Wolly Mammoth Theatre Ends Run of CLYBOURNE PARK, 3/15-4/11

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will end its four-week run of Clybourne Park, the newest work by Bruce Norris (playwright of The Unmentionables), directed by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company's Artistic Director, Howard Shalwitz, on April 11th. Clybourne Park recently opened at New York's Playwrights Horizons to rave reviews.

In the 1950s, a white community in Chicago splinters over the black family about to move into their neighborhood. Fast forward to present day: this same house houses a very different demographic as we climb through the looking glass of Lorraine Hansberry's classic A Raisin in the Sun. Neighbors pitch a horrifying yet hilarious battle over territory and legacy that reveals how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved-or have they?

Community Connection
Clybourne Park is actually highly reflective of the changes happening to neighborhoods across our metropolitan area. Woolly Mammoth will offer a variety of opportunities for our audiences and the community to investigate the social and political implications of the changing urban landscape in D.C. and the insights and questions in Norris' Woolly is opening its doors to the myriad bloggers reflecting on life in their respective neighborhoods. These independent writers will attend performances of Clybourne Park and respond to the play. We will also post their responses as part of a series of articles accessible on Facebook, Twitter and woollymammoth.net.

For its regularly scheduled post-performance discussion series, the theatre is inviting special guests; area experts in the fields of urban development, gentrification, conflict resolution and cross-cultural dialogue; to serve as "Community Catalysts" for post show discussions. Scheduled guests include: Dr. Howell Baum, University of Maryland's School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation; Lou Gieszel, Deputy Director of the Maryland Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO); Charniece Fox, award-winning film producer, poet, director, and screenwriter with Straight No Chaser Films and One Common Unity.

With Clybourne Park, Woolly is launching "Radio Woolly," podcast series addressing a range of topics from the cultural and economic aspects of home ownership to the design concept of the production, and featuring candid interviews with District residents, activists, artists, developers, and entrepreneurs. Partners and featured speakers include: D.C. Historical Society; Gayle Wald, George Washington University; Ellie Walton, co-director of independent film Chocolate City; Mark McInturff, McInturff Architects; Jennifer Nelson, playwright, director, actress, and former Artistic Director of African Continuum Theatre Company; and Jefferson Russell, actor appearing in Clybourne Park.

Woolly is hosting a community reading of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, the American classic. Members of the community are invited to attend with their own scripts and have the opportunity to read sections of the play. The reading, held in partnership with the Intersections New America Arts Festival, will be followed by a facilitated group discussion. A Raisin in the Sun: A Community Dialogue will be held Saturday, March 6 at 4:30pm at the Atlas Center for Performing Arts (1333 H Street, NE). Admission is free and no reservations are required. Additional details are available at Woollymammoth.net or Intersectionsdc.org.

Bruce Norris (Playwright) is a writer and actor whose play, The Unmentionables (2006) was produced at Woolly Mammoth in 2007. His other plays include The Infidel (2000), Purple Heart (2002), We All Went Down To Amsterdam (2003), and The Pain and the Itch (2004), all of which had their premieres at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. His newest play, A Parallelogram, will premiere there later this year. His adaptation of Joe Orton's Up Against It (1994) and The Vanishing Twin (1996) were seen at Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre. His work has also been produced at Philadelphia Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Royal Court Theatre (London), and The Galway Festival (Ireland). He is the recipient of a Steinberg Playwright Award (2009), the Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama (2006), two Joseph Jefferson Awards (Chicago) for Best New Work, and the Kesselring Prize, Honorable Mention (2006). As an actor he has appeared in the films A Civil Action and The Sixth Sense, and in the upcoming film All Good Things. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Howard Shalwitz (Director / Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director) is a co-founder of Woolly Mammoth, and has led the company on a unique path for 30 years, focused on new plays that ask provocative questions, introduce fresh voices, and challenge theatrical convention. Both a director and an actor, Howard is one of the few artists to receive multiple Helen Hayes Award nominations in both categories. At Woolly he has directed nearly thirty plays, including Fever/Dream, Measure for Pleasure, She Stoops to Comedy, and The Faculty Room, and appeared in The Gigli Concert, Lenny & Lou, and Rocket to the Moon, to mention just a few. He has directed for major New York and regional companies including, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Arena Stage, and Milwaukee Rep, and performed with Studio Arena, Soho Rep, New Jersey Shakespeare, and many more. A native of Buffalo, Howard studied philosophy at Wesleyan University and received a Masters in Teaching from Brown University before launching his theatre career in New York in 1975. Now in its 30th Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place as a theatre that produces leading edge work. Acknowledged as, "the hottest theatre company in town" (The Washington Post), "known for its productions of innovative new plays" (The New York Times), Woolly Mammoth is a 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 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 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.

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