The songs and music of artist Woody Guthrie have been performed in so many iterations over the years that it’s tempting to think that we know all about him. Award-winning musician and actor David M. Lutken has been creating and performing aspects of Woody Guthrie’s life for decades and continues to find new ways to express the incredible brilliance of Woody. Talking with Lutken is like going back in time to another era while recognizing how so many of the social issues continue to be present. With a team of collaborators, Lutken has created a new version of Woody Sez with new characters and expanded perspectives to get across the broad range of Woody Guthrie, including his intuitive sensitivity to humanity, suffering, fairness, and equality.
Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie is currently being performed through October 25 at Dupont Underground, a Voices Festival Production. In a recent interview, Lutken and Voices Festival’s Founding Artistic Producer Ari Roth shared insights about the show, including how the underground performance location is a distinctive feature, so we started with what makes this venue so special.
Debbie Jackson: Earlier versions of this show have been seen on stages, concert halls, and parks all over the country and the world, including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The Washington audience is still in the early stages of exploring and accepting Dupont Underground as a viable performance space. What’s so special about the venue that contributes to the performance?
David Lutken: Dupont Underground is a wonderful performance space for all kinds of reasons. First of all, we’re able to showcase an exhibit that was created by Woody Guthrie Publications, filled with archival footage and messages about Guthrie’s life and work, part of “Woody at 100.” Audience members can get a sense of the whole Woody Guthrie experience by walking through the long hallway to the performance space and get immersed in the issues for a full experience.
Ari Roth: Agree. While the 1,000-foot-long hallway has been used for exhibitions in other performances, this is the first time that an exhibit in the space is directly aligned with the actual performance on stage — which reinforces the scenes, images, and content material of the show, a significant feature.
David Lutken: Yes, we’re all enjoying the acoustics of being in the Underground – we’re on a platform, but it still feels like we’re all together with the audience, smiling, laughing, joining us for the full experience. I remember being in the choir, and when we wanted to hear the tones, we’d get in a stairwell and hear the echo; you feel the vibration, like being in church with the musical reverberation all around you. It contributes to the immersive atmosphere with the clapping sounds and laughter. It really is spectacular to be there.
It’s been satisfying bringing such excitement to audiences who join in the songs with such enthusiasm. Going back to some of my early Greek studies, the exhibit is like a passageway preparing the participants, priming them for the ultimate experience of what awaits, like leading up to the Parthenon.
Ari Roth: Considering the considerable physicality of the show, performers expend full-blown energy, physically and emotionally. I’d love you to share how you prepare for the shows to keep up the stamina necessary for each performance, including all the top-tier vocals required. I’m frankly astonished by how you move in the space and keep up throughout the years for all the shows.
David Lutken: Well, being from Texas, I’m partial to lots of beans and jalapeño peppers! [Laughter] Actually, I’ve been doing this for 40 years and appreciate the need to nurture and care for my body, especially with each passing year. It doesn’t get any easier every year, but it continues to be fulfilling. And that’s why I appreciate the collaboration of incredibly accomplished fellow artists Raquel Chavez, Margaret Dudasik, and Hubby Jenkins out there with me to share the load.
The show evolved from being shorter segments developed for high schoolers to being a staple at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it won a prize for best of the Fringe this year. How did the Northlight Theater in Chicago become part of this latest iteration?
David Lutken: It all comes down to connections made along the way and who you trust to help tell the story. Northlight and Ari independently produced an early version of Woody Sez back in 2012, and 10 years later, Northlight produced another play Sherry Lutken and I co-wrote.
Ari Roth: That led to the involvement of Northlight’s Associate Artistic Director, Georgette Verdin, who directed this show, and two great Chicago-based designers, all recruited by Chicago-based executive producer Brannon Wiles, and they’re partnering with the DC Voices Festival crew to make this happen here and now.
David Lutken: The show resonates with people all over the world. We just returned from the Edinburgh Fringe in August, where we were selected for a “Spirit of the Fringe” award and hosted an assortment of well-attended Hootenannies, and we look forward to more gatherings here [Sundays, October 18 and 25, 5:30–6:30 PM at Dupont Underground — no tickets required, free, just show up].
One new segment that we’re excited about, a totally new feature in this production only, is a rendition of one of Woody’s songs that had a national impact, “The Blinding of Issac Woodard,” performed with passion and grace by Hubby Jenkins. It tells the story of an African American WWII veteran who served his country with distinction, earned a combat star, only to return home to the States and be unmercifully beaten by several white police officers to the point of being blinded. The case made such national headline news that even President Harry Truman became aware of the atrocities committed againstBlack soldiers, and it became one of the factors that toppled segregation in the armed services.
One of the lyrics:
I thought I fought on the islands to get rid of their kind;
But I can see this fight lots plainer now that I am blind.
Ari Roth: The musicality of the song aligns with the Dust Storm Disaster melody in the earlier act, and also the haunting topicality of “Deportees” performed by Chavez that just comes after, help bring the sounds all together in the production and reflects what’s going on now in real time.
David Lutken: Woody was very committed to being an “ally of the cause,” which led to him sometimes being the only white participant at events; that didn’t deter him one bit. In fact, he was proud to be an outsider, which is how he felt most of the time. Lead Belly was a good friend, as was Pete Seeger, and he performed in a concert with Paul Robeson and other African American performers.
He was extremely committed to justice. His songs are a call to action for people to consider, understand, and remember what’s going on all around us, then and now. The messages promote a social, cultural, and political awareness.
Rather than just a series of songs and tunes, the show digs into the “inner world” of Woody Guthrie and reveals how his tragedies and hardships helped to shape his call to action.
Ari Roth: Yes, that’s a prominent feature that differentiates this from other shows that compile his songs and music. This production really mines the tragic losses in Woody’s life alongside his own debilitating health struggles, battling the same illness that he witnessed in his mother. His own personal history made him perhaps more sensitive to the hardships in people that he tapped into. And that’s what people feel deeply and appreciate: his resilience when he keeps pushing forward as they watch his tragic, triumphant, heartbreaking journey.
The show has become a life journey experience for you. It’s apparently been reshaped and reformatted over the years to get where it is now.
David Lutken: Back in the early years, Harold Levanthal, Woody’s old manager, was the one who initially encouraged me to expand my rendition of songs and make it more of a biography. A full team — Nick Corley and Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell and Andy Teirstein — helped me devise the current project. Also, I had access to archival records, and the family opened up all kinds of material to me. I got a chance to see the triumphs, challenges, restlessness, wanderlust, and genius of Woody Guthrie. Mr. Levanthal and I wanted to dig deeper than a song collection and to explore where his causes came from, his dedication to “communalism,” and his cause for justice. Woody felt that the solution to so many social problems was people listening to, appreciating, respecting, and working with each other.
What a delight to talk with both of you to get the inside scoop on this treasured artist. Here’s hoping everyone takes the time to enjoy a quintessential American experience and explore the heartfelt wonders of Woody Guthrie. Have a great run!
Running Time: Two hours, with a 15-minute intermission.
Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie plays through October 25, 2026, presented by Voices Festival Productions, performing in Dupont Underground, 19 Dupont Circle NW, Washington, DC. All seats are general admission, and tickets ($ 47.50; under 30, $21.75) may be purchased online. Tickets are also available at TodayTix.
Cast and creative team credits are here (scroll down).
Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie
Devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley and Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell & Andy Teirstein
Directed by Georgette Verdin
Featuring: David M. Lutken, with Raquel Chavez, Margaret Dudasik, and Hubby Jenkins
SEE ALSO:
‘Woody Sez’ gifts DC with the music and message of Woody Guthrie (review by Gregory Ford, October 13, 2026)
