John Vreeke
Woolly Mammoth Theatre * COMPANY MEMBER *
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Had to Be Productions
A touring company of
original productions
developed through interviews by Carrie Gibson, Tony Currie and director
John
Vreeke.
Miracle on 34th Street
The Canterville Ghost
The Little Princess
MORE INFO
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1. Directing 2. New Works 3. Theatre for Young Audiences 4. Educational Programs 5. Television 6. References and Education |
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Currently Running Production |
| Now Playing at
MetroStage, DC Area "Lonely Planet"  Lonely Planet is a
two
character play written by Steven Dietz. Telling the story of Jody and
Carl, two gay men who live in an unnamed American city.
“Lonely Planet,” the lovely 1994 dramedy by Steven Dietz, takes a quieter path, but it can still break hearts  Carolyn
Griffin,
producing artistic director for MetroStage, knew
that bringing in Vreeke, who has a special knack for getting finely
detailed, emotionally nuanced performances from actors, (Michael Russotto and
Eric Sutton) would suit
Dietz’s script to a T. The production
just charms you."Lonely Planet is an entertaining, powerful, and heartfelt experience that should not be missed"  It’s
a roller coaster
of emotions – sometimes quiet, sometimes funny,
sometimes heartbreaking, but always powerful, charming, and meaningful.
It’s emotional, real, well-directed and performed. Producer Carolyn
Griffin assembles a dream team for this
production: Director John Vreeke and actors Michael Russotto and Eric
Sutton.- Mike Spain, DC Metro Theatre Arts MetroStage made an excellent choice...  With
a play in which the actors deliver such nicely detailed portrayals and
have such a natural rapport, credit must go to the director, John
Vreeke. Vreeke also has the confidence to trust in Steven Dietz’s
script and lets the story play out gradually while capturing the humor
and the emotional highlights. He strikes a good balance between the
simplicity and the fanciful nature of Lonely Planet. -
Steven McKnight, DC Theatre SceneControlling chaos with friendship  Skillfully
directed by John Vreeke, this "Lonely Planet" is a tour de force for
Russotto and Sutton, both of whom describe their characters with
sensitivity and humor. -
Barbara MacKay, Washington Examiner |
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Highlighted Recent Productions |
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Nominated For Six
Helen Hayes Awards
A Bright New Boise Samuel D. Hunter's compelling character drama is a nice foray into the aftermath of ruin and the beginning of redemption Nominated for: Outstanding Resident Play, Outstanding Director John Vreeke, Outstanding Set Design, Lighting Design, Sound Design and Outstanding Lead Actor Michael Russotto  A disgraced
evangelical from rural, northern Idaho takes a minimum-wage job at a
Hobby Lobby craft store to re-unite with his estranged son.
 Prepare
yourself: in the parking lot of a mega craft store in Idaho,
someone is summoning The Rapture. Samuel D. Hunter's heart- breakingly
funny reckoning between a father and son will shatter your
preconceptions about the sacred, the profane, and the secret lives of
big-box retailers. |
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The Real Inspector Hound
 "Director John Vreeke’s adroitly paced staging deftly brandishes the wit of this 1968 Tom Stoppard one-act" - The Washington Post "Everything in "The Real Inspector Hound" is exaggerated and director John Vreeke has capitalized on that" - Washington Examiner |
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Gruesome
Playground Injuries
Woolly Mammoth
Theatre, Washington DC
 Two eight-year-olds’ lives collide in the nurse’s office: "Director John Vreeke effectively embraces the story's crosscurrents, drawing out the play's youthful exuberance as well as its sadder dimension -- the sense that even when two people can be each other's salvation, there's no guarantee that they'll ever reach the kind of emotional synchronicity that allows them to carry out the rescue." - The Washington Post "The dazzling staging by director John Vreeke does its own storytelling." - Washingtonian "Director John Vreeke exhibits an affinity for the madcap and melancholy aspects of Mr. Joseph’s play" - DC Theatre Scene |
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member  JOHN VREEKE |
 Nominated for FIVE Helen Hayes Awards: Outstanding
Director
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2012 UPCOMING PROJECTS: |
 "The
Elaborate Entrance
of Chad Deity" by Kristoffer Diaz Directed by John Vreeke September 3 –
September 30, 2012
This 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist is a drop-kicking, body- slamming, balls-out theatrical happening about the larger- than-life world of professional wrestling. Tired of making other pro wrestlers look good, Macedonio “The Mace” Guerra recruits a smart-mouthed Indian kid to dethrone the current All-American champ, Chad Deity. But in wrestling, as in life, even the most idealistic freedom-fighter can be seduced by the roar of the crowd. HOWARD
SHALWITZ - P.O.V.:
I'm thrilled to introduce a meteoric writing
talent, Kristoffer Diaz, to Washington— paired with Woolly company
director John Vreeke (A Bright New Boise). Inspired by his love of both
hip hop and wrestling, Kris draws us into a world gone mad with
jingoistic fever, of daring stunts and absurd stereotypes, woven
together by a simple tale of friendship. |
 RACE
by David MametDirected by John Vreeke February 7 – March
17, 2012
The latest work by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Buffalo ruthlessly examines guilt, betrayal, and racial posturing. Two lawyers are called to defend a wealthy, white client charged with the rape of a black woman, but soon find themselves embroiled in a case where prejudice is as disturbing as the evidence. |
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OTHER PROJECTS 2012:
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Directing with the Drama Dept. University of Virginia February 16th - 25th, 2012 Vinegar Tom  Celebrated British
playwright Caryl Churchill uses the backdrop of the 17th Century witch
trials to highlight the ongoing struggles for acceptance and equality
faced by women, even in our world today.
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OTHER PROJECTS 2011: Seattle Area |
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THE WOMAN IN BLACK March
18th through April 2nd, 2011
  "Dark, mysterious: Versatile actors, exciting effects, beautiful direction combine for gripping play" - News Tribune |
 Stone Soup Theatre - Seattle February 4 - 27, 2011 "How I Learned To Drive" MORE INFO "In the deft hands of director John Vreeke, this inherently “hard to watch” topic became a play that was impossible to look away from." - Journal Media Review |
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Other Northwest Projects: Rapture of the Deep 14/48 |
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| Woolly Mammoth Theatre, DC John Vreeke is a company member at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington DC. |
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| The Woman In Black A Ghost Story that will have you on the edge of your seat... The Woman In Black is a spine-chiller, gothic horror story. |
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| Gruesome
Playground Injuries Two eight year-old's lives collide in the nurses office. From accident-prone kids to self-destructive adults, they are drawn together ever closer. |
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 The
SeagullOn 16th Street This classic provides the stage for a journey back to the Russian countryside in this tale of love and loss, with laughs and heartbreak. |
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 The
Last Days of Judas IscariotStephen Adly Guirgis's play is placed in a courtroom in present-day purgatory, the Bible's most unexplained villain is put on trial. [TWO RUNS] |
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 Chasing
George WashingtonDee Dee, Jose, and Annie accidentally knock George Washington out of his portrait and into real life--turning their tour into an adventure. |
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 Martha,
Josie & The Chinese ElvisA British dominatrix and her unconventional family and friends realize the meaning of the Feast of Epiphany. A relentlessly funny show. |
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 Bal
Masque Three unusual couples survive Truman Capote’s infamous Black and White Ball and are forced to face reality. |
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 A Bright New BoiseA disgraced evangelical from rural, northern Idaho takes a minimum-wage job at a Hobby Lobby craft store to re-unite with his estranged son. |
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 How I Learned To
Drive A funny, yet disturbing story follows the strained relationship between Lil’Bit and her uncle from adolescence thru adulthood. |
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 DyingCity When a young man goes off to war, his death thousands of miles away has rippling effects on those he leaves behind. Is closure an American myth? |
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 HEROESThree soldiers in a Parisian veterans' home pass the time with tales that are at once achingly funny and piercingly sad. |
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 Drunk
Enough To SayI Love You The intriguing dissection of a dysfunctional relationship, while also an incisive look at U.S. foreign policy and the seduction of power. |
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 The K of DAfter a car accident kills her twin brother, young Charlotte becomes a fascination to others when it appears she has received an eerie power. |
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 Opus A world famous String Quartet deals with the loss of a member as they prepare an all important performance for the White House. |
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 Death
& The King's Horseman Part Shakespearean, part Greek Tragedy, a folk tale of ritual suicide in British Colonial Nigeria. |
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 The Real
Inspector HoundTwo theatre critics watch a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery. By chance, they become involved in the action. |
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 Martha,
Josie & The Chinese ElvisA British dominatrix and her unconventional family and friends realize the meaning of the Feast of Epiphany. A relentlessly funny show. |
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 The CaretakerAn emotional roller-coaster depicting the realities of human nature...presenting a not-so pretty picture of times gone by, and our times. |
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 BOOMA wacked-out apocalypse fantasy featuring a racy online ad, a lonely marine biology grad, a journalism major and a crazy lady on a balcony. |
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 This
Perfect World A powerful new play by Chris Stezin, examining the free- floating anxiety that has characterized America since the 9/11 events. |
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 Fiddler
On The RoofThe story about a struggle of a people to survive, to live, and to be at home, and how a belief system creates and also destroys life. |
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 The
MonumentA grieving mother of a daughter raped & murdered by a young soldier convicted of multiple war crimes are brought together. |
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 For
The Pleasure of Seeing
Her AgainThe loving memoir of a gay son’s mother, as they help each other through formative life events. |
 The
Tattooed Girl Joyce Carol Oates’s story of the relationship between an anti-Semitic coke-head street girl and her growing love for an ailing Jewish professor. |
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 Homebody/
Kabul Kushner’s epic drama of Afghanistan as seen through the eyes of a troubled British family in search of a mother who has mysteriously vanished in the country. |
 Death
& The MaidenAriel Dorfman’s statement of world wide oppression seen through the eyes of three people intimately involved in the Chilean dictatorship and the resulting reign of terror.   Medea,
The MusicalA satirical musical fantasy about a gay man mysteriously falling in love with his leading lady in a musical production of Medea. |
 Our Lady
of 121st Street The 15 year reunion of an extraordinary mix of Spanish Harlem school friends as they grieve the death & disappearance of the Sister who raised and taught them. |
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 Lady
Chatterley's LoverDH Lawrence’s most popular story of the privileged Lady Chatterley’s love affair with the Games Keeper and the affect on her marriage to the wheelchair bound Clifford Chatterley. |
 Born Guilty
Second and third generation children of Nazi’s and how they deal with their guilt as seen through the eyes of Jewish author, Peter Sichrovsky, from his novel.  Helen Hayes Awards Show Directed the 19th Annual Helen Hayes Awards show at the Concert Hall in the Kenedy Center for the Performing Arts. |
 One Good Marriage A couple returning from their honeymoon are shocked to find that all of the guests at their wedding are missing. |
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 Red Herring A McCarthy era satire about how three couples, including Joseph McCarthey’s daughter, a young Jewish scientist, a Russian defector and a detective all find each other. |
 Tiny Alice Edward Albee’s epic surreal, mind-bending story of a priest and his descent into the difficult, mysterious and even tantalizing failure of his faith.  Gala
Event:"Jazz In Our Time" Stage Director for “Jazz in Our Time” in the Concert Hall at the Kennedy Center…a gala extravaganza and ceremony to honor 40 of this countrys greatest Jazz Musicians. |
Educational Programs Television Adapted Plays on Audio Books