When the house lights go dark at Woolly Mammoth in Northwest D.C., signaling the start of “The Great Privation (How to flip ten cents into a dollar),” audiences are taken on a time-traveling journey as characters confront the realities of racism, health and economic disparities, taboo conversations, and buried truths. “‘The Great Privation,’ for me, alludes to the great lack of resources. For Robinson, writing the play was a way to reflect on hidden stories and her own past. “As with most productions at Woolly Mammoth, ‘The Great Privation’ expands the boundaries of our understanding and speaks powerfully to our present realities. Thomas Bowen, who recently hosted a staged reading at Woolly Mammoth of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean,” in honor of his 60th birthday and in support of the theatre.