Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Magic Time!: ‘The Story of the Gun’ at Woolly Mammoth

Mike Daisey’s monolog The Story of the Gun is a show both hilarious and sobering, and he begins it with a wry riff on who we are who have come to see it. As he joshingly reminds us, we are liberal...

Magic Time!: Mike Daisey Takes Aim at ‘The Story of the Gun’ in America

Masterful monologuist Mike Daisey returns to DC to skewer with humor another burning issue of the day. This time it’s America’s thing about guns. What’s that all about, anyway? How did guns get to be...

Review: ‘Damned If You Do’ by Upright Citizens Brigade at Woolly Mammoth

By Beatrice Loayza “So, what are we seeing again?” my friend asks me at dinner prior to the show. Pause. I scrape the corners of my mind for a suitable answer, but the reality is– “I have no clue.”...

“The Queerest Role I’ve Played”: A Q&A with Jon Hudson Odom About ‘Botticelli in the Fire’ at Woolly Mammoth

Jon Hudson Odom’s performance in Jordan Tannahill’s new play Botticelli in the Fire just blew me away. And it wasn’t the first time that had happened. I’ve been following his work for several years,...

Indicoe Artist Mix n’ Mingle Coming Up on June 16, 2018

After launching seven months ago, arts organization Indicoe is hosting its first event: an Artist Mix N’ Mingle at Woolly Mammoth Theatre on June 16th from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. The event is held in...

Review: ‘Botticelli in the Fire’ at Woolly Mammoth

Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” is a painting famous for its youthful beauty and artistic mastery. When I stood in front of it in Florence, I struggled to look away –...

Magic Time!: ‘Underground Railroad Game’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

“What the fuck was that?” a friend asked me at the opening night reception for this show at Woolly. To which, still reeling, I could only answer, “Yeah, what the fuck?” The cringe-inducing show we had...

Review: ‘Underground Railroad Game’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

How can you unpack a show with as many racial, sexual, and historical bombshells as Underground Railroad Game? The conceit of the play (2017 Obie Award Winner, Best New American Theatre Work) is an...

News: Woolly Mammoth Appoints Maria Manuela Goyanes to Succeed Howard Shalwitz as Artistic Director

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is thrilled to announce the selection of Maria Manuela Goyanes to succeed co-founder Howard Shalwitz as the organization’s Artistic Director. Goyanes is currently...

Review: ‘Peepshow’ at dog & pony dc

“Who here is a feminist?” asked the Ring Announcer (Amelia Hensley). As she signed, wearing a bright red pantsuit and standing on a thick padded mat as used for a contact-sport match, a nearby hearing...

Review: ‘Familiar’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival comes to a close and the hits to emerge from it are tallied, Danai Gurira’s comedy Familiar will surely be on the shortlist. Gurira’s play Eclipsed—a...

Interview: Nataki Garrett, ‘Jefferson’s Garden’ Director (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Have you ever met someone who left you feeling as though there is nothing you can’t do? I got that feeling each time I sat down with four playwrights and a director who identify as women of color from...

Review: ‘This Is All Just Temporary’ at Convergence Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Convergence Theatre, as a part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival, has produced a new play by Olivia Haller called This Is All Just Temporary. The original work focuses on college graduate Lauren,...

Post-Play Palaver: ‘The State’ by Forum Theatre at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Post-Play Palaver is an occasional series of conversations between DC Theater Arts writers who saw the same performance, got really into talking about it, and decided to continue their exchange in...

News: The West Wing’s Allison Janney Named Honorary Chair of 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival

Allison Janney (The West Wing, and the Broadway revival of Six Degrees of Separation) is returning to Washington to lend her voice to support the 2018 Women’s Voices Theater Festival as Honorary...

Review: ‘Nothing to Lose (But our Chains)’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

When the Born Again have the opportunity to witness, they do it before their congregation, and everyone shouts “Hallelujah!” When the Stand Up Comics have that same opportunity, they do it before...

Review: ‘Mystery School’ at The Edge of the Universe Players 2

We are all connected. There are forces at play in the universe that are not seen, but felt. Within the realm of spiritual consciousness, we find Mystery School, a play by Paul Selig currently on view...

Interview: ‘Electra’ Director Stevie Zimmerman

Stevie Zimmerman has a reputation in DC as a “must-see” director. She received her bachelors from Oxford and her masters from the University of Leeds in England. She directed The Pitmen Painters and...

Magic Time!: ‘The Arsonists’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

In a recent satire published on Medium, the San Francisco writer/actor/comedian Alison Page listed five dozen “Honest Theatre Awards.” Among them was one that struck me as an apt accolade for the...

Review: ‘The Arsonists’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Woolly Mammoth’s The Arsonists is not so much an entertainment, even though I laughed frequently, psychotically–and loud, as it is a paratheatrical event during which an absurd play is presented. The...

Review: ‘An Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (remount)

Honestly, I am still reeling after seeing Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon last night. I’ve been wandering around the house all morning, eyes glazed over, wheels turning in my head while my family...

Magic Time!: “Never Fear Your Own Radical Ideas”: A Q&A with Malic White, Who Plays Max in ‘Hir’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The young performer, playwright, and self-described gender warrior Malic White is in town from Chicago making a singularly significant debut on a DC stage playing Max, a whip-smart radical queer...

Magic Time!: ‘Hir’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The absurdity and grim reality of gender get a scathing going-over in this extraordinary play by Taylor Mac. Inside the hilarity of Hir (pronounced “here”) is a tragedy howling to get out. Taylor Mac,...

Review: ‘Hir’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I recently came back from London, where I saw the National Theatre’s 25th anniversary production of Tony Kushner’s epic, Angels in America. I thought a lot about that play after seeing Woolly Mammoth...

Magic Time!: ‘Off the Leash: A Journey Into Reality One Black Life at a Time’ at Woolly Mammoth Rehearsal Hall

After I watched eleven B.F.A. candidates in Howard University’s Class of 2017 perform a program of self-scripted audition pieces—character-rich monodramas, actually—I had one overwhelming urge: I...

Review: ‘Pike St.’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Even as fear and animus split the human race asunder, great authors have reminded us for millennia that we really are all one. From the ancient Roman playwright Terrence (“I am human, and nothing...

Review: ‘Baby Screams Miracle’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

What does one say about a play that has a Superstorm as its protagonist? With Clare Barron’s Baby Screams Miracle, now showing at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, just such a storm is nature’s supreme...

Spine: The Second City’s ‘Black Side of the Moon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

“We are not a monolith! We are not a monolith! We are not a monolith!” chanted the six-member cast at the start of Woolly Mammoth’s Second City’s Black Side of the Moon. And, indeed, that large...

Review: The Second City’s ‘Black Side of the Moon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The Second City’s Black Side of the Moon— the Chicago-based comedy troupe’s first foray into post-Obama politics—launched the holiday season this week with an African-American cast and a show that is...

Spine: ‘Straight White Men’ by Young Jean Lee at The Studio Theatre

Young Jean Lee’s theatre, entitled Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company (2003-2016), was dedicated to producing “shows written and directed by Young Jean Lee.” The company produced 12 of Ms. Lee’s...

Review: ‘Straight White Men’ at The Studio Theatre

In these jagged days immediately after the election, Studio Theatre’s richly revealing production of Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee is bracing, to say the least. It deserves our attention no...

‘Getting to Know The Edge of the Universe Players 2’s ‘Pullman, WA’ 11/13-20 at Woolly Mammoth by Bill Goodman

Getting to Know the Play Pullman, WA by Young Jean Lee Reflections by Producer Bill Goodman, The Edge of the Universe Players 2. During the process of producing Pullman, WA, I’ve come to appreciate it...

Review: ‘The Trump Card’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

The Trump Card, an original solo performance by monologist extraordinaire Mike Daisey, is a searing punch in the gut to rival any leaked Access Hollywood tape. The current production, which only runs...

Magic Time! Mike Daisey on Playing ‘The Trump Card’ in the Turbulence of Trump

You might say The Trump Card keeps getting dealt one new hand after another. Since Mike Daisey’s monologue played to acclaim in August at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Donald Trump’s campaign for...

Review: ‘Kiss’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I go to see live theatre for a lot of reasons. I go to laugh and to be moved, to feel excitement or empathy, to be entertained in a way that just isn’t possible with podcasts or Netflix. I also go...

Magic Time! ‘Kiss’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Kiss is a work to be reckoned with. Its power and importance, its comedic wit and caustic intelligence, make it a major theatrical event of the season. For anyone who prefers shows to have substance...

Rick Foucheux, Veteran DC Actor, Talks About Giving Back for Quotidian Theatre’s ‘HUGHIE’ Benefit Performance on October 30th at 7 PM

It’s an act of love and giving back. Rick Foucheux, veteran actor and esteemed member of the DC theater community, is taking to the Quotidian Theatre Company stage in Bethesda to reprise his iconic,...

Review: The Midtown Men at ‘Arts By George’ at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts

One of Northern Virginia’s bright jewel arts events, ARTS by George! returned to the Center for the Arts, George Mason University Fairfax campus with plenty of sharp, crisp, musical style from the...

Review #2: ‘Collective Rage’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

“Can feminism be funny?” inquiring minds at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company want to know. For that is the conundrum that connects Sheila Callaghan’s Women Laughing Alone With Salad, Woolly’s cheeky hit...

Review #1: ‘Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Let’s just get this out of the way. Jen Silverman’s Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops (its full title is Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops; In Essence a Queer and Occasionally Hazardous...

‘Take A Bow’ Part 6: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Spring/Summer 2016 Performances

Here’s Part 6 of the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ favorite Spring/Summer 2016 performances. To our honorees: TAKE A BOW! ______ Hasani Allen as J.D. in Heathers at Red Branch Theatre Company. More...

‘Take A Bow’ Part 5: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Spring/Summer 2016 Performances

Here’s Part 5 of the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ favorite Spring/Summer 2016 performances. To our honorees: TAKE A BOW! Paula Arcila in Miss Cuarenta at GALA Hispanic Theatre. Paula Arcila, a...

‘Take A Bow’ Part 4: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Spring/Summer 2016 Performances

Here’s Part 4 of the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ favorite Spring/Summer 2016 performances. To our honorees: TAKE A BOW! Kestrel Coffee as Jessie in Rain Follows the Plow at The 2016 Capital Fringe...

‘Take A Bow’ Part 1: The Staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ Favorite Spring/Summer 2016 Performances

Here’s Part 1 of the staff of DCMetroTheaterArts’ favorite Spring/Summer 2016 performances. To our honorees: TAKE A BOW! Stephanie Atha as Winifred and Sofia Bordner as Jane Banks in Mary Poppins at...

Review: ‘Aliens with Extraordinary Skills’ at the 4615 Theatre Company

The 4615 Theatre Company returns to Woolly Mammoth’s classroom theatre with its DC premiere of Saviana Stanescu’s Aliens with Extraordinary Skills. With its touching story, enthusiastic ensemble, and...

Review: ‘The Trump Card’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Mike Daisey knew full well why we came out to see The Trump Card. We were out for “red meat.” We wanted to hear Mike Daisey tear Donald Trump to shreds. We wanted to see Mike kick his ass! And he did....

Spine: ‘We Know How You Die’ and an Oracular Upright Citizens Brigade

We Know How You Die, the Upright Citizens Brigade’s improvised, audience participation exploration of the Oracle, its predictive methodology, and its impact on the American political—STOP! You will...

Review: ‘We Know How You Die!’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

I sure laughed a lot at the show I saw the other night at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Gut-busting funny, it was. And I’d highly recommend you catch it…except it was made up on the spot, never to be seen...

Magic Time! ‘An Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’s An Octoroon wears irony on its sleeve with the same effrontery that three of its characters wear red, white, and black greasepaint to dissemble “race.” Just opened at Woolly...

Spine: ‘An Octoroon,’ ‘The Octoroon’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

An Octoroon, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ re-imagining of Dion Boucicault’s pre-Civil War classic The Octoroon, opened last night at Woolly Mammoth. Postmodern, hip, sardonic, farcical–An Octoroon deals...