Description
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company was founded in Washington, DC in 1980. Now in our 34th season, Woolly is "...the hottest theatre company in town" (The Washington Post, May 2008), "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times, November 2007).
Woolly serves an essential 'Research and Development’ role within the American theatre and plays premiered here have gone on to productions at more than 200 theatres in 39 states and 12 countries. Recent premieres include David Adjmi’s Stunning(2008), which was produced by Lincoln Center Theatre in June 2009; meanwhile, Danai Gurira’sEclipsed (2009) moved on to productions at the Center Theater Group and Yale Repertory Theatre later fall 2009. This track record has established Woolly as a national leader in the development of new plays and longstanding acknowledgement as "Washington’s most daring theatre company" (The New York Times, 1991).
We make extra efforts to connect audiences to our boundary-breaking work and to give back to the DC community that has given so much to us. Ticket accessibility programs including "Pay-What-You-Can" performances and $15 "Stampede Seats" attract one of the youngest and most diverse theatre audiences in DC to Woolly. And we engage this audience by offering extensive dramaturgy on each production, programming panels and post-show discussions featuring experts from the academic and policy worlds, and providing audiences with direct access to our artists.
Woolly is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with an annual operating budget of more than $4 million. To read our FY11 audit, click here. Our full-time staff of 23 is led by Founding Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz and Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann and overseen by a 21-member Board of Directors.
Woolly Mammoth has received over 200 Helen Hayes Award nominations for its productions and 35 Helen Hayes Awards. These include ten Charles MacArthur Awards for Outstanding New Play, as well as an award for Outstanding Director given to Woolly’s Artistic Director, Howard Shalwitz, for his production of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama, Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park. The Outside Woolly program has been honored with the Washington Post Award for Outstanding Community Service. Woolly Mammoth has twice received the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence and the theatre was awarded a 2005 Otto Rn Castillo Award for Political Theatre.
