PULITZER PRIZE-FINALIST RAJIV JOSEPH HAS “AN EAR FOR THE HEARTBEAT OF THE MOMENT” (VULTURE) IN DESCRIBE THE NIGHT, OPENING MAY 27TH
(Washington, DC) Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces the final production of its 2018-2019 season, Describe the Night by Rajiv Joseph. Directed by Woolly Mammoth Company Member John Vreeke, and featuring design work by Woolly Mammoth Company Members Misha Kachman, Colin K. Bills, and Ivania Stack, Describe the Night will run from May 27, 2019 to June 23, 2019.
In 1920, Russian Jewish writer Isaac Babel starts a diary while wandering the countryside with the Red Cavalry. In 2010, after the crash of an aircraft carrying the Polish president, his diary is discovered among the wreckage. What did Babel write, and why does it matter so much to a low-level KGB agent who may or may not be Vladimir Putin? Describe the Night uncovers the mystery by tracing the stories of seven lost souls connected across decades by history, fiction, lies, and blood.
Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rajiv Joseph returns to Woolly after hit productions of Guards at the Taj (2016) and Gruesome Playground Injuries (2010). Describe the Night is a “work of major ambition” (New York Times) which won the 2018 Obie award for Best New American Play.
“Set over the course of ninety years and spanning multiple countries, Describe the Night is a uniquely ambitious, powerful, and timely play,” says Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director María Manuela Goyanes. “By holding a mirror up to the former Soviet Union, I can’t help but see ourselves reflected back in ways that feel prescient and somewhat foreboding.”
Rajiv Joseph (Playwright) premiered Describe the Night at Atlantic Theater Company in 2017. His play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and a grant recipient for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. His play Guards at the Taj was a 2016 Obie Winner for Best New American Play and 2016 Lucille Lortel Winner for Best Play. His play Archduke received its World Premiere last spring at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Other plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Monster at the Door, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, and Mr. Wolf.
Rajiv has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He is a board member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City, where he develops all his plays. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.
John Vreeke* (Director) has directed for Woolly for the past fifteen years. His assignments include, but are not limited to, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries and Guards at the Taj, Lisa D’Amour’s Detroit and Cherokee, Kris Diaz’s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety, which received nine Helen Hayes nominations, Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul, and Sam Hunter’s A Bright New Boise. He is a six-time Helen Hayes Nominee for Best Director. John also directed Tony Kushner’s epic play The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Socialism and Capitalism with a Key to the Scriptures for Theater J, and, for the Round House Theater, Nicki Silver’s The Lyons and Annie Baker’s Uncle Vanya. He is a regular director at Metro Stage with award winning shows such as Stoppard’s Heroes, and he directed Stephen Adley Gurigi’s The Last Days of Judas Iscariot twice for Forum Theater. Directing credits at other DC area theaters include: Washington Shakespeare Company, Everyman Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Source Festival, Charter Theatre, Theater Alliance, Kennedy Center TYA, Imagination Stage, and the Helen Hayes Awards Ceremony. He started his professional work as a director decades ago with Nina Vance at the Alley Theatre. He worked with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Attic Theatre in LA, Salt Lake Acting Company, and First Stage in Milwaukee. He was the Associate Producer and Casting Associate for the CBS TV Series: Northern Exposure.
Cast members in Woolly’s production of Describe the Night include Jonathan David Martin (Isaac), Tim Getman* (Nikolai), Regina Aquino (Yevgenia), Danny Gavigan (Vova), Moriamo Temidayo Akibu (Urzula), Justin Weaks (Feliks), and Kate Eastwood Norris* (Mariya).
The scenic design for Describe the Night is by Misha Kachman*. The remaining members of the production team include Ivania Stack* (costume design); Colin K. Bills* (lighting design); Roc Lee (sound design); Mollie Singer (assistant scenic design); Lorraine Ressegger-Sloane (movement choreographer); and Rachael Danielle Albert (production stage manager).
*Denotes Woolly Mammoth Company Member
SCHEDULE
Describe the Night runs May 27, 2019 to June 23, 2019, with performances: Tuesday-Thursday at 7:30 pm; Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 3 pm and 8 pm (except June 1, which features an 8 pm performance only); and Sunday at 2 pm and 7 pm (except June 2, which features a 7 pm performance only); with two Pay What You Will performances on Monday, May 27 and Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30 pm.
PERFORMANCE CALENDAR
May 27, 2019: Pay What You Will performance at 7:30 pm
May 28, 2019: Pay What You Will performance at 7:30 pm
May 29, 2019: Preview performance at 7:30 pm
May 30, 2019: Preview performance at 7:30 pm
May 31, 2019: Opening Night Performance at 7:30 pm
June 1, 2019: Performance at 8 pm
June 2, 2019: Performance at 7 pm
June 5, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 6, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 7, 2019: Performance at 8 pm
June 8, 2019: Performances at 3 pm and 8 pm
June 9, 2019: Performances at 2 pm and 7 pm
June 12, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 13, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 14, 2019: Performance at 8 pm
June 15, 2019: Performances at 3 pm and 8 pm
June 16, 2019: Performances at 2 pm and 7 pm
June 19, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 20, 2019: Performance at 7:30 pm
June 21, 2019: Performance at 8 pm
June 22, 2019: Performances at 3 pm and 8 pm
June 23, 2019: Performances at 2 pm and 7 pm
TICKETS
Tickets to Describe the Night start at $46. Visit us online at woollymammoth.net, by phone at (202) 393-3939, via email at [email protected], or in person at the Box Office, located at 641 D Street NW.
Patrons who are 30-years-old and younger may, at any time, purchase Section C tickets for $20 to any performance. There are also discounts available for educators, first responder men and women and active US military personnel, spouses, and veterans. More information is available at woollymammoth.net.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
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ABOUT WOOLLY
Woolly Mammoth is “the hottest theater company in town” (Washington Post); priding itself on developing, producing, and making theatre that disrupts conventional processes and stimulates transformative experiences. The shared Leadership Team of María Manuela Goyanes (Artistic Director) and Meghan Pressman (Managing Director) is supported by a core company of artists and holds itself to a high standard of artistic excellence. Woolly is relentless in its desire to take risks, experiment, innovate, interrogate, and create a radically inclusive community.
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Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
woollymammoth.net // 202.393.3939
641 D Street NW Washington, DC 20004
