May the Force be Woolly!

November is a busy month for everyone and it was been busy for Club Woolly, too! Club Woolly nights for the world premieres of Current Nobody and Josh Lefkowitz’s Now What? happened before the arrival of Thanksgiving turkey (or tofurkey).

But December brings the long awaited return of One Man Star Wars to Woolly Mammoth. A one man, highly energetic and entertaining show, performer Charles Ross condenses all 3 Star Wars movies into 75 minutes that are not to be missed. Don’t believe us? Check out the videos at the bottom of this page to see Charlie doing a preview of the show, interviewed on MSNBC and on YouTube or his fan site for some other insider information. Club Woolly night is December 14^th… and there’s less than 50 tickets left for that performance! If you don’t want to be left out of the fun, get your tickets today!

Does this leave you wanting more? Check out How The "One Man Star Wars" Works for an in-depth article about how the show came to be and how many calories Charles burns per show.

The "Woolly" in Woolly

Recently, our Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz wrote a brief history of Woolly Mammoth, including what defines us and our style. Here’s what he had to say about what makes Woolly Mammoth’s style so distinct:

People talk about a “Woolly” play, but what is it? Well, it’s no single thing, but generally includes two or three of the following: originality of voice (e.g. Sarah Ruhl’s DEAD MAN’S CELL PHONE), unusual narrative structure (e.g. Noah Haidle’s VIGILS), heightened theatricality (e.g. David Greenspan’s SHE STOOPS TO COMEDY), challenging or provocative subject matter (e.g. Craig Wright’s GRACE), and/or characters from the margins of the culture rather than the center (e.g. IN THE BLOOD).

Above all, we believe that the audience has its own job to do in the theatre – they have to sort something out, or think about something in a new way, or struggle with their feelings in response to provocative images. If you spoon feed the audience, if you take their job away and put them in a totally comfortable, passive role – what’s in it for them?

Artistic Directors from other companies come up to me at theatre conferences and say, “I sure wish my theatre could do the kinds of plays you do at Woolly Mammoth – we’d probably lose half our audience.” And it’s true, at Woolly we have a remarkable degree of artistic freedom – but I think it’s a freedom we’ve earned. By sticking to our own vision, we have developed a cadre of actors and other theatre artists who are especially skilled at pulling off certain kinds of plays, and an audience that appreciates them and wants to see more.

What do you think makes Woolly Mammoth so special? Leave us a comment with your thoughts!

Club Woolly Strikes Again!

For those of you who missed it, Club Woolly night for The Unmentionables, it was a great night. Members got their member packets (including a swanky lapel pin) and proceeded to the classroom where they mixed and mingled with the cast and our Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. Howard started off the evening talking about the show, taking questions, and asking the Club Woolly folk about their experience watching the show. Incredible insight and commentary was provided by cast members. Following the discussion the attendees had the chance to talk one-on-one with the cast. The set model and costume sketches were also out for members to peruse while they talked. All in all, it was a really fun time. The next Club Woolly night is for Current Nobody on Friday, November 9th. Tickets are going fast – so if you’re planning to bring a friend who’d not a Club Woolly Subscriber, contact the box office soon at 202-393-3939 to make sure that you don't get left out!

We have some other exciting news. Dawn Ursula, who is currently playing Aunty Mimi so brilliantly in the The Unmentionables, has accepted an invitation from our Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz to become the newest member of the Woolly Mammoth acting company. Her previous appearances at Woolly Mammoth were in STARVING and THE VELVET SKY. Dawn is a dynamic and versatile performer, and the most wonderful collaborator and colleague imaginable. We hope you will join us in congratulating Dawn when you have the chance. She’s here in The Unmentionables through September 30.

Behind the Scenes of "Vigils"

One of the perks of joining Club Woolly is getting an insider look into Woolly Mammoth productions. In February, we got our members together and took them on a tour of the theater and provided them with a behind the scenes look at Vigils. Hana Sellars, our technical director showed us the green room, the scene shop, the back of the sets where the cast had scrawled notes to one another… Here she is demonstrating how we kept Michael Russotto in a box without actually having to keep him in a chest for the majority of the play. Hana showed us the ropes… literally. We got to see a detailed demonstation of how Naomi Jacobson and Michael Russotto flew, including rigging and stagehands. Naomi & Michael also talked about their experiences working on the show, how they got everything together and how they managed to fly without getting airsick. It was an unforgettable experience and a fun way to see how shows come together. If you couldn’t make it, you missed a great time!

Please, Silence Your Cell Phones

It’s getting to be pretty standard that there’s always one person who doesn’t pay attention to the “silence your cell phone” speech that is given before every performance at every theater. It never fails that during a dramatic moment of any play, someone’s phone rings. I can think of at least two occasions where someone answered their phone and held a conversation in the theatre, while the actors (attempted to) continue acting. When you’re doing a play about cell phone etiquette, these interruptions are still funny and rude, but also rather ironic.

On our opening night on June 10^th, Howard Shalwitz gave our preshow speech and ended with “In a show about cell phones, I feel like I don’t even have to say it… in fact I won’t say it.” The next day, our Communications Director received this email from a patron:

I don't make this stuff up.

So about 20 minutes into Act I, I hear a cell phone ring... and it is not coming from the speakers where the sound cue cell phone rings are. And someone in the audience answers the phone. Another person in the row behind me says, "I'm over here, Seymour" and waves. And Seymour says, just as if he were in his living room, "I see you." He starts saying "excuse me," in his outdoor voice, as he nudges his way through the crowds. Most of us in the neighborhood were contemplating re-naming the evening Dead Man: Cell Phone.

So, don’t forget to turn off your cell phone! If you haven't seen Dead Man's Cell Phone yet, you're not too late! We've just extended (twice) through July 14th.

Friday was Club Woolly night for Woolly’s smash hit, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, as well as our press night. It was a great performance with a lot of energy and the reception was a lot of fun, too! We decked out our reception room with some lost props – things that were created for the production but weren’t used for various reasons. Howard spoke a bit about the process of creating the show and why the larger than life portrait of Rick Foucheux didn’t make it on stage. After that, cast and crew mingled with our Club Woolly members and enjoyed some wonderful food and drink. Strangely, no one attempted to eat the prop suckling pig that was our centerpiece, though one Club Woolly member did mention that he was going to a pig roast this weekend. Unfortunately, he’s a vegetarian and won’t be able to partake in the pig.

All in all, it was a fun time with some excellent food. I hope we can see you at the next one! And if you want to see what the press has to say, check out today's review in the Washington Post!

(Pictured: Naomi Jacobson, Polly Noonan & Sarah Marshall. Photo by Stan Barouh)

Recovering from Loss

No, this isn’t an entry about our show Vigils which played during the month of February to great success. That show was about a Widow who was learning to grieve from her husband’s death and trying to move on, while keeping his soul locked in a box. It was a wonderful show and it’s appropriate that it was the last show for our former Managing Director Kevin Moore before he moved on to run the Cleveland Playhouse. We miss you, Kevin!

While news of this move has been common knowledge for a while, I’ve found that many people are unaware of what Kevin did and the tremendous impact he had on our theater. Howard is the face of Woolly Mammoth and one that our subscribers have come to know and love. Howard built Woolly from the ground up and the theatre won’t be the same without him when he retires (hopefully a day in the far, far future). But while Howard made the artistic choices that put us on the map, Kevin was the one who kept the theater moving. From getting sure everyone got their paychecks on time to being the leader of our multi-million dollar campaign to land us in our beautiful new space, Kevin did it all.

We’re in the midst of interviewing candidates for Kevin’s replacement and it’s an exciting time… we don’t know who we’ll get or how they’ll shape Woolly Mammoth in years to come, but we’re sure they’ll be wonderfully woolly! And hopefully, we’ll still get paid on a regular basis.

By the way, tomorrow is Club Woolly night for Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. Don't miss this heartwarming and lyrical world premiere by the author of The Clean House!

The Plays Are The Thing....

Hi, everyone! Hope you're looking forward to the Vigils Club Woolly Night, this Friday--February, 9th. (Look for the review in the Washington Post on Wednesday if you're curious.) In the mean time, we have a few words from Jaclyn, one of our new interns, about choosing the 2007-08 Season:

Hey blogfans! I’m Jaclyn, the new lit intern at Woolly Mammoth. My job is to assist Elissa Goetschius, Woolly’s Literary Associate, with script evaluations, new play development, agency contacts, and whatever else happens to come along. In the next few weeks I’ll be gearing up to work on the dramaturgy for Woolly’s next production, David Greenspan’s She Stoops to Comedy. It’s so exciting to be part of the production process—and the Shakespeare Festival in Washington to boot.

It seems that I’ve come at the perfect time. The east coast premiere of Noah Haidle’s Vigils is just opened, and I’ve been lucky enough to watch it evolve from the designer run through the preview week. Working on a new play—with the playwright present for revisions!—is exhilarating and unique. Things can quite literally change from one moment to the next, and it’s amazing to see how much can be accomplished when you put together a solid group of artists with complementing visions.

Choosing those artists, however, can sometimes be a little tricky. My arrival also coincided with one of the most stressful times in any theatre’s year: choosing the lineup for the coming season. Like Jen said in her last post, there are so many factors to weigh that it’s easily overwhelming.

Along with the more point-blank concerns—script quality, subject matter, adherence to Woolly’s mission of producing new and edgy work—season planning deals with a lot of amorphous, make-it-or-break-it factors: whether the rights can be obtained, how many world premieres can be produced in a season, the various effects of pitting certain plays against each other, whether the budget can contain a desired cast, whether there is already a director or designer associated with the project, etc. etc. etc.

At this point we’re left with so few scripts in the ’07-’08 consideration pile that the nuances of each play have become incredibly important. The selection process, which involves a good deal of roundtable discussion (and sometimes a change of heart that can alter things completely), is still so organic despite its financial implications. I think that I like the roundabout nature of the decision process the best; sure, it can be stressful, but the amount of consideration that so many people put into creating the best art possible is really affirming when so many theatres now are forced to rely on commercial factors alone.

It’s also a great way to get a taste of what goes on during new play development. So few venues commit to producing new plays with the vigor that Woolly demands, and I can already tell that being a part of it for the next few months is going to change the way I look at theatre completely.

Woolly Mammoth: From the Intern Out

Woolly kicked off the new year with a whole new crop of interns, today we have the unique pleasure of hearing from Jen Rogers. She's Howard's assistant and began her internship on January 2nd--just in time for the Vigils First Read. (And in case you were wondering, that's not Jen over here on the right. It is a publicity shot of Woolly Company Member Naomi Jacobson who stars in Vigils.)

"Hello Club Woolly! My name is Jen and I just started working at Woolly as the assistant to Howard. My first week at Woolly introduced me to a world that I am very excited of being a part of. Everyone in the Artistic office welcomed me as Elissa took me around the theatre.

The tour ended with the first rehearsal of Vigils, Woolly’s next main stage production. I’m pretty sure the format of the first rehearsal was standard, but I’m not so sure of the content! Brian led the meeting as first Howard said a few words, then Colette (the director) discussed her take on the play, then the design presentations and even Noah (the playwright) said a few words before the read.

The set design seemed simple at first, but as Dan’s presentation continued, it became apparent that the set allows for more than meets the eye. Designing a set is far past my ability, but designing a set that is both aesthetically pleasing and allows for flying is a daunting task and I cannot wait to see the final product.

I believe one of the greatest strengths of Woolly’s focus of new work is the fact that playwright can be in the room and work with the entire ensemble. Noah claimed he was neither funny nor provocative, but after hearing the show I beg to differ. I can’t wait to see the show – the talented cast (featuring some Woolly company members) and artistic staff are bound to create a beautiful, absurd, and humorous show. How could you not be excited about a show that has flying and fire?

After rehearsal I met with Howard who outlined what was going on this spring at Woolly. January is the month to finish up season planning for the 2007-2008 season. In order to catch up with everyone I read the remaining plays of the season, She Stoops to Comedy by David Greenspan and Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, before I started reading the selections for next season. Season planning involves reading dozens upon dozens of diverse scripts and countless discussions trying to find the ideal plays that create a well-balanced season and continue Woolly’s mission.

Season planning is a puzzle. We’re trying to balance many different factors such as relevant subject matter, the theatrical nature of each play, casting possibilities, the size of each production, potential directors and designers, with the chief criteria being that the scripts maintain Woolly’s mission of presenting new plays that explore the edge of theatrical style.

Apparently I’ve come at a rather busy and exciting time with season planning, auditions for next season, workshops, and of course the three remaining main stage productions in this season. If this is only my first week, I can’t imagine the rest of my time at Woolly! "

Keeping Watch on Vigils

On January 2nd, the cast, director, playwright and design team of Vigils by Noah Haidle gathered for the First Read of the play. Woolly's staff, Board and Show Sponors were all invited. To the left, you can see images of the set model by Dan Conway.

Board Member and Club Woolly Member Mark Aron was on hand to witness this kick-off of the Vigils rehearsal process.

"I am always amazed at what a rich theatrical experience a reading can be. Of course, that is probably because Vigils is so wonderful a play and when you add a superb cast what can you expect. Vigils is a many layered play. It is about grieving for someone lost, in this case a dead husband but the theme is more universal. It is about the awkwardness of dating at a stage in life when you think dating is a thing of the past. It is the story of women but it is also the story of lonely older men who seek desperately for one true love. It is sad. It is funny, and it is real. Each character is well defined and even without scenery and a lot of preparation the acting is superb. I found myself rooting for a happy ending because the characters are so sympathetic but who knows what the final production will bring."