Woolly Mammoth Announce THE PAJAMA MEN & More for Sept-Jan Season
By: James T Harding Mar. 13, 2012
The Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company have announced the shows for their 33rd season.
“Woolly Mammoth's 2012-13 Season is a passionate excavation of our cultural souls, encompassing both the joy of cultural expression and the struggle of cultures in conflict,” says Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. “With a unique global perspective, these ambitious new works carry us to far flung destinations including Africa, North Korea, Disney World, Zuccotti Park, and even the world of professional wrestling. Each destination is revealed as a hot zone where human emotions are bombarded by complex forces of religion, heritage, values, and ethnicity. Fueled by Woolly's brilliant company and guest artists, the results will be unexpectedly humorous, heartbreaking, and intensely provocative.”
Shalwitz continues, “We’re delighted to start our Season with works by two rising young playwrights: first, the 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, by Kristoffer Diaz. Inspired by his love of both hip hop and wrestling, Kristoffer draws us into a world of daring stunts and wild stereotypes, woven together by a simple tale of friendship in a world gone mad with jingoistic fever. Next, Woolly is honored to launch Mia Chung’s first major production You for Me for You. With brilliant Russian director Yury Urnov at the helm, this fascinating and delicate story of two North Korean sisters who immigrate to the US offers a unique perspective on both cultures.”
“Woolly is also thrilled to welcome back some of our favorite collaborators: Mike Daisey, Danai Gurira, and Aaron Posner. Mike Daisey, fearless theatrical provocateur, returns to reveal another delicious paradox of American life. After exorcizing the demons embedded in our iPhones in The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Mike turns his attention to the many attempts at utopia that have idealistically sprung up since our nation’s founding. Zimbabwean-American playwright Danai Gurira returns after the wildly successful In the Continuum and Eclipsed with The Convert, about the clash of native religion and Christianity. We finish the season with Stupid f-ing Bird by Aaron Posner, one of our city’s best directors and adaptors. Stupid f-ing Bird, a contemporary riff on Chekhov’s The Seagull, reveals the depth of Aaron’s passion, humor, and sheer originality.”
“This year’s holiday show In the Middle of No One by The Pajama Men introduces DC to a crazily inventive duo from Albuquerque, New Mexico. A smash hit on the international comedy circuit for years, their ironic sketches about love among strange humans and even stranger aliens seemed to me a perfect fit for Woolly’s adventurous audience.
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
By Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Company Member John Vreeke
September 3−September 30, 2012
Cast will include Jose Joaquin Perez (Oedipus el Rey), Company Member Michael Russotto (A Bright New Boise, House of Gold, Full Circle), and Jamin Olivencia.
The Helen Hayes Award-nominated design team from A Bright New Boise will return with set design by Company Member Misha Kachman, lighting design by Company Member Colin K. Bills, costume design by Misha Kachman and Ivania Stack, sound design by Chris Baine, video design by Jared Mezzocchi, and fight choreography by Joe Isenberg.
About the show: "This 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist is a drop-kicking, body-slamming, balls-out theatrical happening about the larger-than-life world of professional wrestling. Tired of making other pro wrestlers look good, Macedonio “The Mace” Guerra recruits a smart-mouthed Indian kid to dethrone the current All-American champ, Chad Deity. But in wrestling, as in life, even the most idealistic freedom-fighter can be seduced by the roar of the crowd."
You for Me for You
World Premiere
Presented in association with Ma-Yi Theater Company
By Mia Chung
Directed by Yury Urnov
November 5−December 2, 2012
About the show: "Two North Korean sisters—facing starvation at the hands of a dizzyingly corrupt regime—make a bargain with a smuggler to flee to the United States. When one of the sisters is denied passage because she is too weak to make the treacherous transpacific crossing, the other sister makes a promise to race across time and space to save her."
The Convert
By Danai Gurira
Directed by Company Member Michael John Garcés
February 4−March 3, 2013
About the show: "OBIE Award-winner Danai Gurira returns to Woolly with her rich, unflinching, and compassionate new play. Set amid the colonial scramble for Southern Africa in 1895, the play follows Jekesai, a young girl who escapes a forced marriage in her native village and lands in a Westernized household where Africans find themselves at odds over the arrival of Christianity."
American Utopias
World Premiere
Created and performed by Mike Daisey
Directed by Jean-Michele Gregory
March 25−April 21, 2013
About the show: "Mike Daisey shows us a distinctly American vision of utopia—how we create civic spaces for ourselves in which we act out our dreams of a better world. Daisey takes us everywhere to pursue the story: from Disney World and its theme park perfection, to the drug-fueled anarchic excesses of Burning Man, from the Masonic underpinnings of our nation’s capitol, to Zuccotti Park, where in the unlikeliest place a new movement gets born. Gunplay, giant glittery dildos, police actions, and secret Freemason underwear come together to tell the history of our American dream."
Stupid f-ing Bird
World Premiere
By Aaron Posner
Directed by Howard Shalwitz
Sort of adapted from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull
May 27−June 23, 2013
Cast will include Company Member Kimberly Gilbert (A Bright New Boise, Clybourne Park, In the Next Room or the vibrator play) and Katie DeBuys (In the Next Room or the vibrator play).
The design team will include set design by Company Member Misha Kachman and lighting design by Company Member Colin K. Bills.
About the show: "An aspiring young theatre director named Conrad struggles to get out from under the shadow of his mother Emma, a famous actress. Meanwhile, his young muse Nina falls for Emma’s lover Doyle, and everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be. In this contemporary and irreverent riff on Chekhov’s The Seagull, Aaron Posner transforms the famous "subtext" of the classic play into exuberant scenes and songs."
Subscription Add On (Holiday Show)
The Pajama Men:
In the Middle of No One
Created and performed by Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez
Music by Kevin Hume
December 11, 2012−January 6, 2013
About the show: "Following sell-out runs in London’s West End, Albuquerque duo The Pajama Men come to Woolly with their stand-up/sketch comedy/physical theatre extravaganza, In The Middle of No One. A delightfully silly comedy thriller about love, alien abduction, and the spirit of adventure, the show captures The Pajama Men’s trademark style of blink-of-an-eye character switches, plot twists, and audacious jokes."
Subscriptions are now on sale and may be purchased through the Box Office at 202-393-3939, or in person at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). Single tickets will go on sale on July 1, 2012.
*Play, artists, and dates are subject to change
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