Washington, DC – Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has announced Vivian J. O. Barnes, Gethsemane Herron, Jenn Kidwell, and Justin Weaks as the first-ever recipients of the Weissberg Commissions. The commissions provide Woolly Mammoth with the opportunity to support artists born, raised, or based in Washington, DC, and surrounding areas and/or writing about topics that resonate with the DMV. The four recipients were selected for their artistic innovation and the way they center racial justice in their works. The theatre will provide the developmental support to bring each artist’s innovative new work into the world. The commissioned projects include:

• A finishing commission for Vivian J.O. Barnes’s The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes
Barnes is originally from Northern Virginia, and her work will be new to Woolly.

• A finishing commission for Gethsemane Herron’s Kin.
Herron is a poet/playwright from Washington, DC, and her work will be new to Woolly.

• A full commission for a devised work by Jenn Kidwell called the blackening.
This commission allows her and a team of devisers to create an entirely new work. Kidwell is originally from Maryland, and Underground Railroad Game, a work she co-wrote and co-created, was presented at Woolly in 2018.  

• A commission for Justin Weaks’ memoir play A Fine Madness.
Weaks was based out of DC for several years and continues to work regularly in the DMV. He is an actor and member of Woolly Mammoth’s Company of Artists (most recently seen in There’s Always the Hudson) who is expanding into playwriting with this work.  

“We are overjoyed to launch the Weissberg Commission program with these groundbreaking artists,” said Woolly Mammoth’s Director of New Work, Sonia Fernandez. “Each represents a depth and breadth of artistry that is inspiring — from the intimate to the absurd, including devised work, movement-based memoir, and plays that break the traditional form. This first cohort is creating meaningful work that explores the intersections of race, gender, violence, power, community, and intimacy. I can’t wait to see their artistry and research promote robust conversation.”

In April 2022, the Weissberg Foundation chose Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for a grant to honor the late Marvin Weissberg, a tremendous philanthropist and theatre lover. The resulting Weissberg Commissions Project is the theatre’s first dedicated commissioning program. Commissions under this new program fund completely new full-length plays, the testing of new ideas, or give artists the opportunity to finish incomplete works. Marvin Weissberg was a mainstay in Woolly’s audiences from its beginnings at Church Street to the theatre’s current home on D Street in Penn Quarter. Most recently, the Foundation’s Fund for Diversity in Theater helped Woolly Mammoth build a strong equity and inclusion lens to prepare for the search for a new artistic director in 2018 and a new managing director in 2019.