BIO
Rex is a DC based theatre artist and currently serves as the Artistic Director of Theatre at Solas Nua. Originally from Oklahoma City, both of his parents grew up on farms and taught him the value of hard work and good company. Rex has made the DC area his home since 2007, and he shares his life with his wife, Lee, and son, Beckett.
During his tenure with Solas Nua, Rex has garnered international acclaim for his productions, earned multiple Helen Hayes Awards and nominations, and provided the company with steady artistic and financial growth. Rex has increased the production budget a remarkable 25x since 2015 and every year post-pandemic he has boosted annual ticket sales by over 30%. The Washington Post said that Rex“is hope for Solas Nua to re-plant its imaginative flag forcefully on this city’s theatre map” and Charles Isherwood of The New York Times praised him as, “sheer energy...exciting performances...with Mr. Daugherty in particular finding all sorts of robust comedy.” His work has been internationally featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, on the cover of American Theatre Magazine, The Irish Times, aired on RTE - Ireland’s national broadcast, The Scotsman, Edinburgh Guide, British Theatre Guide, The Telegraph - Nigeria, and The Guardian - Nigeria. Recently, his solo-performance of The Smuggler was listed by The New York Times as one of the best theatre productions of 2019, nationwide.
Prior to Solas Nua, he was the Co-Artistic Director and Music Director of Charter Theater’s TYA Program, where he served for three years writing and producing original musicals for young audiences.
Additionally, his work has been seen at The Kennedy Center, The Shakespeare Theatre Company, The National Theatre, The Warner Theatre, Ford's Theatre, Signature Theatre, Round House Theatre, Folger Theatre, The Oklahoma City Civic Center, Oklahoma Shakespeare, Edinburgh Fringe, Dublin Theatre Festival, and Off Broadway at 59E59.
Daugherty has received three Helen Hayes nominations as part of Outstanding Ensembles and a Helen Hayes nomination for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Production.
Rex is the co-creator of DC Dead - a zombie apocalypse survival experience. DC Dead has been adapted for multiple cities, and has enjoyed productions in Washington DC, Atlanta, Santa Fe, and Oklahoma City. Read about the show that started it all here in Washington City Paper.
As a writer and play-maker, his plays have received over 20 productions. Most recently, his musical The Devil & June Gantry was a semi-finalist at The Eugene O’Neil Center’s American Music Theatre Festival and long listed for Olney Theatre’s Vanguard Program. BEEP BEEP, written and directed by Rex, earned a Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding TYA Production. He also co-devised the hit play -Wake Up, Brother Bear - which has been running off and on at Imagination Stage since 2011. His newest play, The Well - a singer-songwriter musical, received two workshops in 2022 and will premiere in NYC in 2024.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a theatre maker because story-telling is the only way to change the world. Story-telling is the only way to change myself.
The theatre that I love to create is multi-disciplined, full of humor, generously built/generously given, and is wildly ambitious. I’m obsessed with re-thinking how theatre is made every time I work on a new project. Theatre should be AN EVENT. I like thinking “outside the blackbox” which has often inspired me to create productions in non-traditional theatre spaces. I’ve staged shows in private residences, cocktail bars, abandoned buildings, and outdoor floating piers. Whether on an actual stage or making magic in a found space, I always strive to re-imagine what theatre can be.
The best showcase for the medium of theatre as a live art form, making it an essential event to be experienced, is the imagination. I tell stories that inspires us to imagine a better world. Our better selves.
I highly value an environment of trust, without which artistic risk and vulnerability cannot flourish. I also highly value being a person who returns the shopping cart all the way back to the store, no matter where I parked!
I fight for hope in every story. I feel a profound responsibility to not just reflect the world as it is seen but to offer ways where it can be redeemed. Almost nowhere in our modern society do we collectively gather for a unified purpose. The only two places I know of where people convene with a common goal are houses of worship and the performing arts. Theatre has always held spiritual significance for me, so to participate in the arts means I am seeking to better myself, and to inspire greater humanity in my community.
