What does Woolly want? “To ignite an explosive engagement between theatre
artists and the community by presenting plays that explore the edges of
theatrical style and human experience.” Since it was first featured in the
Catalogue in 2003, Woolly celebrated its 25th anniversary – in appropriately
dramatic style. It opened an award-winning theatre at 7th and D, in the heart of
the bustling Penn Quarter. As an epicenter for challenging new theatre, it continues to develop and produce work
by some of the most original and exciting American playwrights: SM Shephard-Massat (“Starving,” winner of
Charles MacArthur and Helen Hayes Awards in 2007), Mickey Birnbaum (“Big Death & Little Death”), and
MacArthur Fellow and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl (“Dead Man’s Cell Phone”). Woolly also works to
improve our quality of life by tackling critical issues both on stage and off. The Art of Playmaking teaches writing
to DC students, and community playbuilding projects like 2006’s The Other River focus on neighborhoods on
both sides of the Anacostia. You can help this daring company continue to shake it up.
IN THE MEDIA
An Officer and a ThespianPosted Thu Apr 9 2009 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Antebellum is a story that moves across continents and genders, from World War II to a cinematic memory of the American Civil War.
Strange Brew: ANTEBELLUM at Woolly MammothPosted Wed Apr 8 2009 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company As someone who’s spent long hours contemplating real-world parallels for movie plots—I Am Legend, say, as a metaphor for the war on terror—I’m surprised at my own surprise at the central conceit in Robert O’Hara’s Hollywood/Holocaust mashup, Antebellum. For the first hour or so, I must’ve looked as startled as the evening’s Southern belle does when she first hears a knock at her door.
Antebellum Review by Tim TreanorPosted Tue Apr 7 2009 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Playwright Robert O’Hara’s Insurrection: Holding History was one of the most intriguing and provocative shows we saw last year. Can Woolly Mammoth’s production of his new work, Antebellum, hold a candle to it? A candle? My God! It can hold the whole burning city of Atlanta to it!
At Woolly, A Match Made in 'Hell'Posted Sat Feb 7 2009 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Misery clearly loves company in the Polish castle of Myslotch. Intense mutual disgust, in fact, is what draws into passionate contact a discontented young woman and the cranky tennis teacher who's come to the unhappy estate to coach her, in Pig Iron Theatre Company's inventively physical "Hell Meets Henry Halfway."
'How Theater Failed': Daisey Has ThornsPosted Mon Jan 12 2009 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Mike Daisey repeatedly sticks his finger in his employer's eye during the one-man "How Theater Failed America," offering a scorched-earth critique of the dramatic world's rampant creative failure and moral hypocrisy.
