Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company — Attraction in Washington

Woolly Mammoth is my favorite theater company in DC!

Right in the heart of downtown, just a few blocks from the National Mall, seeing a show there makes for great evening plans for tourists and locals alike. Their plays and musicals share intersectional stories, which spark hours of conversation after.

Their space reflects their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as they have touchless door openers with a small lip to enter, making it easy for wheelchair and walker users to enter or leave and functional elevators. All bathrooms are gender neutral, still with plenty of privacy to be comfortable. They have pay-what-you-will performances for every show. Shows centering black stories will have Black Out performances for only black audience members to come and engage with each other. They have closed captioning performances and ASL performances, among many other accessible features. They also host monthly, FREE, Spit Dat slam poetry events for you to watch or perform: a 20-year DC legacy.

Woolly Mammoth is a thriving example of what equity should look like and are highly receptive to feedback to improve constantly. They are a shining example of the importance of representation and how art can humanize marginalized people, normalize diverse stories, bridge divides, provide context and understanding to replace confusion and stereotypes and get us all to reflect on our own unconscious biases and beliefs.

It is no wonder that the shows they produce go on to open on Broadway and win Tonys!

If you haven't seen a show at Woolly, you are doing yourself a disservice! Get tickets now no matter what the show's about. I have gone to every show for years and have liked 95% of them. If it's Woolly, it's guaranteed to make you think, feel,...

I love this theatre although I can't say I go frequently or see all the plays there. But, whenever I do go, I am never disappointed. I recently saw "Octoroon" there. This is just the kind of play you expect to see here - a little controversial, thought provoking and yet highly entertaining. Let me digress and give a brief review of the play.

Pay attention to the opening scene and the speech by the character, at this point, portraying the playwright for this play-within-a-play, which is the remake of an 1859 play by an Irish man. In the “Octoroon” he plays multiple characters as do others who play unlikely roles, like the white man who plays the playwright’s assistant then dons black make-up and the most awful wig to play 2 different slaves. No doubt the white man in black-face made many uncomfortable as almost the entire row in front of me did not return after intermission; but a play is not just to entertain; indeed, the purpose of many plays is to educate the audience; make the audience think; and appreciate the plight of others by making characters come alive. So, to me, making white people uncomfortable and Black people angry about the injustice of slavery are not bad things; but necessary if we are to bring about change in our society by opening our eyes and firing us up. I thought this was an excellent play and all the actors and actresses were great! I just might see it again, and I strongly urge you to see before it leaves. Maybe, this time when it leaves the Wooly Mammoth Theatre, it will be headed...

This is an excellent venue for live performance. Like many small theatres, the seating is a U around a central stage, meaning there really isn't a bad seat in the house. Caught a performance of "Gloria" here (an excellent performance of an excellent play) and my experience was perfect. Seats were comfortable, just enough room to not feel crowded, service was excellent and the loos were clean and in good working order. The architecture and interior design of the space are particularly noteworthy. A good place to see a play, and under the current artistic director one can be rest assured the plays will be excellent. The lobby had an excellent exhibit about work life culture, which was a strong tie-in to the story...