Wilma Theater News

The 2014 recipients of the Horton Foote Prize, named in honor of the legendary writer, to award excellence in American Theater, are presented biennially. The 2014 Prize for the 2012-13/2013-14 seasons' Outstanding New American Play is awarded to The Body of an American by Dan O'Brien. The 2014 Prize for Promising New American Play is awarded to Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks.

Quintessence Theatre Group launches its fifth season of progressive classic theatre with an all-male Shakespeare repertory: AS YOU LIKE IT presented in rotating repertory with RICHARD II. Bringing together the best professional actors and designers from Philadelphia and across the country, Artistic Director Alexander Burns leads this collective of artists on a mission to ignite the classics through visceral, actor-focused and text-driven productions. AS YOU LIKE IT will begin previews today, October 1 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 4 at 8pm. RICHARD II will begin previews on Thursday, October 9 at 7pm and open on Saturday, October 18 at 8pm. All performances are at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave in Mt Airy, Philadelphia, PA.

After the highly acclaimed production of Becky Shaw in the 2009/10 season The Wilma Theater is thrilled to be producing its second Gina Gionfriddo play-Rapture, Blister, Burn directed by UArts Ira Brind School of Theater Director Joanna Settle. When celebrity professor Catherine reunites with her best friends from graduate school, now a married couple with kids living in a New England college town, she begins to rethink the choices she's made over the past twenty years. As these three friends navigate their new relationships with each other, feelings of regret begin to arise. Catherine's homecoming leads to shifting dynamics and a larger look at how much (or little) the lives of women have evolved over the past century, while examining subjects ranging from pornography to Betty Friedan to slasher films. Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winner Gina Gionfriddo offers a fresh take on timeless questions by wittily juxtaposing feminist theories with messy human desires.

Philadelphia Theatre Company opens its 40th Anniversary season with the Pulitzer Prize finalist Detroit by Lisa D'Amour running October 10-November 9 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets). Directed by Maria Mileaf, the cast features K.O. DelMarcelle, Tom McCarthy, Genevieve Perrier, Steven Rishard, and Matteo J. Scammell.

The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) reports the extraordinary level of international support that is represented by the recipients for this year's 50/50 Applause Awards, which sets out to recognize theatres that produced 50 percent or more women playwrights in their season of shows. In the spring, for the first time in the history of the awards, ICWP invited the public to nominate theatres that had produced the work of women playwrights throughout the world.

The International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP) reported the extraordinary level of international support that is represented by the recipients for this year's 50/50 Applause Awards, which sets out to recognize theatres that produced 50% or more women playwrights in their season of shows.

People's Light & Theatre opens its 40th Anniversary Season with August Wilson's Fences running tonight, September 10-October 5, 2014 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

The award-winning companies VS. Theatre and Firefly Theater & Films are co-producing the West Coast Premiere of a newly revised version of Itamar Moses' COMPLETENESS.

The Boston engagement of Disney's The Lion King. Boston's most eagerly awaited stage production returns to the Boston Opera House stage runs today, September 9 to October 12 as part of the 2014-2015 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season.

This fall, Signature Theatre continues its commitment to presenting bold new contemporary plays with the DC area premiere of Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason. After its New York premiere at Second Stage Theatre this summer, Signature is proud to introduce this play to DC audiences. Running October 14 - December 7, Sex with Strangers will be presented in Signature's intimate 110-seat ARK Theatre.

Mari Marchbanks announced today the 2014 recipients of the Horton Foote Prize, named in honor of the legendary writer, to award excellence in American Theater. Presented biennially, the 2014 Prize for the 2012-13/2013-14 seasons' Outstanding New American Play is awarded to The Body of an American by Dan O'Brien. The 2014 Prize for Promising New American Play is awarded to Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) by Suzan-Lori Parks.

As summer vacations end, New Paradise Laboratories (NPL), one of Philadelphia's most uncompromising experimental ensembles, brings vacation to the stage, by returning to the 2014 Philadelphia Fringe Festival in the World Premiere of The Adults, presented by FringeArts. This new piece contemplates adults behaving badly when the rules relax. It runs today, September 3-14 at the Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street. NPL creates innovative theatre works in a variety of media.

Quintessence Theatre Group launches its fifth season of progressive classic theatre with an all-male Shakespeare repertory: AS YOU LIKE IT presented in rotating repertory with RICHARD II. Bringing together the best professional actors and designers from Philadelphia and across the country, Artistic Director Alexander Burns leads this collective of artists on a mission to ignite the classics through visceral, actor-focused and text-driven productions.

Theatre Philadelphia is thrilled to announce the nominees for the 2014 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre, including over 140 total nominations spanning 26 categories. The all-new Barrymore Awards Ceremony will be held Monday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. at The Merriam Theater at 250 S. Broad Street, immediately followed by an After-Party in the Commonwealth Plaza at The Kimmel Center.

PAGE 73 has announced the world premiere of YOU GOT OLDER, a new play by 2014 P73 Playwriting Fellow Clare Barron. Directed by Obie Award-winner Anne Kauffman, YOU GOT OLDER will star Tony Award nominee Reed Birney and Brooke Bloom and begins previews on October 29, 2014 on the Mainstage at HERE (145 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10013-1548). YOU GOT OLDER's opening date is currently set for November 6, 2014 and runs through November 22, 2014.

In the coming months, Broadway will welcome a fresh crop of productions- many of which will mark the Broadway debuts for a slew of talented actors. Whether they are fresh faces or established stars, these Broadway babies will soon take their very first bows on the grandest stages in the world. Meet all of the Great White Way's newest stars below, and be sure to let us know who you're most looking forward to seeing onstage!

People's Light & Theatre opens its 40th Anniversary Season with August Wilson's Fences running September 10-October 5, 2014 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage. Kamilah Forbes directs. People's Light & Theatre is located at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA 19355.

Take a musical journey back to your youth, or even before you were born, with the songs that speak to all of our hearts and shine through all of our memories. Slim Bob Slim -- the ukulele-playing vaudevillian alter-ego of Philadelphia actor, writer, and director Seth Reichgott -- takes you on a journey through the great old-timey music we all know and love. Featuring such favorites as 'Take On Me,' 'Come On Eileen,' 'Walking On Sunshine,' and many more, STAND BACK I'M GONNA UKE is a concert, an evening of storytelling, and a chance to tap your feet and sing along to all new arrangements of great songs from the 80s.

As summer vacations end, New Paradise Laboratories (NPL), one of Philadelphia's most uncompromising experimental ensembles, brings vacation to the stage, by returning to the 2014 Philadelphia Fringe Festival in the World Premiere of The Adults, presented by FringeArts. This new piece contemplates adults behaving badly when the rules relax. It runs September 3-14 at the Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine Street. NPL creates innovative theatre works in a variety of media. The Adults is performed by new and original members of the NPL Ensemble. Tickets cost $15-$29 and are available online at www.fringearts.com and at the Fringe Arts Box Office 140 N. Columbus Blvd.

The curtain will rise on the 2015 performing arts season in Philadelphia soon, and budget-conscious theater and music lovers have reason to rejoice thanks to the many low-cost tickets options available to them. The award-winning Wilma Theatre introduces its new WynTix program, which offers tickets to all productions for just $25 each. At the Curtis Institute of Music, up-and-coming classical music stars deliver free performances three nights a week. And each Thursday, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance continues to send out its popular FunSavers email, loaded with half-price tickets for the coming week's shows and exhibitions.