Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co Presents IN THE NEXT ROOM OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY, Closes 9/19

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company kicks off its 31st season with the 2010 Tony-nominee and Pulitzer Prize-finalist, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, written by Sarah Ruhl, directed by DC-favorite Aaron Posner. The show runs August 23 - September 19; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm.

At the dawn of the electrical age, a new medical device is developed to pacify "hysterical" women, but it produces a shockingly different result. Sarah Ruhl, creator of The Clean House and Dead Man's Cell Phone, returns to Woolly with a richly textured comedy about marriage, motherhood, and the charged energy between our bodies.

Sarah Ruhl first came to Woolly in 2004 with a production of her award-winning play The Clean House (Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2004; Pulitzer Prize-finalist, 2005). Since then, The Clean House has been produced more than a dozen times at theatres across the country and around the world. Ruhl returned to Woolly in the 2006/07 Season with Dead Man's Cell Phone. This world-premiere production won the 2008 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, and also went on to be produced around the country and internationally. Today, Ruhl is one of the most produced playwrights in America.

Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz says, "We are thrilled to welcome Sarah back for this remarkable new work. In the Next Room or the vibrator play builds on Sarah's fascination with the effects of technology that we saw in Dead Man's Cell Phone. In the Next Room... has all the charm and wit we have come to associate with her previous work, yet her story and characters are developed with a new level of detail and depth, marking yet another step forward for one of our most original American writers."

In the Next Room or the vibrator play will feature Woolly Company Members Jessica Frances Dukes (Full Circle, Eclipsed, Antebellum), Kimberly Gilbert (Fever/Dream, Measure for Pleasure, Clybourne Park) and Sarah Marshall (The Clean House, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Maria/Stuart). The production will also feature Cody Nickell (Clybourne Park), Eric Hissom and James Konicek in their Woolly debuts, and Katie deBuys in her DC theatre debut.

In the Next Room or the vibrator play will feature set design by Daniel Conway, costumes by Helen Q. Huang, lighting design by Woolly Associate Artist and Princes Grace Theater Fellow Colin K. Bills, and sound design by James Sugg.

In the Next Room or the vibrator play
Written by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Aaron Posner

CAST (in order of appearance)

Catherine Givings...................................................................................................................Katie deBuys
Dr. Givings...............................................................................................................................Eric Hissom
Annie..................................................................................................................................Sarah Marshall*
Sabrina Daldry..................................................................................................................Kimberly Gilbert*
Mr. Daldry...........................................................................................................................James Konicek Elizabeth...............................................................................................................Jessica Frances Dukes*
Leo Irving.................................................................................................................................Cody Nickell

*denotes member of Woolly Mammoth Acting Company

CREATIVE TEAM

Playwright..................................................................................................................................Sarah Ruhl
Director..................................................................................................................................Aaron Posner
Set Designer.......................................................................................................................Daniel Conway
Costume Designer.............................................................................................................Helen Q. Huang
Lighting Designer....................................................................................................................Colin K. Bills
Sound Designer.......................................................................................................................James Sugg
Properties...........................................................................................................................Jennifer Sheetz
Dramaturg...............................................................................................................................Kristin Leahy

In the Next Room or the vibrator play is presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah Ruhl's plays have been produced locally at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Arena Stage, and Round House Theatre. Her body of work includes In the Next Room or the vibrator play (Glickman Prize; Tony-nominated, 2010; finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 2010), The Clean House (Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2004; finalist for Pulitzer Prize, 2005), Dead Man's Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play), Demeter in the City (nominated for nine NAACP awards), Eurydice, Melancholy Play, Orlando, a new version of Chekhov's Three Sisters, and Passion Play (Kennedy Center Fourth Forum Freedom Award). Her plays have been seen at the Lyceum Theater on Broadway, produced by Lincoln Center Theater; off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights' Horizons, and Second Stage; and regionally at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Yale Repertory Theater, the Goodman Theater, Cornerstone Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, and the Piven Theater Workshop in Chicago, as well being produced at many other theaters across the country. Her plays have also been performed in England, Poland, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia, and have been translated into Spanish, Polish, Russian, Korean, and Arabic. Sarah received her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with Paula Vogel, and is originally from Chicago. In 2003, she was the recipient of a Helen Merrill award and a Whiting Writers' award, a PEN/Laura Pels award, and in 2006 was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. Her work is published by TCG and Samuel French, and she is a member of New Dramatists and 13P. She lives in New York City with her family.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Aaron Posner is a director, playwright, teacher, and consultant. A DC-favorite, his recent work includes Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Arcadia, the Helen Hayes Award-winning Measure for Measure, and Macbeth at the Folger Theatre. Posner's co-direction of Macbeth with Penn & Teller at the Folger was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as "among the best Shakespeare productions in America." Posner has directed at major regional theatres across the country including Actors Theatre of Louisville, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, ALLIANCE THEATRE, Delaware Theatre Company, and Round House Theatre. His adaptations of literature-which include The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey and a musical of A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage by Mark Twain (with music by James Sugg) and many more-have been published by Dramatists Play Service, and been produced by more than 30 theatres from coast to coast, as well as in Canada, Israel, Brazil, and South Africa. He is the founder and former artistic director of the Arden Theatre Company and the former artistic director of Two River Theater Company. He has won Barrymore Awards and Helen Hayes Awards for directing and playwriting, is an Eisenhower Fellow, and is originally from Eugene, Oregon.

For detailed biographical information about the cast and creative team of In the Next Room or the vibrator play, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.

BLOGS AND PODCASTS
Beginning Tuesday, July 20, Woolly Mammoth will re-launch the Woolly Blog so that audiences can follow along with the creation of Woolly's production of In the Next Room or the vibrator play and each of the shows in the 31st season. Radio Woolly will re-launch on Wednesday, July 28, and will feature podcasts that will alternate weekly between production-based content and organization-based content. The Woolly Blog can be found at woollymammothblog.com, and all Radio Woolly podcasts are available for download on iTunes.

CONNECTIVITY EVENTS
Several audience exchanges and forums will surround Woolly's production of In the Next Room or the vibrator play. A schedule of events will be announced in mid-August.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
In the Next Room or the vibrator play runs August 23 - September 19; Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. There is no 3pm performance on August 28. Additionally, Monday, August 23 & Tuesday, August 24, will be Pay-What-You-Can performances and will begin at 8pm.

TICKETS
Tickets for In the Next Room or the vibrator play are $30 - $65, and can be purchased through the Woolly Mammoth Box Office at 202-393-3939, online at www.woollymammoth.net, or in person at the Box Office located at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). For directions and parking information, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.

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.

www.woollymammoth.net

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