Artistic Director Reggie D. White launches his inaugural season at Woolly by directing the first production of his tenure: Steve Yockey’s Venus, a darkly comic and cosmic exploration of love, obsession, and fear.
Starting on September 9, Venus marks White’s first production at Woolly Mammoth as Artistic Director and director, offering audiences an introduction to the artistic vision that will shape this next era of the theatre. The production features Woolly Company Member Kimberly Gilbert as Beth and Regina Aquino as Nicole.
In Venus, Yockey explores the unpredictable territory between desire, identity, and the stories we create about ourselves and others. Nicole likes things orderly, while Beth is all instinct. What begins as an intoxicating connection between two women with very different approaches to life takes an unexpected turn as romance descends into obsession, forcing both characters to confront the fears, patterns, and histories that shape them.
For White, Venus reflects his commitment to bringing audiences new work that is both fearless and radically welcoming, work that pushes the boundaries of form, perspective, and imagination.
“Steve Yockey has a singular ability to imagine ordinary people in bizarre, extraordinary circumstances and, as a result, his writing feels eerily familiar, hilariously whimsical, and a little bit like a cautionary tale,” says White. “Venus is undoubtedly about love, but it’s also about fear and blame. I love that underneath the play’s razor-sharp wit, Steve is asking us to examine our own relationship to those three ideas as we watch Beth and Nicole try to make sense of what drove them apart.”
The production also celebrates Woolly’s deep investment in its artistic community through the return of Gilbert, a longtime Woolly Company Member whose work has helped shape the theater’s history. Alongside Aquino, Gilbert brings Yockey’s complicated and compelling characters to life in a story that examines connection, vulnerability, and the ways people transform one another.
Venus launches the 2026/27 season and begins a new chapter for Woolly Mammoth — one centered on audacious storytelling, unique new artistic voices, and radically inclusive plays that explore the complexities of being human.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Reggie D. White (Director) became Woolly Mammoth’s Artistic Director in 2026 after a two-decade career as an award-winning multi-hyphenate artist, educator, and producer. He has directed and work at The Public, Atlantic Theater Company, Vineyard Theatre, Arena Stage, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Indiana Rep, and more. An actor, his credits include The Inheritance (Broadway), as well as off-Broadway and regional credits at New York Theatre Workshop, The Public, Berkeley Rep, and La Jolla Playhouse. In 2025, his Helen Hayes Award-winning play Fremont Ave. premiered at Arena Stage and South Coast Rep.
Steve Yockey (Playwright) is a Los Angeles-based writer with deep roots in Atlanta. His plays Pluto, Mercury, Wolves, Octopus, Blackberry Winter, The Thrush & The Woodpecker, Reykjavík, Afterlife, Bellwether, Large Animal Games, Cartoon, Very Still & Hard to See, The Fisherman’s Wife, Disassembly, Niagara Falls, To Tokyo & the Moon, Sleeping Giant, Subculture, and Curiosities are published and licensed by Concord Theatricals. He holds an MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Steve was a Co-Executive Producer on the long-running series Supernatural and is the Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated creator/showrunner of HBO Max’s darkly comedic thriller The Flight Attendant. He is also the creator/showrunner of Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives, adapted from the cult Vertigo/DC comic.
Venus runs from September 9 – October 4, 2026, at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 641 D St NW, Washington, DC, with performances at the following times: Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 2 PM and 8 PM (except Sat, Sept 12 – 2 PM perf only), Sundays at 2 PM. Schedule Exceptions: Only one performance, at 2 PM, on Saturday, September 12. The first preview on Wednesday, September 9 at 7:30 PM is by invite only.
Single tickets start at $30. Tickets are available at woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, and via email at tickets@woollymammoth.net.
Woolly Mammoth also offers Pick Your Price tickets, where patrons pick the price they want to pay, starting at $15 for previews and $20 for regular run. Twenty (20) Pay-What-You-Will tickets are also available to every single performance online or in-person — ten (10) tickets are available in advance, ten (10) tickets are available on the day of the show.
Patrons who are 30 years old and younger may purchase $25 for any performance. There are also discounts available for educators and active US military personnel, spouses, and veterans. More information is available at woollymammoth.net.
ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES
Woolly Mammoth is committed to making its performances accessible to all audiences. Open Captioned, ASL Interpreted, and Audio Described performances are available for select performances throughout the run of Venus.
Open Captioned: Thursday, October 1 at 8 PM
ASL Interpreted: Saturday, October 3 at 8 PM
Audio Described: Sunday, September 27 at 2 PM
Mask Required Performance: Thursday, September 24 at 7:30 PM
Assistive Listening Devices are available for all performances. Transmitters and accompanying headsets or ear speakers are available at the Box Office.
ABOUT WOOLLY MAMMOTH THEATRE COMPANY
The Tony Award-winning Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company creates badass theater that highlights the stunning, challenging, and tremendous complexity of our world. For over 40 years, Woolly has maintained a high standard of artistic rigor while simultaneously daring to take risks, innovate, and push beyond perceived boundaries. One of the few remaining theaters in the country to maintain a company of artists, Woolly serves an essential research and development role within the American theater. Plays premiered at Woolly have gone on to productions at hundreds of theaters all over the world and have had lasting impacts on the field.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is led by Artistic Director Reggie D. White and Managing Director Kimberly E. Douglas. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is located in Washington, DC, equidistant from the Capitol and the White House. This unique location influences Woolly’s investment in actively working towards an equitable, participatory, and creative democracy. Woolly Mammoth stands upon occupied, unceded territory: the ancestral homeland of the Nacotchtank whose descendants belong to the Piscataway peoples. Furthermore, the foundation of this city, and most of the original buildings in Washington, DC, were funded by the sale of enslaved people of African descent and built by their hands.
