In 2017, Gabriel Regojo was just two years out of college, getting to know the theater community and setting small goals for himself as a performer. Goals like trying to land roles at theaters he hadn’t worked at yet, which at that stage, was most of them.
But it was where he had worked in his young career that caught our attention and landed him on our Ones to Watch list for the year – notably a lonely university kid in Mildred’s Umbrella’s Dry Land and an immigrant kitchen worker in Stage’s My Manana Comes – both excellent performances that showed his knack for naturalism and sensitivity onstage.
We highlighted his work then as part of effort to draw attention to important artistic talent on their way up. Now, almost ten years since we started our Ones to Watch feature, we thought it would be fun to catch up with some of them and reflect on their artistic journey thus far.
“That article definitely gave me more impetus to continue pushing and expanding my craft and working with as many wonderful, talented artists as possible,” says Regojo. “I wanted to keep improving and so that it wouldn’t be a one-off kind of thing.”
Looking at the list of theaters Regojo’s worked with over the years, he needn’t have worried. His credits run the gamut from large/medium companies like the Alley, Stages, Main Street, AD Players and Catastrophic to small independent productions.
The time and the breadth of his experience, he says, has led to greater confidence as a performer.
“As an early career actor when we first spoke, I was still very nervous and very, very, very cautious in my approach to roles and now so many years later, I feel more like, oh, I can handle that. That’s something in my wheelhouse. I’m not as intimidated by the things I’ll be taking on.”
Regojo cites his 2024 two-character credit in the Alley’s production of And Then There Were None as an example of how he’s grown as a performer. “I had never done an Agatha Christie, and I always felt it was a little more posh than I was and that I wouldn’t understand the flow and feel of the show.”
But as a more seasoned actor, Regojo says that fear went away when he got into the rehearsal hall. “I had a great team of creatives with me to help give me little tips, but also just support me on stage so I was able to explore my two different characters for that show as opposed to if I would have done it in my 20s, I would have been nervous and there wouldn’t have been as large a difference between the two roles.”
Playing multiple roles is something Stages Artistic Director Derek Charles Livingston experienced when he directed Regojo this past holiday season.
“Gabriel has this seemingly preternatural ability to make his characters simultaneously fully vibrant and yet truthful,” says Livingston. “For Stages’ recent production of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, that talent manifested itself in at least six different characters he played. There was a moment—and it’s a testament to just how talented he is—in which Gabriel played two men, with different accents, in a brief, passionate argument with each other that was just as effective as two actors having the fight. The audience broke into applause every time. What’s more, Gabriel’s just a lovely person with whom to work.”
Regojo says part of the credit for his work ethic and actorly presence goes to the smaller theaters in Houston that took an early interest in him.
“The smaller budget company’s trust in me to take on roles helped a lot because it’s challenging for smaller theaters to produce and there’s a higher risk involved. So, the confidence they placed in me gave me the confidence to go all the way from a small black box to an 800-seat house.”
While it’s now a wide net of roles Regojo goes after, he’s now focused on his age and what that means for his choices. “I’m aged out of the 20-year-olds, but I’m not quite old enough to be 40, so it’s this weird nebulous region.” Age aside, when it comes to the kind of work he’d like to do more often. “I’m hoping to see more Latine work, and work that is indicative of the unprecedented times we’re living in.”
Regojo says he’s also extremely drawn to surreal work and magical realism, both personally and for how these types of works help with his more classic roles. “The absurdist helps me find the truth in the form of a classical piece and then the rigidity of a classical piece can help me make sense of the absurd.”
Regardless of the genre or size of the theater, one thing is certain: Regojo brings a specific feeling to all his characters – one of earnestness. We trust that he’s a whole person onstage. One with conviction. They might not all be good guys, but Regojo finds sincerity in all his performances and we can’t help but be drawn in.
Up next, you’ll be able to see Regojo in AD Players’ modern adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, playing Dmitri, the charming, loving, stand-by-you-always friend with a little too much affection for booze. The show runs January 28 to February 22.
This article appears in Private: Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2026.