Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company to Remount CLYBOURNE PARK, 7/21-8/14

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will remount the company's smash-hit production of Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park from July 21 - August 14, 2011. The entire original cast is scheduled to return for the production, again directed by Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz.

The 2010 production of Clybourne Park at Woolly Mammoth was one of the highest-attended shows in Woolly's history. Additionally, the production launched the theatre's connectivity initiative, which aims to bring uniquely designed audiences to each production to expand and deepen the conversation engendered by the play. Events around Clybourne Park included widespread online conversation around the show-initiated by neighborhood bloggers-as well as Audience Exchanges and Mammoth Forums with DC community members such as Michele Norris, host of NPR's newsmagazine All Things Considered, and Amy Lazarus, Executive Director of Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. Similar programming will be built around the remount.

In addition to its extraordinary success at Woolly, Clybourne Park had a successful premiere production at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in the Spring of 2010. Furthermore, Clybourne Park had a sell-out, record-breaking run in London at The Royal Court Theatre, which prompted the announcement of the show's transfer to London's West End, scheduled for January, 2011.

In the 1950's, a white community in Chicago splinters over the black family about to move into their neighborhood. Fast forward to present day: as we climb through the looking glass of Lorraine Hansberry's classic A Raisin in the Sun, the same house now represents very different demographics. Neighbors pitch a horrifying yet hilarious battle over territory and legacy that reveals how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved-or have they?

"Returning to Clybourne Park feels like continuing a dazzling and intense conversation more than a show," says Shalwitz. "Bruce's masterful play is an urgent dissection of our ability, or lack thereof, to bridge the racial divide, perfectly calibrated for our current historical moment. It embodies some of Woolly's highest goals: to challenge our audience with provocative points of view and ask them to draw their own conclusions. I'm so pleased that we're able to invite more of our community into this conversation with this unusual remount, including all the great artists from our original production last spring."

Woolly's Clybourne Park remount will feature Woolly Mammoth Company Members Kimberly Gilbert (In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Boom), Mitchell Hébert (House of Gold, The Clean House), Jennifer Mendenhall (Measure for Pleasure, Dead Man's Cell Phone), and Dawn Ursula (Eclipsed, The Unmentionables). The production will also feature Chris Dinolfo, Michael Glenn, Cody Nickell, and Jefferson A. Russell.

Clybourne Park will again feature set design by James Kronzer, costume design by Helen Q. Huang, lighting design by Woolly Associate Artist Colin K. Bills, and sound design by Matt Otto.

Clybourne Park
Written by Bruce Norris
Directed by Howard Shalwitz

CAST
Russ/Dan...................................................................................................Mitchell Hébert*
Bev/Cathy..........................................................................................Jennifer Mendenhall*
Francine/Lena................................................................................................Dawn Ursula*
Albert/Kevin.........................................................................................Jefferson A. Russell
Jim/Tom........................................................................................................Michael Glenn
Karl/Steve.......................................................................................................Cody Nickell
Betsy/Lindsey...........................................................................................Kimberly Gilbert*
Kenneth.................................................................................................Christopher Dinolfo

*denotes member of Woolly Mammoth Acting Company

CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright.......................................................................................................Bruce Norris
Director....................................................................................................Howard Shalwitz
Set Designer................................................................................................James Kronzer
Costume Designer.......................................................................Helen Q. Huang
Lighting Designer.............................................................................................Colin K. Bills
Sound Designer...................................................................................................Matt Otto
Wig Design....................................................................................Anne Nesmity
Properties...................................................................................................Jennifer Sheetz
Fight Choreographer........................................................................................John Gurski
Sign Language Coach............................................................Samantha Hunter
ASL Consultant................................................................................Monique Holt
Dramaturg....................................................................................................Kristin Leahey

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bruce Norris is a writer and actor whose play The Unmentionables was produced at Woolly Mammoth in 2007. His other plays include The Infidel (2000), Purple Heart (2002), We All Went Down to Amsterdam (2003), The Pain and the Itch (2004), and A Parallelogram (2010), all of which had their premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. His adaptation of Joe Orton's Up Against It (1994) and The Vanishing Twin (1996) were seen at Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre. His work has also been produced at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, The Royal Court Theatre (London), and The Galway Festival (Ireland). He is the recipient of a Steinberg Playwright Award (2009), the Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama (2006), two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Chicago) for Best New Work, and the Kesselring Prize, Honorable Mention (2006). As an actor, he has appeared in the films A Civil Action, and The Sixth Sense, and the upcoming All Good Things. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Howard Shalwitz was co-founder of Woolly Mammoth and for 31 years has led the company on a unique path, focused on new plays that ask provocative questions, introduce fresh voices, and challenge theatrical convention. Both a director and an actor, Howard is one of the few artists to receive multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations in both categories. At Woolly, he has directed nearly thirty plays including Fever/Dream, Measure for Pleasure, She Stoops to Comedy, and The Faculty Room, and appeared in The Gigli Concert, Lenny & Lou, and Rocket to the Moon, to mention just a few. He has directed for major New York and regional companies, including Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Arena Stage, and Milwaukee Rep, and performed with Studio Arena, Soho Rep, New Jersey Shakespeare, and many more. A native of Buffalo, Howard studied philosophy at Wesleyan University and received a Masters in Teaching from Brown University before launching his theatre career in New York in 1975.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Clybourne Park runs July 21 - August 14, 2011; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. There will be one Pay-What-You-Can performance on Thursday, July 21st; Opening Night is Friday, July 22nd.

TICKETS
The first two weeks of performances (July 21st - July 31st) are on sale now. Tickets for Clybourne Park start at $30, and can be purchased through the Woolly Mammoth Box Office at 202- 393-3939, online at www.woollymammoth.net, or in person at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). For directions and parking information, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.

ABOUT WOOLLY
Now in its 31st Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at the leading edge of American theatre. Acknowledged as "the hottest theatre company in town" (The Washington Post), "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a national leader in the development of new plays, and one of the best known and most influential mid-sized theatres in America.

Woolly Mammoth is a selected participant in Emsorry. on buscArts' Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts, a program generously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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