Wilma Theater News

This evening, in a celebration attended by almost 750 theatre artists, staff, critics, and friends, Theatre Philadelphia distributed 26 awards at the 2015 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre - now in its second successful season since relaunching in fall 2013. The Awards Ceremony was held at the Merriam Theater, followed by an After-Party at Dorrance Hamilton Hall at the University of the Arts. A full list of award recipients is below.

Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premiere of Los Angeles-based choreographer Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, an evening-length work performed by Popkin, Emily Beattie and Carolyn Hall, with an original score by avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek, performed live by Klucevsek with Mary Rowell on violin.

Twelve days, seven operatic happenings, six venues across the city, three world premieres, and one superstar Festival Artist: set to launch in September 2017, O – Opera Philadelphia's new annual season-opening festival – represents a radical new way to experience opera. As Daniel K. Meyer, M.D., Chairman of the Board of Opera Philadelphia, David B. Devan, General Director & President, and Annie Burridge, Managing Director, announced today, the new festival will open the company's season each fall, drawing together some of opera's most sought-after creative and performing artists for an immersion in the new American opera and innovative stagings of the classics for which Opera Philadelphia – the only American finalist for the 2015 International Opera Award for Accessibility – is fast becoming known. Opera Philadelphia will also continue to present three additional productions each spring, making it the only U.S. opera company to open an annual season with a dynamic festival.

Amphibian Stage Productions (Kathleen Culebro, Artistic Director) has announced the creative team for its third developmental staged reading of the 2015 season, Daedalus by David Davalos.

The Old Globe's GLOBE FOR ALL returns to bring free professional Shakespeare directly to diverse, multigenerational audiences in underserved communities around San Diego County. This second year of GLOBE FOR ALL follows a highly successful inaugural production in 2014. One of the Bard's most charming comedies, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, will be directed by renowned Shakespearean Rob Melrose, Artistic Director of San Francisco's Cutting Ball Theater, who makes his Globe debut. He directs a cast of local professional actors, including recent graduates of the Old Globe/University of San Diego Graduate Theatre Program.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has announced that Emmy® Award nominee Zachary Quinto will lead the cast of the New York premiere of Smokefall, by Noah Haidle and directed by Anne Kauffman, who directed The Nether for MCC last season to great acclaim. Smokefall continues MCC Theater's season at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) with previews beginning February 4, 2016 and an opening night set for February 22. It is scheduled through March 13. Single tickets will go on sale January 5, 2016, but advanced tickets are currently available via subscription packages at www.mcctheater.org.

Women's Project Theater, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Lisa McNulty and Managing Director Maureen Moynihan, has announced the rotating casts for the New York premiere of DEAR ELIZABETH, the inaugural production at the WP's new theatrical home the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway (at 76th Street).

People's Light presents AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS, running from October 14 through November 8, 2015. Artistic Director Abigail Adams directs.

The Trap Door Theatre is set to present The Fairytale Lives of Russian Girls. The show opens October 15 and runs through November 21. For more information or to make reservations go to www.trapdoortheatre.com, or call 773-384-0494.

Black Button Eyes Productions presents GOBLIN MARKET by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon, music by Polly Pen, adapted from the poem by Christina Rossetti, at the Pentagon Theatre at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee, 3rd floor, now through October 31, 2015.

As part of the artist commissioning program New York Voices, Joe's Pub at The Public presents Estuary: an artist/mother story, a new show conceived and written by Jamie Leonhart and directed by Joanna Settle. Estuary's original music is co-written and arranged by Grammy-winner Michael Leonhart. This presentation of Estuary features a live band that includes Saskia Lane, Pauline Kim, Sara Phillips Budde and Katie Scheele. Performances will run Monday through Wednesday, November 1-3 at 7:00PM at Joe's Pub at The Public (425 Lafayette, NYC). Tickets are ($20) available now online, via phone (212.967.7555) or in-person at The Public's Box Office.

Black Button Eyes Productions presents GOBLIN MARKET by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon, music by Polly Pen, adapted from the poem by Christina Rossetti, at the Pentagon Theatre at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee, 3rd floor, October 3 - October 31, 2015.

Celebration Theatre at the Lex presents its first play in its new home, under the artistic direction of Michael Matthews & Michael A. Shepperd, the Los Angeles premiere of the 27th Annual LAMBDA award- winner for Best LGBT Drama of 2014/2015, BOOTYCANDY by Robert O'Hara (Antebellum) and directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews (The Color Purple, Failure: A Love Story).  Comments Celebration Theatre's Executive Director Michael C. Kricfalusi, "All of us at Celebration Theatre are so excited to have found a new home and even more excited to kick off our 33rd season with BOOTYCANDY.  It's going to be a great year!'  BOOTYCANDYwill begin previews on Friday, October 23 at 8pm; will open on Thursday, October 29 at 8pm and perform through Sunday, December 20 at the Celebration Theatre's new home, the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles.

Abrons Arts Center presents the New York City premiere of Los Angeles-based choreographer Lionel Popkin's RUTH DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, an evening-length work performed by Popkin, Emily Beattie and Carolyn Hall, with an original score by avant-garde accordionist Guy Klucevsek, performed live by Klucevsek with Mary Rowell on violin.

To open its 32nd season the Undermain Theatre is thrilled to bring the World Premiere of Meg Miroshnik's THE DROLL to their home in Deep Ellum at 3200 Main Street. The premiere will open tonight, September 26th, 2015 - curtain time 8:15 with the playwright in attendance. Preview performances will be on Sep. 23rd, 24th and 25th. The production will run through October 17th.

People's Light presents AUCTIONING THE AINSLEYS, running from October 14 through November 8, 2015. Artistic Director Abigail Adams directs.

To open its 32nd season the Undermain Theatre is thrilled to bring the World Premiere of Meg Miroshnik's THE DROLL to their home in Deep Ellum at 3200 Main Street. The premiere will open September 26th, 2015 - curtain time 8:15 with the playwright in attendance. Preview performances will be tonight, Sep. 23rd, Sep. 24th and 25th. The production will run through October 17th.

The Wilma Theater is honored to welcome back Attis Theater Artistic Director Theodoros Terzopoulos (AJAX the madness, co-presented with FringeArts in 2013), who will lead eight Philadelphia actors and three Attis actors in creating an original adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone. This production, which Terzopoulos has adapted from an English translation by Marianne McDonald, merges a physically rigorous methodology with a classical text, and is performed in both English and ancient Greek by an international ensemble. A project initially inspired by a New Yorker essay about the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, Antigone invites conversation around moral, religious, and political dilemmas regarding the unburied dead.

Black Button Eyes Productions presents GOBLIN MARKET by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon, music by Polly Pen, adapted from the poem by Christina Rossetti, at the Pentagon Theatre at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee, 3rd floor, October 3 - October 31, 2015. 'Goblin Market,' directed by Ed Rutherford with music direction by Jeff Bouthiette, begins previews October 2; press opening is October 3; show runs through October 31. Check out photos from the show below!

Black Button Eyes Productions presents GOBLIN MARKET by Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon, music by Polly Pen, adapted from the poem by Christina Rossetti, at the Pentagon Theatre at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee, 3rd floor, October 3 - October 31, 2015.