Presenter Ed Bullins with Woolly Mammoth Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz

2005 Recipient

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, located in Washington, D.C., has one of the highest profiles of any small theatre in America. Since its first season in 1980, it has been an important launching pad for challenging new plays, and has had a deep and lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of young people in the Washington area. Woolly Mammoth's mission is to ignite an explosive engagement between theatre artists and the community by developing, producing and promoting new plays that explore the edges of theatrical style and human experience, and by implementing new ways to use the artistry of theater to serve the people of the Washington, D.C. area. Woolly Mammoth has received nearly 100 Helen Hayes award nominations and 16 Helen Hayes awards, including five Charles MacArthur awards for outstanding new play. The Outside Woolly Program has been honored with the Washington Post Award for Outstanding Community Service, and Woolly Mammoth has twice received the Mayor's Arts Award for Excellence.