Woolly Announces 32nd Season, Includes BASIL TWIST FESTIVAL And More

Following on the heels of a record-breaking 31st season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces its lineup of provocative new works for Season 32. "With recessions, revolutions, and natural disasters dominating the news, how could our playwrights not respond?" asks Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "We've had great fun pulling together a season that celebrates the question on all our minds: Does our civilization have an expiration date? And what comes next? Some of America's most creative theatre makers will mine our collective visions of the apocalypse-with all the drama, jokes, and dreams they inspire."

The 2011/12 season includes the Woolly debut for rising young playwright Samuel D. Hunter, world premieres by innovative playwrights Jason Grote and Anne Washburn, a new collaboration between Woolly artists and Chicago's The Second City following this season's A Girl's Guide to Washington Politics which broke multiple sales records, and participation in a Basil Twist Festival along with Shakespeare Theatre Company and another theatre to be announced at a later date.

Shalwitz continues: "We start this fall with A Bright New Boise, Samuel D. Hunter's moving Midwestern tale of longing for the Rapture which opened to rave reviews at the Partial Comfort Theatre in New York (‘This clear-eyed comedy will lift your heart' - TimeOut New York). In February we'll produce the world premiere of Civilization (all you can eat), a wicked satire by Jason Grote that vividly imagines the animals of agribusiness encroaching on us poor humans. We'll close the season in the spring with another world premiere: Anne Washburn's highly-anticipated Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (originally commissioned by the New York-based company The Civilians), a doomsday spectacular with music by Obie Award-winner J. Michael Friedman (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) depicting a post-apocalyptic America sustained by memories of an animated TV series."

"We're also thrilled to announce two new collaborations: Woolly's company of DC actors and designers will partner with members of Chicago's legendary The Second City to create the ultimate anti-holiday provocation, Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies; and we'll welcome drag sensation Joey Arias and risqué puppeteer Basil Twist as they explore a sultry Garden of Eden in Arias With A Twist (‘Eat your heart out, Madonna' - The New York Times). Surrounding each production is a rich menu of Connectivity events-discussions, happy hours, and festivals-that purge our existential anxieties and celebrate survival."

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company--Season 32 (2011/12)

Subscription Season:

A Bright New Boise
By Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by John Vreeke
October 10 - November 6, 2011

Prepare yourself: in the parking lot of a mega craft store in Idaho, someone is summoning the Rapture. Samuel D. Hunter's heartbreakingly funny reckoning between a father and son will shatter your preconceptions about the sacred, the profane, and the secret lives of big box retailers.

Spoiler Alert: Everybody Dies
World Premiere
By Chicago's The Second City
December 6, 2011 - January 8, 2012

Laugh while you can, ‘cause things ain't gettin' better. Next season, Woolly artists fly to Chicago to work with The Second City's classic comedy wizards in an unprecedented collaboration. Their mission? Bring back to Washington the most gleeful anti-holiday celebration of doom ever.

Civilization (all you can eat)
World Premiere
By Jason Grote
Directed by Howard Shalwitz
February 13 - March 11, 2012

Does humanity have an expiration date? Four hungry friends from grad school face the dawn of the recession in this scathing satire of American enterprise and ingenuity. But while they're busy cooking up schemes for love and success, the beasts of agribusiness are closing in...

Arias With a Twist
Created by Joey Arias and Basil Twist
Directed by Basil Twist
April 4 - April 29, 2012

When aliens abduct a large drag queen and drop her in a teeny Garden of Eden, will she have room to fall from grace? International cabaret sensation Joey Arias and Obie Award-winning puppeteer Basil Twist team up for an eye-popping musical tour, from Genesis to risqué universes beyond imagination.

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play
World Premiere
By Anne Washburn
Directed by Steven Cosson
Music by J. Michael Friedman
May 28 - July 1, 2012

Armageddon has hit, and all that remains is our nostalgia for a lost pop culture. In Anne Washburn's riveting vision of post-apocalyptic America, survivors invent a new entertainment industry from the ashes of the old. With music by Obie Award-winner J. Michael Friedman, their enterprise gives redemptive new meaning to the pop hits and cartoon icons we can't live without.

Subscriptions are now on sale and may be purchased online at www.woollymammoth.net, through the Box Office at 202-393-3939, or in person at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). Single tickets will go on sale on Monday, August 1, 2011.
*Play, artists, and dates are subject to change

ABOUT WOOLLY
Now in its 31st Season, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company continues to hold its place at the leading edge of American theatre. 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 mid-sized theatres in America.

Woolly Mammoth is a selected participant in EmcArts' Innovation Lab for the Performing Arts,
a program generously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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