Today we’d like to introduce you to Mallory Schmidt.
Hi Mallory, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey with theatre started a little later than most. I grew up loving musicals and watching the Tony Awards every year, but actually participating in theatre never felt particularly accessible to me. Theatre was something I loved from the audience, not necessarily something I thought I could be a part of.
That started to change in 2019 when I found Little Theatre of Norfolk and joined the run crew for *One Slight Hitch*. It was a small first step, but an important one. After that, I began working with other theatres throughout Hampton Roads and discovering this incredible community that existed right in my backyard. I was working on another production when COVID shut everything down, and like so many people, my journey with theatre went on pause for a while.
Then, in 2023, LTN found its way back into my life when I was asked to join the Board of Directors and became our Volunteer Coordinator. That was when I really began to understand what makes this place so special.
LTN is almost entirely powered by people who choose to give their time, talents, and hearts to make theatre happen. People walk through our doors with completely different levels of experience. Some have been doing theatre for decades, and others have never picked up a drill, touched a light board, auditioned for a show, or even considered themselves an artist before. There is room for all of them here. I know that because there was room for me.
My own artistic journey continued here, too. In 2024, LTN trusted me to make my directorial debut with *21 Chump Street*. That same year, I created Vida Vibrante, which has grown into an annual celebration of Latine stories, culture, and artists. In May 2025, I had the enormous honor of becoming President of the Board, and a year later I directed *In the Heights*, a show that meant so much to me personally and ultimately became the highest-grossing production in LTN history and earned me the HRACT Award for Best Director.
Those accomplishments mean a lot to me, but I think the more important part of the story is the organization that gave me the space to accomplish them.
There is something incredibly special about a theatre that has been around for 100 seasons and is still a place where someone can walk through the door and discover something new about themselves. I came to LTN as someone who had spent most of her life believing theatre was something I could love but not necessarily something I could *do*. I could never have imagined that one day I would be directing here, creating new programming here, or serving as its Board President.
That is what I want LTN to continue being for the next 100 years: a place where people are invited in. A place where they can take a chance on themselves. A place where artists can tell stories that matter to them, volunteers can find community, and audiences can see themselves reflected onstage.
LTN changed what I thought was possible for me. Getting to help create that possibility for someone else is probably the greatest privilege of being its President.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think anything worth doing is ever a completely smooth road, and community theatre certainly isn’t!
Personally, one of my biggest challenges has been learning to trust that I belong in these spaces. I came to theatre as an adult without the traditional background that many people around me had. I didn’t go to school for theatre, and there were so many moments when I felt like everyone else knew a language I was still learning. I’ve had to become comfortable asking questions, admitting when I don’t know something, and recognizing that there are many different ways to become an artist and a leader.
There have also been challenges that come with helping lead an organization like LTN. We are approaching 100 seasons of history, which is extraordinary, but honoring that history while also asking how we need to grow can sometimes be a delicate balance. Community theatre is deeply personal to people. Everyone involved is giving something of themselves, usually on top of jobs, families, and everything else happening in their lives. Change can be hard when people care that deeply.
As President, I’ve had to learn that leadership isn’t about having every answer or making everyone happy. Sometimes it means having difficult conversations. Sometimes it means recognizing that the way something has always been done may not be the way it should continue to be done. And sometimes it means listening, apologizing, adjusting, and trying again.
We’ve been intentional about asking questions like: How do we better care for our volunteers? How do we make our spaces safer and more welcoming? Whose stories are we telling? Who sees themselves on our stage, in our audiences, and in our leadership? And how do we make sure someone walking into LTN for the first time feels like there is a place for them here?
We certainly haven’t gotten everything right, and I don’t think any organization ever does. But one of the things I love most about LTN is that there are people here who care enough to keep doing the work.
Some of the hardest moments have actually been the ones that have taught me the most about the kind of leader I want to be and the kind of theatre I want LTN to continue becoming. I think our ability to evolve while still honoring the generations of people who built this place is going to be one of the things that carries LTN into its next 100 seasons.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My career has taken a somewhat unconventional path, but looking back, there is a pretty clear thread through all of it: I love creating experiences that help people learn, connect, and feel like they belong.
I started my career as an elementary STEM teacher and eventually moved into nonprofit education, program management, professional development, and community engagement. For a long time, I thought education was where I would spend my entire career.
Then LTN changed that.
As I became more involved here, first as Volunteer Coordinator, then as a director, creating Vida Vibrante, and eventually becoming Board President, I started realizing that the work I was most excited to do was happening in the arts. I loved building programs from an idea, bringing people together around a shared experience, supporting artists, creating opportunities for people to tell their stories, and thinking about how an arts organization can serve its community.
When I reached a point where I knew I was ready for a career change, LTN had helped me understand what I was looking for. I didn’t just want a different job. I wanted to build a career in the arts.
Today, I’m the Performing Arts Manager at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, where I get to take so much of what I discovered about myself through community theatre and do it professionally. My work includes performing arts programming, artist relationships, production, partnerships, and thinking strategically about how we create experiences that bring people into our building and make them want to come back.
What I love is that I didn’t leave my previous career behind to do this. I use it every day. The teacher in me still thinks about how we create opportunities for people to learn and grow. My nonprofit background taught me how to build programs and think about community impact. The director in me thinks about storytelling and the experience we are creating for an audience. And my work at LTN continues to teach me about leadership, collaboration, and what it means to build community through the arts.
At LTN, I think I’m probably known as someone who asks, “Why not?” a lot. Why can’t we try something new? Why can’t this person have an opportunity? Why can’t we tell this story? Why can’t community theatre be artistically ambitious while also being deeply people-centered?
I’m incredibly proud of directing *In the Heights*, which became the highest-grossing production in LTN history and earned me the HRACT Award for Best Director. But what I’m proudest of is what happened around the production: the community that formed, the people who saw themselves represented on our stage, and the artists who found a place to belong.
I feel similarly about Vida Vibrante. I created it because I saw an opportunity to make intentional space for Latine artists, cultures, and stories, and watching it grow into its third year has been incredibly meaningful.
And then there is the work that people may never see: improving how we care for volunteers, creating better systems and safer spaces, opening doors for new artists, and asking difficult questions about who we are serving and who we still need to reach.
I think what sets me apart is that I don’t see my work as an educator, arts administrator, director, and community leader as separate things. Each version of me informs the others.
There is also something really full-circle about the fact that I once thought theatre was something I could only admire from the outside. LTN not only gave me a way inside, it ultimately helped me realize that I wanted to build my life and career in the arts.
Now, both professionally and at LTN, so much of my work is about holding that door open for the next person.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am always excited to meet people who want to make something meaningful together. Whether that is directing, developing a new program, creating a community partnership, supporting an artist, or simply sitting down and asking, “What if we tried this?” I love collaboration, especially when it brings together people who might not normally find themselves in the same room.
Professionally, I’m always interested in connecting with artists, performers, arts organizations, educators, community groups, and businesses who want to explore ways we can work together. Some of my favorite ideas have started with a conversation before anyone knew exactly what the final project would become.
At LTN, there are so many ways to get involved, and you absolutely do not need theatre experience to walk through our doors. Audition for a show. Volunteer backstage. Help build or paint something. Usher. Join us for an event. Come see a production and bring someone who has never been to LTN before. If you have been waiting for an invitation to try community theatre, consider this one.
And supporting this work can also be as simple as showing up. Buy a ticket to local theatre. Share a post. Tell someone about a show you loved. Support organizations that are creating space for new voices and new artists. Community arts organizations only exist because communities choose to invest in them.
As for me personally, I’m always open to a good idea and a good conversation. If you care about storytelling, community, access, representation, or finding new ways to bring people together through the arts, there is a very good chance we’ll find something to talk about.
I spent a long time believing theatre was something I could only watch from the outside. So if there is one thing I hope people take away from my story, it is this: you don’t have to wait until you feel qualified enough, experienced enough, or “theatre enough” to get involved.
Come through the door. We’ll figure out the rest together.
Pricing:
- Ticket Prices Range from $15-25
- Free events
- Free and low charge workshops
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ltnonline.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/little_theatre_norfolk/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleTheatreNorfolk/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallory-schmidt-059a46126
