Don Reed

NPR Award-Winning Storyteller Don Reed was a 2018 nominee for the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Outstanding Solo Production, as well as the 2016 TBA winner and the 2017 TBA nominee for the same award. The playwright/performer/director is also a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominee and NAACP triple nominee for Best Actor and Best Playwright. His past works at The Marsh include East 14th, The Kipling Hotel, Can You Dig It?, That Don Reed Show, and Going Out. Reed can be seen in the Amazon Prime series Bartlett, where Reed plays the boss in a struggling ad agency alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton creator and star). He has worked in various roles in front of and behind the camera for Warner Bros, Disney+, Marvel, Pixar, The CW, Sony, Lionsgate, and more. Reed has also performed, written, and directed for film, television, and theater. As a producer, Don has co-produced noted director/writer Robert Townsend's (Hollywood Shuffle, The 5 Heartbeats, Eddie Murphy's Raw, The Last OG) one-man show Living the Shuffle for The Marsh. Years ago, his memorable performance on Robert Townsend’s HBO Partners in Crime special of up-and-coming comedians led to many recurring and guest starring roles. Reed’s voice can be heard on Spiderman, Johnny Quest, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Captain Planet, The Voice, Law & Order, SNL, and as the voice of the cat on 2 Broke Girls. Additionally, he has written, directed, produced, and starred in the HBO shorts: Lucky: The Irish Pimp and Pookie Watson: Hood Detective. Reed has also created content for Oprah Winfrey’s OWN and can be seen in the Netflix feature film Unleashed alongside stars from Showtime’s Shameless. Reed shared an excerpt story from the aforementioned East 14th on NPR/WYNC’s Snap Judgment that was so compelling that it was woven into the graduate writing curriculum at American University in Washington, D.C. Recently, Reed became a contributing special assignment writer for the San Francisco Examiner and has partnered with Virtual Bodyworks, a leading virtual reality entity making huge strides in the world of workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion. Charitable work includes MISSEY, providing supportive services to youth who are victimized by or vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation; Elevate Oakland, keeping music and the arts alive in Oakland Public Schools; and Mercy Housing California (MHC), a leading affordable housing organization working to eliminate homelessness and housing insecurity for low-income families, seniors, individuals, and people with disabilities.