IN CLAY to Stream on Watch Wilma Digital Theater Platform

This fall, City Theatre will contribute to the inaugural offerings of Watch Wilma, a new digital theater platform from Philadelphia's Wilma Theater that brings productions from Pennsylvania stages to audiences beyond the limits of geography and in-person performance schedules.

With support from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Digital Accelerator Program, Watch Wilma extends the theater's commitment to professionally filming their own live productions and presenting works by Pittsburgh's City Theatre and Philadelphia's Azuka Theatre. The upcoming fall digital presentations include the Wilma and Soho Rep's world premiere co-production of Horsegirl & Cowdaddy, City Theatre's In Clay and Azuka Theatre's #Charlottesville. Patrons can purchase single tickets for a digital production for $35 or a discounted three-show package for $95 through the Watch Wilma website.

The filmmaker leading the digital capture is Puerto Rico-born video director and editor Leslie Juan Rivera Ramos, who first connected with the Wilma in 2021 when he shot James Ijames's Fat Ham while theaters were dark due to COVID. The filmed presentation was the play's world premiere and won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama before it had ever been performed for a live audience. Rivera Ramos and his crew have since filmed and edited more than 20 Wilma productions, giving each show a second life on screen.

Each production is filmed before a live audience using multiple cameras and edited to reflect the play's distinct artistic style, bringing its performances and staging to the screen. On-demand viewing allows audiences to watch on their own schedules during each production's limited digital presentation window, while closed captions expand access to the work.

From October 20 to November 8, Watch Wilma will present City Theatre's production of Rebecca Simmonds and Jack Miles' dazzling solo musical In Clay, starring Alex Finke.

'We are thrilled to partner with our colleagues at the Wilma on this exciting evolution for how patrons can experience theatre,' said City Theatre Managing Director James McNeel. 'It harkens back to 2020 and 2021 when we experimented with digital presentations of our work, first with the concert film we released of F*** 7th Grade by Jill Sobule and Liza Birkenmeier, and later our feature, Claws Out. In Clay delighted audiences here in Pittsburgh and the production deserves a global showcase. With this on-demand digital streaming option, now it will receive one.'

Set to an upbeat Parisian jazz score, this exploration of passion, tenacity and art is based on the true story of overlooked early 20th-century ceramic artist Marie-Berthe Cazin. We join Cazin in her apartment in Paris in 1938, where on the eve of a visit from an estranged childhood friend turned acclaimed painter, she reflects on her life. From her early days as a gifted protégée discovering pottery, to watching her husband rise to fame partly by claiming her work as his own, through the upheaval of World War I, Marie's unwavering spirit reveals the beauty in the broken.

The American premiere of In Clay was originally produced by Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA.

In Clay by Rebecca Simmonds and Jack Miles

Presented by City Theatre

Book and Lyrics by Rebecca Simmonds

Music and Lyrics by Jack Miles

Additional Music, Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations by Matt Herbert

Directed by Kimberly Senior

Starring Alex Finke

Digital presentation: October 20 to November 8

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