John Vreeke
Woolly Mammoth Theatre  * COMPANY MEMBER *










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Seattle Public Theatre







Forum Theatre

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--Salt Lake Acting Company



---Charter Theatre





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Source Theatre

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Stone Soup Theatre
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CenterStage!





Burien Little Theatre















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Had To Be Productions
Had to Be Productions
A touring company of original productions developed through interviews by Carrie Gibson, Tony Currie and director John Vreeke.  
Carrie Gibson and Tony Curry









Miracle on 34th Street




The Canterville Ghost




The Little Princess


MORE INFO















JohnVreeke.com

      1.  Directing


      2.  New Works

      3.  Theatre for Young Audiences

      4.  Educational Programs

      5.  Television

      6.  References and Education




Recently at Woolly Mammoth, DC

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
A Bright New Boise - Directed by John Vreeke - Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington DC
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.

A Bright New Boise - Directed by John Vreeke - Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington DCPrepare 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.

A Bright New Boise - Directed by John Vreeke - Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington DC


Highlighted Recent Productions


The Real Inspector Hound
The Real Inspector Hound - Directed by John Vreeke - MetroStage - DC Area
Two theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot, watch a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery. By chance, they become involved in the action causing a series of events that parallel the play they are watching.


"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


Gruesome Playground Injuries
Summer 2010 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Gruesome Playground Injuries - directed by John Vreeke - Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington DC
Two eight-year-olds’ lives collide in the nurse’s office:

Doug rode his bike off the roof and Kayleen can’t stop throwing up. As they mature from accident-prone kids to self-destructive adults, their broken hearts and broken bones draw them ever closer.  These two rebels may only be fit for one another. But how far can one person go to heal another’s wounds?  MORE INFO & PHOTOS

"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


Gruesome Playground Injuries

The Woman In Black - Directed by John Vreeke - Centerstage, Seattle-Federal WayCenterstage - Seattle-Federal Way
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
March 18th through April 2nd, 2011
A Ghost Story that will have you on the edge of your seat...
The Woman In Black is a spine-chiller, gothic horror story.
"Dark, mysterious: Versatile actors, exciting effects, beautiful direction combine for gripping play" - News Tribune Review  MORE INFORMATION





Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member
John Vreeke - Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Member
JOHN VREEKE


Nominated for FOUR  Helen Hayes Awards:

Outstanding Director
Boom
Chinese Elvis

Lady Chatterley's Lover

Born Guilty


2012 PROJECTS INCLUDE:

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Directing with the Drama Dept.
University of Virginia
 February 16th - 25th, 2012
Vinegar Tom
Vinegar Tom directed by John Vreeke at the University of Virginia through the Drama Department.
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.

University of Virginia


Directing in the DC area at

Metro Stage
"Lonely Planet"
Lonely Planet - directed by John Vreeke at Metro Stage
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. The play sends the message that one should pay attention to the world around them and realize its problems rather than shun it.


OTHER PROJECTS - 2010:
Seattle Area


How I Learned to Drive - Directed by John Vreeke - Stone Soup Theatre, Seattle
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
Burien Little Theatre
Burien Little Theatre - Seattle
November 26 - December 19, 2010
"Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis"
MORE INFO

Balagan Theatre
Balagan Theatre - Seattle
September 10 - 25, 2010
"Rapture of the Deep"
MORE INFO

14-48
14/48 is a creative process,
an exercise in community,
an assemblage of artists dedicated to pushing the extemporaneous nature of theatre to the breaking point. 
14 plays in 48 hours.
Directed Two Plays
July 2010

* * * * * *     SHOWS  DIRECTED - In Order of Most Recent     * * * * * *
.John Vreeke - Resident Director at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Washington DC
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Woolly Mammoth Theatre, DC

John Vreeke is a company member at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington DC.  "A Bright New Boise" is running now.

CenterStage!
The Woman In Black - Directed by John VreekeThe 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.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
Gruesome Playground Injuries - Directed by John VreekeGruesome 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.

Theatre J
The Seagull On 16th Street at Theatre J The Seagull
On 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.

Forum Theatre - H Street
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The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

Stephen 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]

Kennedy Theatre
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Chasing George Washington

Dee Dee, Jose, and Annie accidentally knock George Washington out of his portrait and into real life--turning their tour into an  adventure.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
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Martha, Josie & The Chinese Elvis

A British dominatrix and her unconventional family and friends realize the meaning of the Feast of Epiphany.  A relentlessly funny show.

 Theatre J
Bal Masque



Three unusual couples survive Truman Capote’s infamous Black and White Ball and are forced to face reality.
 
Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
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A Bright New Boise - Directed by John Vreeke A Bright   New Boise


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.

Stone Soup Theatre
How I Learned To Drive - Directed by John Vreeke How I Learned To Drive

A funny, yet disturbing story follows the strained relationship between Lil’Bit and her uncle from adolescence thru adulthood.

Seattle Public Theatre
Dying City - Directed by John Vreeke Dying
City


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?

Metro Stage
Heroes at MetroStage HEROES



Three soldiers in a Parisian veterans' home pass the time with tales that are at once achingly funny and piercingly sad.

Forum Theatre - H Street
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Drunk Enough To Say
I Love You

The intriguing dissection of a dysfunctional relationship, while also an incisive look at U.S. foreign policy and the seduction of power.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
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The K of D



After a car accident kills her twin brother, young Charlotte becomes a fascination to others when it appears she has received an eerie power.

Everyman Theatre
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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.

 Washington Shakespeare Co.
Death & The King's Horseman  

Part Shakespearean, part Greek Tragedy, a folk tale of ritual suicide in British Colonial Nigeria.
 
.Metro Stage
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The Real Inspector Hound - Directed by John Vreeke The Real Inspector Hound

Two theatre critics watch a ludicrous setup of a country house murder mystery. By chance, they become involved in the action.

Burien Little Theatre
Martha, Josie & The Chinese Elvis Martha, Josie & The Chinese Elvis

A British dominatrix and her unconventional family and friends realize the meaning of the Feast of Epiphany.  A relentlessly funny show.

Salt Lake Acting Company
The Caretaker - Directed by John Vreeke The Caretaker



An emotional roller-coaster depicting the realities of human nature...presenting a not-so pretty picture of times gone by, and our times.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
BOOM



A wacked-out apocalypse fantasy featuring a racy online ad, a lonely marine biology grad, a journalism major and
a crazy lady on a balcony.

Charter Theatre
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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.

Olney Theatre
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Fiddler On The Roof


The 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.

Theatre Alliance
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The Monument



A grieving mother of a daughter raped & murdered by a young soldier convicted of multiple war crimes are brought together.

 Metro Stage
For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again
The loving memoir of a gay son’s mother, as they help each other through formative life events.
 

Theatre J
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.

 Woolly Mammoth Theatre - Theatre J
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.

 Theatre J Death & The Maiden


Ariel 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.

 ArtsWest - Medea, The Musical - Directed by John Vreeke Medea, The Musical


A satirical musical fantasy about a gay man mysteriously falling in love with his leading lady in a musical production of Medea.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre
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.

 Washington Shakespeare Co.
Lady Chatterley's Lover

DH 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.
 Theatre J 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.

 Kennedy Center Helen Hayes
Awards Show


Directed the 19th Annual Helen Hayes Awards show at the Concert Hall in the Kenedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Metro Stage
One Good Marriage


A couple returning from their honeymoon are shocked to find that all of the guests at their wedding are missing.


 Everyman Theatre
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. 

 Washington Shakespeare Co. 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.


 Kennedy Center 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.
Directing Resume       New Works       Theatre for Young Audiences
Educational Programs        Television        Adapted Plays on Audio Books