'The World to Come' Opens at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Woolly Mammoth Theatre is welcoming a familiar artistic force back to its stage this winter as Artistic Director Emeritus Howard Shalwitz returns to direct the world premiere of The World to Come by Ali Viterbi, co-produced in partnership with Theater J. The production will be performed at Woolly’s home at 641 D St NW and runs February 3 through March 1, 2026.

The World To Come at Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Set at the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home for the Aging, The World to Come follows residents who spend their days knitting, playing Scrabble, bickering, and falling in love—until the outside world begins to collapse. As an apocalyptic threat creeps closer, Fanny, Barbara, Ruth, and Hal fight to protect the life they’ve built together, facing everything from “armored nurses, flesh-eating ostriches, strange prophecies,” and the realities of their own aging bodies, while still finding laughter and warmth in one another’s company.

The play was workshopped at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles in 2022 and later presented as a staged reading by the National New Play Network in New York City in 2024, building momentum toward this DC-area world premiere. Described as a surprising new epic, the story uses humor and heart to spotlight a stage of life that is too often overlooked, while celebrating friendship as something fierce enough to stand up to chaos.

Shalwitz, who co-founded Woolly Mammoth in 1980 and helped shape it over 38 seasons into a nationally influential producer of daring new work, returns to the company with deep personal ties to the artists and the mission behind this production. “Returning to direct at Woolly at a time as fraught as this fills me with pride and anticipation, joy and terror. It could only be with a play I love with every fiber of my being,” says Shalwitz. “Ali Viterbi is a remarkable young writer, and her new play, The World to Come, brilliantly captures both the anxieties and possibilities of our bizarre age — from the surprising perspective of older Americans in a retirement home. For me, the pot is sweetened by working with Hayley Finn and many other friends at Theater J, plus so many of my favorite artists from both theaters — Naomi, Michael, Misha, Colin, Ivania, and many more...a dream come true!”

The cast features Woolly Company Members Naomi Jacobson and Michael Russotto, alongside Claudia J. Arenas, Ro Boddie, and Brigid Cleary, bringing together a group of performers familiar to audiences across the region. Offstage, the production is stacked with veteran DC talent as well, including scenic design by Woolly Company Member Misha Kachman (with associate scenic designer Gisela Estrada), lighting design by Woolly Company Member Colin K. Bills, and costume design by Woolly Company Member Ivania Stack. The team also includes sound designer Sarah O’Halloran, projection design by Kelly Colburn (with associate video and projection designer Mark Costello), dialect and vocal coaching by Katie McDonald, intimacy and violence choreography by Lorraine Ressegger-Slone, puppet design by Ksenya Litvak, and stage management by Lauren Pekel (with assistant stage manager Fe Miranda), among many others.

Viterbi, a playwright, television writer, and educator, has quickly built an impressive body of work, including In Every Generation, which premiered at Victory Gardens Theater in 2022 and later had its West Coast premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in 2023. Her projects have been developed or commissioned by organizations including Geffen Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Round House Theatre, and National New Play Network, and she won the 2019 National Jewish Playwriting Contest.

Woolly’s Interim Artistic Collective (Sonia Fernandez, Kristen Jackson, Ben Levine, and Mina Morita) says the play grabbed them immediately: “From the first moment Howard sent us this play, we were hooked — the Scrabble fights, a prophecy, late-in-life love, and a friendship born from a shared eyeroll at a terrible high school Fiddler. Having Howard back in the building with so many beloved artists who have built both Woolly and Theater J feels like proof of what this play is about: the relationships we make are what outlast everything.”

Theater J Artistic Director Hayley Finn also highlights the scale and compassion at the center of the piece, saying, “The World To Come by Ali Viterbi poses urgent questions that are deeply rooted in compassion. Epic in scope and bold in artistic vision, this production helmed by the brilliant Howard Shalwitz and featuring some of the best DC actors, promises to be a dynamic theatrical experience. Theater J is thrilled to be partnering with Woolly Mammoth to bring this world premiere to Washington.”

Performances run Wednesdays through Sundays, with evening shows at 8 PM Wednesdays through Sundays, additional Wednesday performances at noon, and weekend matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 3 PM (with a 2 PM curtain on Sunday, February 8). Single tickets start at $31, and Woolly Mammoth also offers Pay-What-You-Will tickets, where patrons choose their price (with a recommended price of $25). Audience members 30 and under can purchase Section C tickets for $25 for any performance, and additional discounts are available for educators and active US military personnel, spouses, and veterans.

For DC theatergoers, Woolly Mammoth’s downtown location makes The World to Come an easy night out—whether you’re coming from Capitol Hill, downtown, or hopping on Metro for a midweek performance. With a world premiere story, a stacked local cast and design team, and Shalwitz back at the helm, this one is poised to be one of the region’s major theatre events as winter turns toward spring.