Meghan Pressman Named New Managing Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced the appointment of Meghan Pressman as Managing Director. Previously, Pressman served as the Director of Development for New York City's Signature Theatre, a $12 million nonprofit Off-Broadway theatre organization, which exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Pressman will begin her tenure at Woolly Mammoth at the beginning of Season 35 on Monday, September 15, 2014.

"I am honored to welcome Meghan Pressman to her new leadership position at Woolly," says Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "Meghan's career has focused on creative ways of supporting the work of playwrights, actors, and other theatre artists, and connecting them with economically diverse audiences-and so she understands Woolly's mission on a very deep level. Her exemplary leadership at both Berkeley Repertory Theatre and New York's Signature Theatre have made her stand out as a strategic thinker with a big vision. I'm looking forward to a great partnership with Meghan, and tremendously excited by the fresh perspective she will bring to Woolly as we continue to explore innovative strategies for deepening the impact of provocative theatre on Washington, DC."

Scott Schreiber, President of the Woolly Board of Directors, shares in the excitement: "We are thrilled that Meghan is joining us and continuing our tradition of innovative and outstanding managing directors. Her experience, training, and sustained excellence in all her endeavors ensures that, working with Howard and our staff, Woolly will continue to be in the vanguard of American theatre by producing new and challenging plays by diverse playwrights, directors and actors in furtherance of our mission of making theater that matters and helping to define the role of theater in a democratic society."

Says Meghan Pressman of her new role: "I am so excited to partner with Howard, the staff, and the Board at this significant time time for Woolly. This is a remarkable organization, and Woolly's innovative ideas regularly impact artists, the Washington, DC community, and the industry at large. My background and passion as an arts administrator lies in supporting artists in the development of new work and engaging with the community through dynamic productions, and I am looking forward to continuing that work at a company that is a leader in the field at both."

Pressman joins Woolly after two years as the Director of Development at Signature Theatre where she worked with the senior leadership and the Board of Trustees on long-range strategic planning; the advancement of the Signature Ticket Initiative, a groundbreaking program which makes all tickets available for $25 for the initial run of every production; and oversaw the solicitation, cultivation, and expansion of the company's diverse roster of capital and annual donors. During her tenure, the individual donor base increased by 25%, the annual gala income more than doubled, and the Annual Fund saw a 30% increase.

Prior to joining Signature, Pressman served as Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Associate Managing Director as well as the Managing Director for The Ground Floor: Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Center for the Creation and Development of New Work. There, she managed the launch of the inaugural summer lab in 2012, which hosted over 100 artists working on 13 new projects. Pressman has served numerous other theatre and arts organizations across the country including Yale Repertory Theatre as Associate Managing Director, Chicago Theatre for Young Audiences as Co-Founding Managing Director, and at the Chicago Improv Festival as an Associate Producer. Pressman also serves on the board of the Bushwick Starr, a small nonprofit arts space in Brooklyn. She holds a joint degree from the Yale School of Drama Theater Management MFA program and the Yale School of Management MBA, and a BA from Boston College.

ABOUT WOOLLY

Poised to begin its 35th Anniversary Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at the leading edge of American theatre. Acknowledged as "one of the most influential outposts for the best new American plays" (The Washington Post), and "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a national leader in the development of new works, and one of the best known and most influential mid-sized theatres in America.

Woolly Mammoth's summer 2014 offerings include the return of Aaron Posner's Stupid f-ing Bird (July 28-August 17).

The apocryphal quip by Marie Antoinette-"Let them eat cake!"-sparks Woolly's deliciously decadent 35th Anniversary Season, one in which we skewer our leaders and walk the widening divide between the haves and the have-nots. The cast of characters includes queens and presidents, boomers and hustlers, the living and the living dead, and all of the works explore societies and individuals under attack from outside and inside forces, breaking down, breaking out, and groping toward new solutions. Season 35, entitled "Let Them Eat...," includes David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette (September 15-October 12, 2014), Old Trout Puppet Workshop's Famous Puppet Death Scenes (December 9, 2014-January 4, 2015), Lisa D'Amour's Cherokee (February 9-March 8, 2015), Chad Beckim's Lights Rise On Grace (March 30-April 26, 2015), and Robert O'Hara's Zombie: The American (May 25-June 21, 2015).

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