Washington DC's Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced a five-play 2000-2001 season that will be split between its current Church Street space and the Kennedy Center's AFI Theater.
The end of the troupe's lease necessitated a temporary move, but the company expects to be in its new, permanent home at 7th and D Street by fall 2003.
The three-play Kennedy Center residency begins in January 2001 with Suzan Lori Parks' In the Blood, directed by Tom Prewitt (Jan. 8-Feb. 4, 2001).
The season also includes:
• The American premiere of Canadian playwright George Walker's Heaven, about a human rights lawyer grappling with his own prejudices. Artistic director Howard Shalwitz directs at Church Street. Aug. 28-Oct. 1. • Lesbian performance artist Holly Hughes' Preaching to the Perverted, written and performed by Hughes, a dark exploration of legal and sexual politics. Hughes was one of the infamous "NEA four" whose artistic content challenged the notion of government arts funding. Lois Weaver directs at Church Street. Oct. 30-Dec. 5.
• In the Blood, a Pulitzer Prize finalist by Parks, a modern riff on "The Scarlet Letter" that is part satire, part urban melodrama involving a single mother of five. Jan. 8-Feb. 4, 2001 at the AFI Theater.
• A world premiere to be announced. March 19-April 15, 2001 at the AFI Theater.
• David Lindsay-Abaire's Fuddy Meers, about an amnesiac's wild ride with people who may or may not be her friends and family. Manhattan Theatre Club's fall 1999 staging transferred to an independent Off-Broadway run in 2000 for several months. Lee Mikeska Gardner directs at the AFI Theater. June 4-July 1, 2001.
Woolly Mammoth will share the AFI Theater space with the African Continuum Theater Company, the AFI and the Kennedy Center. The commitment is only until July 2001, and Woolly Mammoth will seek a second interim space prior to its fall 2003 move to its new 250-seat theatre downtown. The award-winning company is committed to producing "unconventional new plays that are highly-charged emotionally, verbally and intellectually."
Next up for the company is the world premiere of Lindsay Abaire's Wonder of the World, about a woman who leaves her husband to enrich her life, beginning with a visit to Niagara Falls, May 22-June 25.
For Woolly Mammoth subscription information, call (202) 393 3939.
-- By Kenneth Jones
