Scot Reese

Scot Reese is a Professor in Performance at the University of Maryland, College Park, focusing on Black theatre, directing and musical theatre. His theatre credits include productions from Los Angeles to New York. Television credits include daytime dramas, situation comedies, variety specials, commercials, and an Emmy Award for individual achievement in performance. Selected: Premieres of In His Own Words and Blues Journey at the Kennedy Center; The Waiter and Blackballin' at Arena Stage; The Heidi Chronicles and Barefoot in the Park (with Laura Linney and Eric Stoltz) for LA Theatre Works. He is the founder of Kreativity Diversity Troupe, whose mission is to provide the University of Maryland with a diverse voice expressed through performance.  In 2019 he was inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre and in 2023 he was awarded the UMD Distinguished Teacher-Scholar award that  honors senior tenured members of the faculty who combine outstanding scholarly accomplishment with excellence in teaching and personify our image of the professoriate.

Professional Affiliations:

Actors' Equity Association (AEA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), Association for Theatre In Higher Education (ATHE), Black Theatre Network (BTN), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), Theatre Communications Guild (TCG)

Representative Productions:

Professional theatre credits include productions from Los Angeles to New York. Television credits include daytime dramas, situation comedies, variety specials and commercials. Recent credits include premiere’s of Colossal, Embrace, Etudes for the Sleep of Others and Blues Journey at the Kennedy Center; the premiere’s of The Waiter and Blackballin' at Arena Stage; 24/7, 365 at the Theatre of First Amendment; Dr. of Alcantara at Strathmore Music Center; Once On This Island and Crumbs From the Table of Joy at the Round House Theatre; Pretty Fire and From the Mississippi Delta for the African Continuum Theatre Company; The Heidi Chronicles and Barefoot in the Park (with Laura Linney and Eric Stoltz) at LA Theatre Works; A Raisin in the Sun at Olney Theatre Center.

Honors and Awards:

• Emmy Award for Individual Achievement in Performance, 1991
• Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award, University of Maryland, 2023
• Induction into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre, 2019
• General Research Board Summer Research Award, 2002, 2000, 1998 and 1996
• Creative and Performing Arts Award, 1997 and 1995
• Instructional Improvement Grant, 1997
• Research and Travel Grant, 2000 and 1997
• Outstanding Teacher, 2000 and 1996
• Diversity Initiative Steering Committee Matching Funds Grant, 1995