Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's DETROIT Opens Tonight

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company presents Lisa D'Amour's Detroit, an incendiary comedy that was named a Top 10 play of 2012 by The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Magazine. This Pulitzer Prize and Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist is a funny take on suburbs, neighbors, and the rapidly crumbling economic ladder. The production will inaugurate Woolly's Season 34, "America's Tell-Tale Heart," which pulls back the floorboards to expose the complex soul inside America's sunny exterior.

"With the recent news of Detroit's declaration of bankruptcy-the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history-Lisa D'Amour's exploration of our current American moment could not be more timely," says Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "A rollercoaster entertainment, Detroit humanizes this national crisis, tapping comically yet powerfully into our anxiety about clinging to whatever economic rung we can grasp."

Woolly Company Member John Vreeke (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, A Bright New Boise) will direct Woolly Company actors Emily Townley, Helen Hayes Award winner Michael Willis, and two brand-new Woolly Company Members: Helen Hayes Award winner Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey and her husband, Tim Getman. Fernandez-Coffey and Getman became engaged after performing together under Vreeke's direction in Woolly's 2012 production ofGruesome Playground Injuries. After amassing stage and screen credits on both coasts, the couple returns to Washington, DC to become core members of Woolly's artistic family. Rounding out the Detroit cast is Danny Gavigan, performing for the first time on the Woolly stage.

To carry out Woolly Mammoth's mission to "to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community," the Connectivity Department, by way of generous grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Theatre Communications Group, will once again collaborate with Method 121 to create a unique lobby experience. Patrons will be immersed in an idealized suburban setting that includes premium outdoor furniture donated by Lobby Experience Sponsor Room & Board and digital activities designed to pose fun and provocative questions about suburban living. TheDetroit lobby experience follows activities that enhanced the runs of Stupid f-ing Bird and America All Better!! Woolly's innovative brand of audience engagement was recently highlighted in the Capitol Business section of The Washington Post.

The "House Lights Up" and Detroit "Lobby Experience" profiles below outline each of the planned audience engagement events and activities.

Lisa D'Amour (Playwright) is a playwright and interdisciplinary artist. She is one half of the OBIE-Award winning performance duo PearlDamour, whose work has been presented by HERE Arts Center, PS122, The Whitney Museum of Art, the Walker Arts Center, and the FuseBox Festival. Her plays have been commissioned and produced by theatres across the country, including The Women's Project, Playwrights' Horizons, Children's Theatre Company (Minneapolis), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago) and the Royal National Theatre (London). Lisa's play Detroit was a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and the 2011 Susan Smith Blackburn prize. She is the recipient of the 2008 Alpert Award for the Arts in theatre, the 2011 Steinberg Playwright Award, and most recently, the 2013 Doris Duke Artists Award. Lisa received her MFA in playwriting from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a core member of the Playwrights' Center and a recent alumna of New Dramatists. She lives with her husband, Brendan Connelly, in New Orleans and Brooklyn.

John Vreeke (Director) is a Woolly Company Member whose credits include The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz, a production which received nine Helen Hayes nominations for design, direction, and performance; A Bright New Boise by Sam Hunter which received five nominations; Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph, Boom by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb, Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner, Our Lady of 121st Street by Stephen Adley Guirgis,Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis by Charlotte Jones, and The K of D by Laura Schellhardt. In the DC area he has worked at Theater J, Washington Shakespeare Company, MetroStage, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Forum Theatre, H Street Theatre, Source Theatre Festival, Charter Theatre, Theater Alliance, Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences, Imagination Stage, and the Helen Hayes Awards Society. He has received six Helen Hayes Awards nominations for Best Director. Other regional theatre credits include the Alley Theatre in Houston, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Attic Theatre in LA, Salt Lake Acting Company, and First Stage in Milwaukee. Seattle-area credits include Book-It Repertory Theatre, Annex Theatre, Alice B. Theatre, Arts West Playhouse, Seattle Public Theatre, Balagan Theatre, Center Stage, and Stone Soup Theatre. His television credits include Associate Producer and Casting Associate for the CBS TV Series Northern Exposure.

The cast includes Woolly Company Members Emily Townley* (A Bright New Boise, House of Gold, Maria/Stuart) and Michael Willis* (A Bright New Boise, Sharon and Billy, Mud People, Strindberg in Hollywood). Gabriela Fernandez-Coffey* (Gruesome Playground Injuries, Stunning) and Tim Getman*(Gruesome Playground Injuries) will make their Woolly Company debut. Noted DC actor Danny Gavigan* completes the critically acclaimed cast.

Set Designer Tom Kamm (Boom) and Costume Designer Ivania Stack (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, A Bright New Boise, Full Circle) will be joined by three-time Helen Hayes Award winner and Woolly Company Member Colin K. Bills (Stupid f-ing Bird, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, A Bright New Boise) who will be lighting Detroit. Sound Designer Christopher Baine (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), Projection Designer Erik Pearson, Production Dramaturg Miriam Weisfeld, who also serves as Woolly's Associate Artistic Director, and Production Stage Manager William Cruttenden III* round out the creative team.

*Member, Actor's Equity Association

Detroit runs tonight, September 9, 2013 to October 6, 2013, with performances Tuesday-Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 3pm and 8pm (September 14 at 8pm only), and Sunday at 2pm and 7pm (September 15 at 7pm only). Monday and Tuesday, September 9 and 10, will be Pay-What-You-Can performances and begin at 8pm.

Tickets to Detroit start at $35 and can be purchased 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.

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