Kirjahaku

Dark Comedy / Characters: 5m, 1f / Interior In The Faculty Room, Bridget Carpenter explores the darker side of high school life from the inside of that mythic room, the teacher's lounge. English teacher Adam, Drama teacher Zoe and Ethics teacher Bill, along with mysterious new World History teacher Carver, are all taunted by the disembodied voice of Principal Dennis on the P.A. system. Dedicated yet desperate, inspired yet burnt out, hateful yet loving - the teachers of Madison Feury High are a bundle of contradictions in Carpenter's rich portrait. A funny and caustic look at how truly f*cked up the relationships between teachers and students can get, The Faculty Room erupts with gunshots, desperate longing, and a growing wave of spiritual fanaticism. Our education system may never recover. Winner of the Kesselring Prize for Playwriting. "Lively black comedy...A rollercoaster course...Shalwitz gives the evening a snappy, agitated flair. The design supports the script intelligently." - City Paper "The three lead actors [Bowen, Anderson & Russotto] bring a lot of humor to their roles. The dialogue is sharp." - Washingtonian "A delightful madhouse [of] over-the-edge teachers...A riot" - Arlington Weekly News "Witty dialogue & fine acting [in] this engaging play" - The Economist. com/Cities Guide "Outrageous circumstances. Howard Shalwitz's good-looking production strikes the right tone. Underplayed pretty much to perfection by Michael Willis...Megan Anderson is an appealing presence." - Washington Post "Cutthroat portrayals by Bowen & Anderson...Woolly should be commended for their unwavering commitment to new work" - Washington Times "Clever one-liners abound...a biting, caustic vision" - DCist.com "Woolly Mammoth's usual excellence characterizes the design team - refreshing & funny" - DC Theatre Reviews

3m, 2f and 2 dancers / Comedy / Unit set Fall brings us to a three-week getaway "Swing Camp," where middle-aged married couples like Jill and Dog practice their steps, mingle with other dance enthusiasts, and rekindle the flame. Their teenage daughter Lydia, however, is decidedly not an enthusiast in any sense, preferring scuba classes and sarcasm to the magic of the Shim Sham, shags and Lindy Hops that have dancers - and their accompanying passions - swirling all around her. Lydia's self-imposed isolation gives way when Mr. Gonzales, her mother's quiet colleague, begins to pay attention to her. She learns to dance; she allows herself to fall in love. When Lydia's dance teacher Gopal reveals Lydia's secret, her family is unexpectedly tested. Ultimately, Lydia and Jill come to realize that leading and following are skills crucial not only to swing dancers, but to mothers and daughters as well. "...[the play] serves up some gentle truths about life, love and what your family is really worth. Seasoned with the music of the '40s and spiced with a little romance, it's a tasty morsel, if not a full meal." - CultureVulture.net

3m, 3f / Dramatic Comedy / Unit Set Up invites us into the life of Walter Griffin, a failed inventor obsessed with Philippe Petit's famed 1974 wire-walk between the twin World Trade Center towers. Walter's greatest moment of glory - a flight on a lawn chair festooned with helium balloons - is now long behind him, though Walter dreams of inventing something wonderful once more. His wife, Helen, has become disillusioned and frustrated at being the family's only breadwinner. Their teenage son, Mikey, harbors dreams of his own: after befriending Maria, a pregnant girl in his class, Mikey becomes involved in her family's phone sales business, with surprising results. When Walter finally takes a job, Mike keeps his a secret, and Helen allows herself to dream of a more secure life. But when Helen discovers the truth about Walter's employment, it becomes clear to this family that life itself is lived on a wire not unlike Petit's, this one strung between happiness and sadness. "A brilliant play...original, poignant, moving, sad and funny. I have rarely sat in a theater audience that laughed so hard at one moment and, at the next, sat so still you'd swear you could hear the actors' hearts beating together on stage." - Eugene Register-Guard "The incredible and beautiful conclusion leaves the audience thinking, philosophizing and talking in the car all the way home...a perfect mix of comedy and drama." - Grants Pass Daily Courier "Not only has the playwright nailed the ultra-cool cadence of the next generation, but she also has captured an essential truth about the lure of the impossible dream, its freedom and its danger." - Mercury News