Woolly Mammoth would like to thank the following patrons for their generous support for Stupid Fucking Bird:
Lorraine E. Chickering
Melissa Galetto
The Greene-Milstein Family Foundation
Victoria Isley
Karl K. & Carrol Benner Kindel
Eleanor Roberts Lewis & Roger K. Lewis
Julianna & Donald Mahley
Michael Ramirez & John Ralls
Judy & Leo Zickler
ABOUT THE SHOW
An aspiring young director rampages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be.
In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, award-winning playwright Aaron Posner wages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all. Original songs composed by James Sugg to match Aaron Posner's lyrics draw the famously subtextual inner thoughts of Chekhov's characters explicitly to the surface.
Helmed by Woolly Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz, and starring Company Members Rick Foucheux, Kimberly Gilbert, and Kate Eastwood Norris, Stupid Fucking Bird will tickle, tantalize, and incite you to consider how art, love, and revolution fuel your own pursuit of happiness.
JUST ADDED: CHEAP DATE NIGHT Tuesday, June 18 at 18pm! $20 tickets and $2 PBRs!
"Posner’s new play is less an adaptation of Chekhov’s landmark drama than a funny, moving slugfest, a ripe mashup of mock and awe."
The Washington Post
"Under Shalwitz's keen director eye, all actors excel in their roles and engage with one another in a natural and believable way."
Broadway World
"Five Stars! Stupid Fucking Bird begins when someone yells, ‘Start the fucking play!’ Make sure that person is you by getting your tickets early." DC Metro Theater Arts
“Howard Shalwitz has amassed about as good a cast as you’ll see in D.C.” MD Theatre Guide
“In scope of ambition, wit, insight, power of observation, beauty of language and quality of execution, it is as good as anything you’ve seen in Washington this season.” DC Theatre Scene
"Sharp-witted…some of the funniest dialogue I have heard on the stage." Pamela’s Punch
"Totally charming and sophisticated…should not be missed." New York Arts
“The sparkling company of top-tier actors director Howard Shalwitz has assembled makes this an accessible and unfailingly delightful jaunt.” Washington City Paper
"A gloriously neurotic, hilariously self-aware cri de coeur as told through a cleverly irreverent adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull."
Metro Weekly
“Splendid, irreverent adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull…now go see this.” DCist
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company is partnering with José Andrés to bring back The Oyamel Experience at Woolly! On select Friday and Saturdays, patrons can purchase a prix fixe menu and tickets to a show on a single reservation through Woolly Mammoth’s Box Office. Enjoy a delicious prix fixe menu from Oyamel hosted in Woolly Mammoth’s award winning Lobby then stay for Stupid Fucking Bird. Seating for this unique opportunity is limited and reservations are required!
RESERVATIONS: To book your reservation today, call the Woolly Mammoth Box Office at 202-393-3939 and mention The Oyamel Experience!
Oyamel’s prix fixe menu is $50 per person. (Tax and tip included!)
Tickets purchased with a dinner reservation are only $50! (Savings of up to 25% off regularly priced tickets!)
All dinner reservations require a minimum party size of two (2).
Reservations must be made by phone with the Woolly Mammoth Box Office
Stupid Fucking Lobby Experience
Unleash your inner rebel-artist! Join us in the lobby during the run of Stupid Fucking Bird to try your hand at turning text from Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull into a new form - a tweet! Wanna take it to the next level? Check out our social media after the show to find an archive of the tweets from each night (#SFLobby), and undertake the totally absurd task of turning the tweets of other audience members into your own piece of writing. Who knew 140 characters could go so far?
Pinspiration Board:
Interact with our new touch-screen Pinspiration Board in the lower lobby to see what inspired our artists to create the world of Stupid Fucking Bird. Remember: inspiration travels, so you can always find what sparked an idea in our artists online at pinterest.com/WoollyMammothTC.
Artists Mixer Thursday, May 30 Mixer at 6pm, Performance at 8pm Woolly Classroom and Theater
Tickets $20 (includes discussion and tickets to Stupid Fucking Bird
Book tickets here with promo code “ARTIST”
Are you an artist in the DC area? Join us for a networking mixer and discussion about the challenges of creating art in our current environment, and the responsibility/burden of living up to those who have come before us. Stupid Fucking Bird playwright Aaron Posner will lead a conversation about how we create art, and how we respond, retaliate against, and remix the work of previous generations. All artistic disciplines are welcome!
Guests are invited to mix and mingle with artists and art makers of all disciplines and stay for the show. The evening includes a reception with discounted drinks, conversation and networking, and one ticket to Stupid Fucking Bird.
Unleash Your Inner Artist! Saturday, June 1, 2013, 3-6pm Woolly Rehearsal Hall
Free admission, reservation required. Reserve your tickets here.
Bring your creativity to Woolly! In collaboration with FIGMENT DC, Woolly Mammoth invites you to come play at the theatre. Participate in an interactive art display, add your artistic flair to an existing piece, or create a work all of your own. Work with artists from across the community to reveal your inner artist.
FIGMENT is a forum for the creation and display of participatory and interactive art by emerging artists across disciplines: a celebration of creative culture. FIGMENT presents an annual free weekend-long participatory arts and creative culture event in cities across the United States, including here in Washington, D.C. Unleash Your Inner Artist! features a sampling of the multitude of activities in FIGMENT DC’s upcoming fall annual event.
For more information, visit www.dc.figmentproject.org.
Post-Show Discussions Woolly Theatre
Artistic Roots and Revolution: Art that Changed the World Saturday, June 15, 2013, following the matinee performance
History proves that great art can change the world. Woolly explores some contemporary works of art that have changed the landscape of art making today. Join us for a discussion about how those works have impacted both society and the arts environment, and which artists are revolutionizing their artistic discipline right now.
Panelists include Yana Sakellion, a designer and artist who works across mediums including graphic design, interactive media and video and Alan Zilberman, film editor and a contributing theater critic for Brightest Young Things. This panel will be moderated by Milena Kalinovska, Director of Public Programs and Education and curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Panelist Bios:
Gerald Klickstein directs Peabody’s Music Entrepreneurship and Career Center, which helps students and recent alumni attain artistic and professional success. A veteran performer, educator, and career coach with more than 30 years of experience on the concert stage and in higher education, from 1992-2012, he was a member of the distinguished artist-faculty of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. As a member of the Careers Outside the Academy Committee organized by the College Music Society, he collaborates with higher education faculty across the U.S. to implement programs that equip musicians to thrive in today's economy. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the American String Teachers Association and was a member of the National Task Force on the Arts in Education convened by the College Board. He presents workshops throughout the US and writes about diverse topics of interest to musicians including creativity, collaboration, entrepreneurship, occupational health, practice strategies, and performance development. His book The Musician's Way (Oxford 2009) and its extensive companion website MusiciansWay.com have drawn global praise for their insightful handling of the issues that today's musicians face.
As a designer and an artist Yana Sakellion works across mediums including graphic design, interactive media, and video. Her practice emphasizes interdisciplinary approach to making and conceptual inquiry, with special interest in Interactive Physical Interface design and Interactive Storytelling. During her 10 years professional experience she worked on a variety of design and media projects for corporate clients as well as non-profit organizations including Target Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, The Maryland Historical Society, and U.S. postal service. Yana earned her honorary MFA degree from the Department of Digital + Media at the Rhode Island School of Design, and her work has been exhibited and published nationally and abroad, including the How Magazine Interactive Design Annual, Video and Contemporary Art Festival Waterpieces, Riga, Latvia and Oslo Screen Festival, Oslo, Norway. She currently holds and Assistant Professor position in Graphic Design program at the American University, Washington, DC.
Alan Zilberman is the film editor for Brightest Young Things, where he also reviews theatre. He's contributed to The Atlantic, IndieWire, The Washington City Paper, and Tiny Mix Tapes. The only time art changed Alan's life was when he was nine years old, and his father had him watch The Road Warrior as an alternative to Power Rangers.
Milena Kalinovska (moderator) is Director of Public Programs at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She was previously Director of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Adjunct Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and Director of Exhibitions at Riverside Studios in London, England. Kalinovska has curated over thirty exhibitions internationally including Beyond Preconceptions: The Sixties Experiment, which toured major museums in Europe, South America, and the USA, and Art into Life: Russian Constructivism 1914 to 1935, held at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and Henry Art Gallery in Seattle. She has worked with artists such as Richard Deacon, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Nan Goldin, Antony Gormley, Isaac Julien, Cildo Meireles, Annette Messager, Mariko Mori, Richard Prince, Nancy Spero, Bill Viola, and Kara Walker. Kalinovska worked on the Gwangju Biennale 2004 in South Korea, has served on the national advisory committee ofArt21 PBS programs, and has received a number of awards including a nomination for the Turner Prize.
Art on the Brain and in the Heart Saturday, June 22, 2013, following the matinee performance
Art impacts both the artist and the audience. What happens when you look at a painting on a museum wall, and what happened to the painter when they created it? What was the effect of Stupid Fucking Bird on your brain and in your heart? Woolly explores why art matters to us and how art can save, change, and reinvent our lives.
Panelists include Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member and Stupid Fucking Bird cast member, Kimberly Gilbert; Dr. David J. Linden, Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and author of The Compass of Pleasure; and Dr. Donna Betts, Ph.D, an art therapist and Assistant Professor at George Washington University. This panel will be moderated by Jocelyn Prince, Woolly's Connectivity Director.
Panelist Bios:
Kimberly Gilbert has been in the DC Theatreverse for over ten years. She has been a Woolly Company Member since 2006. Woolly shows include: Cooking With Elvis, Big Death Little Death, Martha Josie and the Chinese Elvis, The K of D, Measure For Pleasure, Boom, Fever/Dream, Clybourne Park, The Vibrator Play, A Bright New Boise, Mr Burns, a post-electric play, You for Me for You, and Stupid Fucking Bird.
David J. Linden, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His laboratory has worked for many years on the cellular substrates of memory storage in the brain and a few other topics. He has a longstanding interest in scientific communication and serves as the Chief Editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology. He is the author of two books on the biology of behavior for a general audience, The Accidental Mind (Harvard/Belknap, 2007) and The Compass of Pleasure (Viking Press, 2011), which, to date, have been translated into 14 languages.
Dr. Donna Betts, Ph.D, ATR-BC, is a professor in the Art Therapy Program at George Washington University. An active clinician and scholar, she has published and presented internationally on a range of topics. Dr. Betts was co-recipient of the 2012 American Art Therapy Association Research Award, for a study she led at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is a collaborator on a GW-funded study on autism, and recipient of a Department of Defense grant to explore use of a graphic novel authoring tool with Veterans.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Aaron Posner (playwright) is a freelance director and playwright, an Associate Artist at the Folger Theatre and Milwaukee Rep, and was a founding Artistic Director of Philadelphia's Arden Theatre. His plays and productions have been seen at more than a third of the LORT theatres in the country. Aaron has been a fan of Woolly since the early 90's and directed In the Next Room or the vibrator play at Woolly in 2011. He has won Barrymore Awards as both a director and playwright and Helen Hayes Awards for Best Director three in the last eight years. His published and produced adaptations include The Chosen, My Name Is Asher Lev (currently in an open-ended run Off Broadway), Sometimes A Great Notion, Mark Twain’s A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage (with James Sugg), and many more. Aaron is an Eisenhower Fellow, a graduate of Northwestern University, is from Eugene, Oregon, and lives outside DC with his wife, actress Erin Weaver, and his tiny daughter, Maisie.
Howard Shalwitz (director)has been the visionary force behind Woolly Mammoth for 33 seasons, steering the theatre’s adventurous play selection, guiding the development and production of dozens of new works, and building a renowned acting company. Under his leadership, Woolly Mammoth has grown from a tiny “alternative” theatre to one of the leading centers for provocative new theatre in America. Howard received the 2011 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director for Clybourne Park, and has received multiple Helen Hayes nominations as both a director and an actor. In recent seasons, he directed the world premieres of Civilization, Fever/Dream and Big Death and Little Death, along with She Stoops to Comedy, Measure for Pleasure, and The Faculty Room. Howard has directed for leading New York and regional companies including New York Theatre Workshop, Playwrights Horizons, Arena Stage, Studio Arena, and Milwaukee Rep. In 2012 he was recognized as Distinguished Finalist for the Zelda Fichandler Award for Outstanding Regional Director.
The Stupid Fucking Bird cast will include Woolly Company Members Rick Foucheux*(R.U.R., The Choir, and Dead Man’s Cell Phone), Kimberly Gilbert*(A Bright New Boise, Clybourne Park, In the Next Room or the vibrator play, Fever/Dream, Boom, Measure for Pleasure, The K of D, Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Big Death & Little Death, Cooking with Elvis, and You for Me for You), and Kate Eastwood Norris* (Full Circle, Fever/Dream, and She Stoops To Comedy). Additional cast includes Brad Koed*, Cody Nickell*, Katie DeBuys*, and Darius Pierce*. The creative team will include set design by Woolly Company Member Misha Kachman, costume design by Laree Lentz, lighting design by Woolly Company Member Colin K. Bills, and sound design by James Sugg. Additional credits include Miriam Weisfeld (dramaturgy), and Maribeth Chaprnka* (production stage manager).
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
TICKETS
Stupid Fucking Bird (World Premiere) runs May 27 - June 23, 2013; Tickets start at $35, and can be purchased through the Woolly Mammoth Box Office at 202-393-3939, online, or in person at 641 D Street, NW (7th & D). For directions and parking information, please visit www.woollymammoth.net.
JUST ADDED: CHEAP DATE NIGHT Tuesday, June 18 at 18pm! $20 tickets and $2 PBRs!
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Bring your creativity to Woolly! In collaboration with FIGMENT DC, Woolly Mammoth invites you to come play at the theatre. Participate in an interactive art display, add your artistic flair to an existing piece, or create a work all of your own. Work with artists from across the community to reveal your inner artist. 
