Remount of AN OCTOROON Will Launch Woolly Mammoth's 2017-18 Season

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its first production of Season 38, the remount of An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Nataki Garrett. The show will reunite the entire cast and production teams from Woolly's 2016 production and will run from July 18 to August 6, 2017.

A plantation on the brink of foreclosure. A young gentleman falling for the part-black daughter of the estate's owner. An evil swindler plotting to buy her for himself. Meanwhile, the slaves are trying to keep things drama-free, because everybody else is acting crazy.

An Octoroon, by Obie-winning Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, riffs on a 19th century melodrama that helped shape the debate of the abolition of slavery. The New York Times callEd Jacobs-Jenkins' adaptation "This decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race." Part period satire, part meta-theatrical middle finger, it's a provocative challenge to the racial pigeonholing of 1859-and of today.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins recently received the 2016 MacArthur "Genius Grant," which describEd Jacobs-Jenkins as "a playwright drawing from a range of contemporary and historical theatrical genres to engage frankly with complicated issues around identity, family, class, and race." In addition to the 2016 production of An Octoroon, Woolly Mammoth also producEd Jacobs?Jenkins' Appropriate in 2013. Jacobs-Jenkins is currently a Residency Five playwright at Signature Theatre, where his new work, Everybody, will premiere in January 2017.

"An Octoroon represents our mission so well because it challenges the audiences with a provocative and innovative theatrical experience while also galvanizing them to continue to deepen the conversation around the play," says Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "The current political atmosphere propelled us to remount the play to reinvigorate the dialogue surrounding racial tension in America. The 2016 production was a huge success and 2017 promises to be an even more critical time for audiences to hear its message."

The entire cast from the 2016 production returns with the announcement of three new Woolly company members including: Jon Hudson Odom in the role of BJJ, ERIKA ROSE in the role of Dido, and Shannon Dorsey as Minnie. Other cast members include Joseph Castillo-Midyett (Assistant), Kathryn Tkel (Zoe), Maggie Erwin (Dora), Jade Wheeler (Grace), Jobari Parker-Namdar (Br'er Rabbit), and James Konicek (Playwright).

Los Angeles-based director Nataki Garrett returns to Woolly as a new Woolly Company Member with An Octoroon. Other Company Members on the production team include Misha Kachman (set design), Colin K. Bills (lighting design) and Ivania Stack (costume design). Rounding out the team are Kim James Bey (dialect), Patrick Calhoun (sound design), and noted local hip-hop artist and past Woolly collaborator Christylez Bacon (composer).

More information about Woolly and its current season can be found at woollymammoth.net.

An Octoroon runs July 18, 2017 to August 6, 2017, with performances: Wednesday-Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 3 pm and 8 pm; Sunday at 2 pm and 7 pm; and a Pay What You Can performances on Tuesday, July 18 at 8 pm.

Tickets to An Octoroon to season subscribers and Woolly donors are available starting today. Tickets will be available to the general public starting February 27th, 2017. To become a donor or subscriber, visit us online at woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, via email at tickets@woollymammoth.net, or in person at the Box Office, located at 641 D Street NW.

Patrons who are 30-years-old and younger may, at any time, purchase Section B tickets for $20 to any performance. There are also discounts available for educators, first responder men and women and active US military personnel, spouses, and veterans. More information is available at woollymammoth.net.

Now in its 37th 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" (Washington Post) and "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (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.

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