We recently connected with Reynaldo Piniella and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Reynaldo, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My work ethic was nurtured by my mother, who raised me as a single mom in East New York, Brooklyn. She worked 16 hour days to ensure that I had as good of a childhood as kids who grew up middle-class and with both parents in the household. She wanted me to have any toy my heart desired and sent me to the best summer camps growing up no matter the cost. She set the bar high for me and showed me that if I worked hard enough, I could manifest the life I dreamed of. When I started working in the arts, that work ethic quickly paid off and it became clear to me that if I worked hard, success would eventually come to me. Now I try to instill that same work ethic in my students, so that they feel empowered working in an industry that tests our fortitude on a daily basis.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Artist Bio* 1000 words maximum
Reynaldo Piniella is an actor, writer, activist and educator from East New York, Brooklyn. In 2021, he was in the acting company of two Broadway shows at the same time – Thoughts of a Colored Man and Trouble in Mind. His co-created bilingual Spanish-English Hamlet has been developed at the Public Theater, Folger Theatre, the Classical Theatre of Harlem, and the Acting Company. He is an alum of New Victory Theater’s LabWorks, All for One Theater’s Solo Collective, the Civilians’ R&D Group, a current resident artist at the cell theatre and a former artist-in-residence at Abingdon Theatre Company and Culture Lab LIC. He has received fellowships from Theatre Communications Group, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Weeksville Heritage Center, and the All Stars Project. As a playwright, his work has been commissioned by Baltimore Center Stage and Vanderbilt University and has been produced by Ars Nova, San Diego Rep, Single Carrot Theatre, the Lee Strasberg Institute at New York University Tisch, the Center at West Park, Harlem9, the 24 Hour Plays, and Pioneer Theatre Guild. His plays have been developed by the National Black Theatre, the Lark, the Billie Holiday Theatre, Egg & Spoon Theatre Collective, Skeleton Rep, HB Studio, and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Initiative. He received the Thomas Barbour Award for playwriting for his play Black Doves. His Off-Broadway acting credits include The Death of the Last Black Man…, Venus (Signature), The Skin of Our Teeth (TFANA), Lockdown (Rattlestick), The Space Between the Letters (The Public/UTR), and The Best of Theatreworks (Working Theater). Regional acting credits include work at Baltimore Center Stage, Syracuse Stage, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, O’Neill, Sundance Theatre Lab and Cleveland Play House. Faculty member at NYU Tisch and AMDA.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My parents supported my artistic dreams and despite all of the road blocks I’ve faced, they’ve encouraged me to keep going. When I started acting in high school, they saw the joy performing brought me and they pushed me to pursue my newfound passion with full commitment. My parents showed up to my early performances, even when there were only a handful of people in the audience, and saw me perform on Broadway for the first time, which obviously brought them immense joy. As I enter the next chapter of my artistic journey, the support of my parents has been the one constant that has kept me going.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.reynaldopiniella.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reynaldorey/?hl=en
