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Howard Shalwitz papers

 Collection 0429-SCPA

Howard Shalwitz is an American actor, director, and teacher. In 1980, he co-founded the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company with Roger Brady and Linda Reinisch. The company performed in several D.C. venues before establishing its permanent 265-seat theater in the city’s Penn Quarter neighborhood. It produces new plays that are frequently experimental, provocative, or challenging to audiences.

Shalwitz served as the Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company through the 2017-2018 season, becoming the Artistic Director Emeritus. During his tenure, Shalwitz guided nearly 100 new works to performance, and the company garnered 45 Helen Hayes Awards. A distinguished finalist for the 2011 Zelda Fichandler Award for Outstanding Regional Director, Shalwitz is the recipient of the 2014 Margo Jones Award in recognition of his lifetime commitment to new American plays.

The collection contains administrative planning documents pertaining to the running of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Shalwitz's notebooks, scripts, and promotional material.

Dates

  • 1980-2020

Collection Use and Access

The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.

Duplication and Copyright Information

Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.

To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.

Extent

20 Linear Feet

Scope and Contents

The Howard Shalwitz papers cover the period from 1980 to 2020. The collection contains administrative documents for Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, scripts, photographs, notebooks, and promotional materials.

Biographical / Historical

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.

Custodial History and Acquisition Information

Gift of Howard Shalwitz, received on April 6, 2022.

Related Materials

• James J. Taylor collection of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA), Special Collections in Performing Arts, University of Maryland Libraries. (finding aid).

• Interview with Howard Shalwitz by Jean Battey Lewis, November 1993, 4.1. Jean Battey Lewis papers, 0403-SCPA. Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. (see item)

Title
Howard Shalwitz papers
Status
Completed
Author
Jessica Grimmer
Date
April 2022
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
8270 Alumni Drive
College Park MD 20742 United States