Woolly Mammoth's SEASON 30 Focuses on New Play Development and Community Engagement

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is spending SEASON 30, it's 30th season of producing provocative new plays in the nation's capital, looking forward to the future of 30 more years, with a few glances back to celebrate some of the theatre's noteworthy achievements. Programs during the course of SEASON 30 include exploring new ways to engage with audiences and the DC community at large, as well as growing the theatre's new play development initiatives, all in keeping with Woolly's mission to "ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community." 

"We've become obsessed at Woolly with the idea of theatre as part of civic engagement," stated Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "Our 30th season, which reunites us with many of our favorite artists, not only includes many new plays that raise provocative questions about our politics and culture, but we are surrounding these plays with a range of activities meant to promote an explosion of conversation in the theatre and out in the community. We hope these will lay a foundation for a new level of engagement as we move ahead into our next 30 years."

*Funding for new play development and community engagement. Woolly's leadership position in the field has recently been endorsed by several national funders:

--a $25,000 "A-Ha! Think It" grant to send each full-time employee on a 1 or 2-week working sabbatical working in ananalogous job or field to help provoke new thinking about their work at the theatre (administered by Theatre Communications Group and funded by MetLife).

--a $19,000 Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award to support two extra weeks of rehearsal for the World Premiere of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed.

--a 2009 Princess Grace Fellowship/Fabergé Theater Award for lighting designer Colin K. Bills, newly named a Woolly Mammoth Associate Artist.

--support from the Pat Sheehy New Play Fund to introduce promising playwrights to Woolly Mammoth; several times a year, Woolly will invite an emerging writer to visit, meet our artists, see a production, observe discussions with the audience, and talk about their own artistic process and long-term goals, possibly with future projects on the horizon.

--and, most significantly, a 3-year, $300,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support Woolly's new play development, in particular workshops for every Mainstage project; Charles L. Mee's Full Circle and the accompanying Theatre and Democracy Conference; and the rehire of the Literary Manager position.

*Theatre and Democracy Conference. Woolly will host a day of meals, manifestoes, performance, and problem-solving called "Who's In Your Circle? Theatre, Democracy & Engagement in the 21st Century" during the run of Full Circle (made possible by the above mentioned Mellon Foundation grant). The goal is to help Woolly envision what engagement can mean to a theater in Washington, DC as it moves ahead into the next 30 seasons. This day-long "think-tank" will convene to imagine strategies for a more innovative way to engage with youth and adults in DC to place the Theatre at the center of our civic life.

*Fortune cookie questions. Continuing a theme incorporated in the SEASON 30 brochure, free fortune cookies will be available during intermission of Woolly productions, each containing a question about various aspects of that production and play and what it means to the patron. The Theatre successfully kicked off this initiative during the season opener Eclipsed, engaging patrons to envision how our plays will inform and enliven their lives, as well as encouraging them to send us responses to the questions posed to create a lively dialogue around each production. These were posted to the Woolly website during the run of Eclipsed. 

*Company Member Reunion. Season 30 will feature the talents of eleven of Woolly's Acting Company, including seven, along with Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz, in Full Circle. The season features Jessica Frances Dukes (Eclipsed, Full Circle), Daniel Escobar (Full Circle), Kimberly Gilbert (Clybourne Park), Mitchell Hébert (Clybourne Park), Naomi Jacobson (Full Circle), Sarah Marshall (Full Circle), Jennifer Mendenhall (Clybourne Park), Kate Eastwood Norris (Full Circle), Michael Russotto (Full Circle), Dawn Ursula (Eclipsed, Clybourne Park), and Michael Willis (Full Circle).

*Brief Intellectual History of Woolly Mammoth. As Woolly has approached this historic season, Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz has taken a look at the founding of the Company, its impact on the local and National Theatre scene, a look forward at Woolly's, and theatre's, role and relevance in our lives. This document will be posted for Woolly patrons on our website in October.

*Community Partners. Over the course of Season 30, Woolly will continue to create valuable partnerships with organizations in our community-to engage around specific productions with participation in discussions, panels, or screenings (such as connecting with Peace X Peace and other NGOs and humanitarian groups during Eclipsed); with collections to support these groups (book collection for Books for America during Barack Stars), and community tables to better inform patrons about the work of these partners (fifteen organizations were promoted during Eclipsed); and to make our facility available at minimal or no cost for rehearsals, readings, or performances of smaller arts groups (such as Artists Bloc and Jane Franklin Dance), and partner organizations like Zenith Gallery to host their annual benefit for the Capital Food Bank (December 3).

*Season benefits with 30th anniversary themes. Thirty seasons of "defying convention" and producing challenging new plays will factor into the themes of the two annual benefits, the second fall Dinner on Stage (October 3) and the spring benefit bash (April 24).

Now in Season 30, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at theatre's leading edge. Acknowledged as "The hottest theatre company in town" (Washington Post), "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a regional and national leader in the development of new plays, and one of the best known and most influentiAl Small theatres in America. The Company garnered this reputation by holding fast to its unique mission:

...to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing and promoting new plays that explore The Edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theatre to serve the people of Greater Washington, DC.

Currently under the leadership of Artistic Director/Co-Founder Howard Shalwitz and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann, Woolly Mammoth is a member of the National New Play Network, Theatre Communications Group, The League of Washington Theatres, and The Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, and a participant in the A-ha! Program: Think it, Do it, funded by MetLife and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American theatre. The Theatre's programs are supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs Program/United States Commission of Fine Arts, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Next on stage:

FULL CIRCLE by Charles L. Mee, directed by Michael Rohd, featuring Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz, and a Company Member Reunion with Jessica Frances Dukes, Daniel Escobar, Naomi Jacobson, Sarah Marshall, Kate Eastwood Norris, Michael Russotto, & Michael Willis, plus Wyckham Avery
October 26 - November 29
202-393-3939 or www.woollymammoth.net

To post a comment, you must register and login.