Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company records
Collection
0451-SCPA-WMTC
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is an experimental theatre company located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1980 by Howard Shalwitz, Roger Brady, and Linda Reinish, the company occupied several spaces before establishing its permanent 265-seat theatre in the city's Penn Quarter neighborhood. It produces plays that are frequently experimental, provocative, or challenging to audiences.
The collection contains administrative and company identity materials, documentation of tours and special events, performing season documents, photographs, dramaturgy, stage design, and promotional material, as well as correspondence by audience members.
The collection is still being processed but is open for research use with an appointment. A requestable inventory will be added to this online finding aid but, at present, researchers must request materials by first contacting SCPA's curator. 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.
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.
28.5 Linear Feet
20 boxes and 2 folders totaling 28.5 linear feet of artistic and administrative records consisting of papers, photographs (prints, negatives, and slides), video recordings, realia, and ephemera relating to the founding and operation of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company was founded in 1980 by Howard Shalwitz, Roger Brady, and Linda Reinisch in Washington D.C. with the intention of creating a company focused on artistic experimentation. The company sought to distiguish themselves from regional theatre companies through the performance of new works rather than standards. To challenge audiences both aestheticcaly and politically, Woolly Mammoth emplpoyed fresh approaches to acting, directing, and design.
The first season was presented in a church hall near D.C.'s Metro Center. Soon, it moved to a rented warehouse along D.C.'s 14th Street corridor. Here, it engaged in community outreach, including "Pay What You Will" nights at the theatre. In 2005, following a four-year capital campaign performing in other venues, it established its current home in a 265-seat courtyard-style theatre in the Penn Quarter neighborhood.
Woolly Mammoth continues to produce provocative plays, including avant garde classics and new works by a diverse range of American playwrights and solo performers. It continues to employ a core artistic company, featuring them alongside guest artists from the D.C. region and across the country.
Woolly Mammoth has received 52 Helen Hayes Awards, including ten Charles MacArthur Awards for Outstanding New Play and two awards for Outstanding Director. It has twice received the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence. The theatre was awarded a 2005 Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre. In 2022, Woolly Mammoth received its first Tony Award for Michael R Jackson's A Strange Loop.
Gift of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company; facilitated by Ted DeLong, Interim Managing Directory; received on April 28, 2023.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library