producer at City Theatre in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Douglas’ appointment ushers in Mosaic’s next chapter that builds on its strong history of telling stories that speak to the vital, pressing issues of our time and foster space for meaningful dialogue and cross-cultural connections. He joins the team as Mosaic welcomes back audiences in person for the first time after successfully overcoming the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

OUR ORIGIN

In December 2014, Mosaic Theater Company of DC was co-founded by playwright Ari Roth and Dan Logan of the Revada Foundation. Roth had recently transitioned from the role of Artistic Director at Theater J, and was soon joined by two other DC theatre community leaders: producer Serge Seiden, formerly of The Studio Theatre, and director Jennifer L. Nelson, from the African Continuum Theatre Company.

With an outpouring of support from a diverse roster of newly-coalesced Board members and donors, the team began building a mission-driven theater focused on intercultural narratives, social justice issues and civic discourse. 

In 2016 Mosaic became a resident partner at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, an H Street northeast DC landmark situated on an important corridor that connects East of the River neighborhoods and Maryland counties to downtown. The Company received the John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company from the Helen Hayes Awards in 2017. By 2019 Mosaic doubled its budget and tripled its staff. 

From its earliest days, Mosaic has championed the development of new work, serving as an incubator for stories often unseen on US stages. In its first eight seasons, Mosaic has produced over ten world premiere plays (with three in the works for the 2023-2024 season) from artists including Ifa Bayeza, Benjamin Benne, Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Mona Pirnot, and Psalmayene 24, joined by four US premieres that brought truly intercultural voices from international artists to the Washington DC community.

During the 2020 pandemic the Company pivoted to virtual operation and Ari Roth left Mosaic to pursue playwriting and other producing opportunities. The Theater inaugurated a playwriting contest for public and charter high school students in DC and Prince George’s County; partnered with the DC Public Library system to teach playwriting classes; orchestrated online apprentice- and internships for emerging theater professionals; and hosted provocative, virtual public conversations on topics related to Mosaic’s art and its mission. 

Mosaic continues to foster new work through the development of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence Psalmayene 24's Dear Mapel; Resist, a collaboration between playwright Alma Davenport and long-time Mosaic collaborators Roz White and Sandra Holloway; and That Summer in Sumner, the second installation of Ifa Bayeza's epic The Till Trilogy, supported by The Roy Cockrum Foundation.

THE MOSAIC TEAM