In a Co-Production by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and Theater J The World to Come Celebrates the Bonds of Friendship in a Dystopian World
The World to Come
Woolly Mammoth
Jordan Wright
February 14, 2026
Claudia J. Arenas (Ruth), Brigid Cleary (Barbara), Naomi Jacobson (Fanny), and Michael Russotto (Hal) in The World to Come at Woolly Mammoth. (Photo/Cameron Whitman)
At the SeaBreeze Hebrew Home where ninety elderly people reside, we meet a core group of four calling themselves the “Supper Club”. It’s a tightly knit group consisting of Fanny (Naomi Jacobson), Barbara (Brigid Cleary), Hal (Michael Russotto)and Ruth (Claudia J. Arenas) who amuse themselves with jokes, off-color banter, gossip and card games, teasing each other relentlessly with feisty Fanny being the chief instigator.
New to the group is Ruth whose knowledge of Judaism is extensive (her late husband was a rabbi) and soon a tender romance develops between Ruth and Hal, a bit of a roué who falls madly in love with her. They are lovingly cared for by Nurse Mike (Rob Boddie who also plays Jerry/Soldier).
We soon learn it has rained for forty days and forty nights, fires rage throughout the country, they have no means of communication with the outside world, and the United Nations has been disbanded. A million people are dead in Massachusetts, and they cannot leave the residence as the hazardous air quality is killing people. In this dystopian world with death fast encroaching, the quartet of friends becomes dependent upon each other to survive.
Michael Russotto (Hal), Brigid Cleary (Barbara), and Naomi Jacobson (Fanny). (Photo/Cameron Whitman)
Playwright Ali Viterbi takes inspiration from Jewish culture and religious text to inform her characters, their global predicament and their tender interactions. In The World to Come acts of survival blend seamlessly with gallows humor, hilarity and a fierce desire to help one another. “These all sound like the end times,” Hal prophesizes, as talk of doomsday is accompanied by references to ravens, ostriches and arrow snakes taken directly from the Book of Prophets.
As each day brings alarming news, a framed photograph is placed reverentially atop a spinet piano. Another resident has passed away, and the small group reflects on their collective memories of a friend. Soon Nurse Mike is caught stealing medications, forbidden by law to dispense to the elderly, and he is fired. A cycle of revolving nurses and angry soldiers appear in ever more frightening protective gear. One of the soldiers blames the older generation for the destruction of the planet. “We’re cleaning up your mess!” he admonishes. The accusation causes the friends to self-blame for not being more proactive in saving the planet while in their desperate search for food and medicine the hellish sounds of fighter planes bombing and ravens cawing echo ominously.
Viteri’s surrealistic ‘apocalypse play’ provides us with the key to the bonds of friendship and the sacrifices that define humanity in a world gone terribly wrong. It put me in mind of the great French Romanian playwright, Eugene Ionesco, the godfather of the Theatre of the Absurd, who employed surrealism to describe the iniquities of Fascism and Nazism, two isms recently resurfaced in our modern world.
Claudia J. Arenas (Ruth), Michael Russotto (Hal), Rob Boddie (Nurse Mike), Brigid Cleary (Barbara), and Naomi Jacobson (Fanny). (Photo/Cameron Whitman)
Brilliantly directed by Woolly Mammoth Founder Howard Shalwitz in a co-production with Theatre J, and exquisitely performed by this multi award-winning ensemble, this powerful play is staged with imaginative sting. Viterbi reminds us that the shofar is sounding. It is time to act.
Scenic Design by Misha Kachman, Lighting Design by Colin K. Bills, Puppet Design by Ksenya Litvak, Costume Design by Ivania Stack, Dramaturg Sonia Fernandez, Sound Design by Sarah O’Halloran, Projections Design by Kelly Colburn, Dialect and Vocal Coach Katie McDonald, Fight and Intimacy Choreographer Lorraine Ressegger-Slone.
Highly recommended.
Through March 1st at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.393.3939 or visit www.WoollyMammoth.net