Wilma Theater News

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) and Druid will reteam in presenting Academy Award? winner and four-time Tony Award? nominee Martin McDonagh's play THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, directed by Tony Award? winner Garry Hynes, following an acclaimed UK tour.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

The Flea Theater invites you to the World Premiere of LOVE/STORIES (OR BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT), the latest from Itamar Moses, author of The Four of Us, Bach at Leipzig, and Back Back Back. Performances run January 29 - March 9 at The Flea (41 White Street between Church and Broadway in Tribeca).

The Wilma Theater continues its 30th Anniversary Season with the East Coast Premiere of Scorched, directed by the Wilma's co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka and written by highly acclaimed Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad. An international tour de force, Scorched arrives in the U.S. having received more than 100 productions worldwide. It has been translated into a dozen languages and is currently being adapted into a feature film. The Wilma's production ? only the second U.S. production of the play ? begins previews on February 25, opens on March 4, and closes on March 29, 2009. Tickets start at $39 and are available at the Wilma Box Office by calling (215) 546-7824, visiting 265 S. Broad Street, or online at www.wilmatheater.org.

This February, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia is celebrating the theatre community's commitment to the development of new works. The month of February will be the perfect time to check out a Premiere in America's First Great Theatre City! There are a number of fully staged productions running throughout the month, as well as readings, workshops and discussions. On Monday, February 23, starting at 6:00 PM, the Theatre Alliance is hosting a celebration party, sponsored by Philadelphia Weekly, to honor the new works being developed and premiered right here. While the Theatre Alliance has devoted February to new play development, this commitment to producing new works is not limited to any one month of the year. This past December, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia commissioned a Theatre Snapshot report, with funding, guidance and support from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative and additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. This Theatre Snapshot report, based upon data in the Pennsylvania Cultural Data Project (PACDP), found that, in 2006, 81 world premieres were presented in Philadelphia; a total that accounts for 26% of all productions. This total is significantly higher than the 12% proportion of world premieres-to-total productions from a comparative set of TCG theatres. In addition, 2006 boasted 63 workshops or readings of new works and Philadelphia Theatres also commissioned 17 new works.

Bristol Riverside Theatre presents the World Premiere of What You Will, a BRT original interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night from February 10 through March 1, 2009. A daring and bold take on the classic comedy that combines the language of Shakespeare with contemporary rhythms and movement, What You Will is conceived and co-directed by BRT Artistic Director Keith Baker and Donald Byrd, acclaimed choreographer of Broadway's The Color Purple and Artistic Director of Seattle's Spectrum Dance Theater. Music direction and original music by hip hop producer Justin Ellington completes the marriage of text, high-energy movement and heart-pounding music. What You Will begins previews February 10, opens February 12, and closes March 1, 2009. Tickets are $29 - $37, with $10 student tickets, and are available by calling the Box Office at (215) 785-0100 or visiting the theatre at 120 Radcliffe Street in Bristol, with information online at www.brtstage.org. [A full performance schedule follows on page 4.] In this new interpretation, Shakespeare's original text is heard with a distinctively contemporary American voice as the worlds of modern urban and classical theatre are fused. In What You Will (Shakespeare's full title for the play was Twelfth Night, Or What You Will), the social center of Illyria is Club 12th Night - a place where pranks and disguises, playful games and folly rule. A shipwrecked woman stumbles into the club, beginning a chain of events leading to an astonishing conclusion. Mistaken identities, intrigue, music, a beautiful heiress, drunken partiers, and a spiteful servant merge with a hip-hop rhythm in Shakespeare's enchanting tale of revelry and love.

The Flea Theater invites you to the World Premiere of LOVE/STORIES (OR BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT), the latest from Itamar Moses, author of The Four of Us, Bach at Leipzig, and Back Back Back. Performances run January 29 - March 9 at The Flea (41 White Street between Church and Broadway in Tribeca).

Theatre Exile's 12th season is in full swing with the Philadelphia premiere of Blackbird by David Harrower, the 2007 Olivier Award winner for best new play in London. Directed by producing artistic director Joe Canuso, the show runs February 5 - March 1 at Plays and Players Theatre. Blackbird is recommended for mature audiences because of strong language and sexual content.

Theater veterans Mark Lamos and Michael Ross have been named artistic director and managing director, respectively, of Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut, as the historic theater enters its 79th season. The new leadership team will assume their positions on February 1, 2009.

Mauckingbird Theatre Company will present Hedda Gabler as a compelling lesbian drama with the professional premiere of playwright Caroline Kava's explosive new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic. After the success of their critically acclaimed and sold-out inaugural season with all-male versions of The Misanthrope and Shakespeare's R & J, Mauckingbird's Hedda Gabler, explores lesbian relationships and the search for personal and sexual identity while exposing class divides, sexism, and the influence of money and status in aristocratic and bourgeois worlds.

James Haskins, Managing Director of The Wilma Theater, has been appointed to Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter's newly formed Cultural Advisory Council. A leader in the Philadelphia theater community, Haskins was selected from over two hundred applications and recommendations from leaders in the arts and culture community. Over forty council members were selected to advise Mayor Nutter and Chief Cultural Officer Gary Steuer as they develop a comprehensive arts and culture strategy for the City of Philadelphia.

The Wilma Theater's free reading series, Season Teasers, returns with its first four readings of the New Year in January 2009. The series offers audiences an exclusive opportunity to hear plays - chosen from the best writing from the U.S. and abroad - which are under consideration for future Wilma seasons. Plays are read by some of Philadelphia's finest actors and cast members from the Wilma's upcoming production of Scorched, alongside special guests including Academy Award? winning actor F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus, Scarface), who will be featured in the January 12 reading of Vaclav Havel's Leaving. Each reading is followed by a lively discussion with dramaturg, Walter Bilderback.

Atlantic Theater Company and Druid are proud to announce a four week extension of Martin McDonagh's hit dark comedy THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, which will now play through Sunday, March 1st, 2009 Off Broadway at Atlantic's Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20th Street).

Berkeley Repertory Theatre greets the new year by proudly presenting its 50th world premiere, a new comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity from the creators of Eurydice. Celebrated playwright Sarah Ruhl and Obie Award-winning director Les Waters come together again for the debut of In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). Commissioned by Berkeley Rep and staged in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, this hotly anticipated play begins previews on January 30, opens February 4, and closes March 15. BART and Wells Fargo serve as season sponsors for Berkeley Rep's 41st year of fearless theatre, and the executive producer for this show is the Strauch Kulhanjian Family.

The Flea Theater will present the World Premiere of Itamar Moses' LOVE/STORIES (OR BUT YOU WILL GET USED TO IT), a collection of five short new plays. Moses is the author of The Four of Us, Bach at Leipzig, Back Back Back and Celebrity Row, a playwright whose sensibility is the perfect match for The Bats, The Flea's resident company of emerging artists. Performances begin previews on January 29 with opening night slated for Monday, February 16.

In conjunction with the U.S. Premiere of Schmucks - a tale of a fictitious meeting between two comic icons, Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce - The Wilma Theater will present a night of comedy films with screenings of Duck Soup and The Best of Lenny Bruce. A spoof on politics and war, Duck Soup (1933) showcases the Marx Brothers in one of their most hilarious films. The Best of Lenny Bruce includes excerpts from comedian Lenny Bruce's roller-coaster career in comedy.

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) and Druid are proud to reteam in presenting Academy Award? winner and four-time Tony Award? nominee Martin McDonagh?s play THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, directed by Tony Award? winner Garry Hynes, following an acclaimed UK tour.

There is an excitement in the air on the opening night of HAIRSPRAY, as both Amy Toporek (Tracy Turnblad) and Michael Walker (Edna Turnblad) take a seat on the comfy couch in the green room at the Walnut Street Theater. It is ninety minutes before curtain and this talented pair is all smiles, each overflowing with wonderful things to say about one another.

Mauckingbird Theatre Company will present Hedda Gabler as a compelling lesbian drama with the professional premiere of playwright Caroline Kava's explosive new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic. After the success of their critically acclaimed and sold-out inaugural season with all-male versions of The Misanthrope and Shakespeare's R & J, Mauckingbird's Hedda Gabler, explores lesbian relationships and the search for personal and sexual identity while exposing class divides, sexism, and the influence of money and status in aristocratic and bourgeois worlds.

Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Jeffory Lawson, Managing Director) and Druid are proud to reteam in presenting Academy Award? winner and four-time Tony Award? nominee Martin McDonagh?s play THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, directed by Tony Award? winner Garry Hynes, following an acclaimed UK tour.