Howard Shalwitz papers

Howard Shalwitz (b. Buffalo, NY, 1952) is an American actor and director, best known as co-founder and longtime Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Raised in the Buffalo suburb of Kenmore, Shalwitz credits his parents with introducing him to theatre and the arts at a young age. Along with his brother and two sisters, the family frequented the Stratford and Shaw Festivals in Ontario, and the Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo which offered both modern classics and new works. During high school, Shalwitz performed in plays and musicals at the Buffalo Jewish Community Center and Kenmore West Senior High School, where he graduated as Student Council President and class salutatorian in 1970.

Intending to follow in his father’s footsteps, Shalwitz began a pre-med path in college, but graduated from Wesleyan University in 1974 with a degree in philosophy. He completed a Master of Arts in Teaching at Brown University in 1975, aiming for a career in education. After his graduate work, Shalwitz returned to Buffalo for “a year off” to pursue acting again, but his passion for the theatre stuck. He found employment as an actor and associate producer of a dinner theater company, landed a role at the Studio Arena Theatre, and then moved to New York City where he performed with Off-Broadway and regional companies between 1976 and 1979.

In the summer of 1976, Shalwitz met Roger Brady, a fellow acting intern at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. Over the coming years, the pair developed a vision to create a new theater company focused on artistic experimentation. In 1980, following a national search for a location, they co-founded, with Linda Reinisch, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. The company grew steadily, performing in several venues before establishing its award-winning 265-seat theater in the city’s Penn Quarter neighborhood in 2005.

Today, Woolly Mammoth is regarded as one of America’s leading producers of provocative new plays. Productions have included avant garde classics as well as new works by a diverse range of American playwrights and solo performers. Working with a core artistic company and guest artists from the DC region and across the country, the theatre seeks to challenge audiences both aesthetically and politically. It is also known for its innovative community engagement activities.

Shalwitz served as Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth through the 2017-2018 season, becoming the Artistic Director Emeritus. During his tenure, he guided the production of over 200 works including numerous world premieres that went on to be produced across the US and around the world. He played major roles in 15 Woolly Mammoth productions and directed over 30, along with productions at other regional and New York theatres. Active in both local and national theatre affairs, Shalwitz was a founding Board member of the League of Washington Theatres, the Helen Hayes Awards, and the National New Play Network. As both an actor and director, he was nominated for multiple Helen Hayes Awards. He was distinguished finalist for the 2011 Zelda Fichandler Award for Outstanding Regional Director and received the 2014 Margo Jones Award in recognition of his lifetime commitment to new American plays.

Currently, Shalwitz is serving as Associate Director of the Center for International Theatre Development in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is working to build relationships between theatre leaders in the US and their counterparts in Poland. He also teaches in the graduate theatre program at the University of Maryland and lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his partner of 43 years, Jeanette Reitz.