The Arsonists at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company announces the first production of its 2017-2018 season, The Arsonists by Swiss playwright Max Frisch, in a new translation by Alistair Beaton, directed by Michael John Garcés. The Arsonists will run from September 5 to October 8, 2017. The Arsonists is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation.

The world may be starting to burn, but our Everyman has it all under control. He’s a respected member of his community with a loving wife and a flourishing business, so surely the arsonists will spare him. As an upstanding citizen, he’s even happy to do his civic duty by opening his home to two new guests… but when they start filling his attic with drums of gasoline, will the fire hit too close to home?
Written as a reflection on the rise of both Nazism and Communism, The Arsonists has uncanny new relevance today in light of the rise of populist nationalism around the globe. For Woolly’s incendiary take on Max Frisch’s classic comedy, artistic director Howard Shalwitz makes his long-awaited return to the Woolly stage, lighting the fuse on the theater’s 38th season.

Featuring company members Colin K. Bills, Michael John Garcés, Tim Getman, Kimberly Gilbert, Misha Kachman, Jared Mezzocchi, Ivania Stack, Emily Townley, and artistic director Howard Shalwitz