NEWSLETTER
February 8, 2023

Nathan Jones, Partner Resource & Admin Manager, chatted with actor Isaiah Reed, who will be playing the role of Tom in the upcoming play reading of Actually February 24 - March 4, 2023. 

NJ: When did you start acting or what drew you to becoming an actor?

IR: For me I've always been a character and intrigued with storytelling. I started in church plays when I was 5 and then I went to Rosa Parks High school which is a performing arts school in Paterson, New Jersey and that was where I decided where I wanted to take acting seriously. While I was in high school I saw the power that acting has and it was also around the time that Trayvon Martin had passed away so we did an experimental theater scene that we toured through different middle schools to help people in the community cope with what was going on. After that I realized that this was a tool for social change. I've always been an advocate and a leader and one who wants to fight for other people. So, once I had seen that I was blessed with the gift of acting and I was able to push out these stories is when I knew it was somewhere in my alignment for life. 

NJ: How does the arts community in Paterson, New Jersey differ from your time in Washington D.C. while you attended Howard University?

IR: In Patterson, I really spent my young adolescent years there up until I was 18. Patterson is a very artistic community and we have a lot of support for the arts, especially in the school systems. I was always blessed to be in a place where art was valued. Then going to D.C. where I attended Howard University I got to see where art was truly appreciated and more well funded. I was truly immersed in the D.C. arts scene where there's theatres, museums, spoken word poetry, there was always something going on in D.C. and that's what I loved.

NJ: Favorite role you've ever portrayed and why?

IR: I played Crocodile in the show Sarafina! which is a musical about young students during apartheid in South Africa. It's one of my favorites because that character always connected with the young men in the audience. On the outside, Crocodile is seen as a bully but I got to really show his humanity and his character arc and what he's fighting for. You're following his story until his death in the show while he is defending his fellow students. 

NJ: How do you think theater has been a catalyst for change in communities that you've worked in?

IR: One of my professors at Howard would say "Theatre is performance art of social change" and that's something that rings with me and I try to place that with every show, in every role and every character that I'm portraying. Then using that character's arc to start a conversation and to get people to start thinking and really observing and identifying whatever the scenario is and how that plays into their psyche and lives.