The Wilma Theater Announces Four Philadelphia Premieres And More for 2024-25 Season

Philadelphia-based company The Wilma Theater (265 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19107) has announced its 2024-25 season productions, featuring four Philadelphia premieres directed by Co-Artistic Directors Morgan Green, Lindsay Smiling, Yury Urnov, and Founding Artistic Director Blanka Zizka.

The theater's next season highlights 2023 Nobel Prize-winning playwright Jon Fosse, Lindsay Smiling's directorial debut at The Wilma, a co-production of a play by Obie Award-winner Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins with the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph. Early Bird Subscriptions for The Wilma's 2024-25 season start at $100 for all four productions and are available now through June 1.

The announcement builds on an already landmark season for the Philadelphia theater. In December, former Co-Artistic Director James Ijames's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham became The Wilma's highest single ticket-selling production in its history. It was followed by the world premiere of Ukrainian playwright Sasha Denisova's timely play My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion, a co-production with Washington D.C.-based Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, which The New Yorker's Helen Shaw hailed as “rollicking” and “instantly affecting.” The 2023-24 Season continues with the ongoing presentation of The Good Person of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht (April 2 to 21) and the world premiere of contemporary opera HILMA by Kate Scelsa and Robert M. Johanson (June 4 to 23), presented in partnership with New Georges.

For its next season, The Wilma's artistic leadership assembled a selection of plays taking audiences around the world and back to confront timeless questions: How do we understand the past? How much do we let it affect our present? And how do we use this knowledge to walk into a better future? 

The Wilma's next season begins in November with the Philadelphia premiere of The Comeuppance by Obie Award-winning playwright Brandon Jacob-Jenkins. Anticipating their 20-year high school reunion, fueled by adult jungle juice and pot, four former classmates reminisce at a porch pre-party. Directed by Morgan Green, the presentation is a co-production featuring The Wilma's HotHouse in collaboration with Woolly Mammoth Theatre's Company Members. 

“Branden Jacob-Jenkins is one of my favorite living playwrights, and I can't wait to dive into his searing new play with an incredible ensemble of actors and designers from both The Wilma and Woolly Mammoth,” said Green. “The Comeuppance is asking us to reflect on the lasting impact the pandemic had on our lives, and it feels to me to be the right moment to do so.”

Founded by Artistic Director Emeritus Blanka Zizka, the HotHouse Company is The Wilma's acclaimed, award-winning resident artist collective. The company meets weekly to train, read plays, and develop their artistry. Many roles in The Wilma's season are cast from The Acting Company. The HotHouse will be collaborating with Woolly Mammoth's own Company of Artists for the co-production of The Comeuppance next season.

Following his first season as a Wilma Co-Artistic Director, Lindsay Smiling will direct the Philadelphia premiere presentation of The Half-God of Rainfall by Nigerian-born British poet and playwright Inua Ellams. The play is a “melodious, sky-high tale” (New York Times) following a half-Nigerian mortal, half-Greek God blessed with extraordinary powers, whose ascension to NBA superstardom takes him on an epic journey of divine proportions. The play marks Smiling's directorial debut at The Wilma, making him the second HotHouse member to lead a production after Justin Jain became the first with The Good Person of Setzuan.

“The 2023-2024 season was an incredible time to step into the cohort of Artistic Directors at The Wilma,” said Smiling. “It's thrilling to be able to work on shows like Fat Ham and My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion as an actor and then support The Good Person of Setzuan and Hilma as a leader of the institution. I can't wait to put on another hat as I direct Inua Ellams's The Half-God of Rainfall next season.”

In Spring 2025, Wilma founder Blanka Zizka returns to direct Archduke, reuniting with playwright Rajiv Joseph after previously leading a 2019 production of his play Describe the Night. In Archduke, three boys are recruited by a mysterious organization with promises of eternal glory, purpose, and a sandwich. They are given a world-altering mission: assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.

The 2024-25 season concludes with the Philadelphia premiere of A Summer Day by Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse and translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde under the visionary direction of Wilma Co-Artistic Director Yury Urnov. Fosse is considered to be a modern-day Henrik Ibsen whose work has rarely been produced in the United States. His 2012 play invites audiences to consider our relationship with loss and memory: is there one day in your past you keep replaying again and again? 

Starting today, patrons can purchase subscriptions to The Wilma's 2024-25 season. A four-show weekday subscription is $100 for four weekday tickets to each of the 2024-25 shows. A four-show weekend subscription is $120. The four-ticket Whenever subscription – which includes four tickets to be used in any combination throughout the season – is $160. The Wilma's subscriptions offer theatergoers savings of up to 60% compared to single ticket purchases. 

Additionally, patrons who subscribe now have an exclusive offer to purchase $25 tickets for Poor Judge, a new work of dance-theater cabaret created by Dito Van Reigersberg and Pig Iron Theatre Company featuring the music of Aimee Mann. The production is presented by FringeArts in Association with The Wilma Theater as part of the 2024 Fringe Festival.

Subscriptions can be purchased at www.wilmatheater.org or by calling The Wilma's box office at 215-546-7824. 

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The Wilma Theater's 2024-25 Season Productions (Learn more here):

Note: All Wilma productions are Philadelphia premieres

The Comeuppance

by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins  

A Co-Production with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Directed by Morgan Green

November 19 to December 8, 2024 | Opening Night: Friday, November 22, at 7 p.m.

From the boundary-pushing, Obie Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon), this electrifying comedy is a meditation on impermanence, nostalgia, and isolation. Anticipating their 20-year high school reunion, fueled by adult jungle juice and pot, four former classmates reminisce at a porch pre-game party that hangs on a porous border with the otherworldly. Directed by Co-Artistic Director Morgan Green with wit and heart (filmed version of Fat Ham, School Pictures, Eternal Life Part 1), The Comeuppance features The Wilma's HotHouse in collaboration with Woolly Mammoth Theatre's Acting Company.

The Half-God of Rainfall

by Inua Ellams

Directed by Lindsay Smiling

February 11 to March 2, 2025 | Opening Night: Friday, February 14, at 7 p.m.

Nigerian-born British poet and playwright Inua Ellams blends Yoruba and Greek mythologies into an incredible story of a demigod-turned-NBA superstar in The Half-God of Rainfall. The epic poem follows a half-Nigerian mortal, half-Greek God named Demi, who possesses extraordinary powers yet is burdened by the expectations of his lineage. Demi's powers grow as he leaves his West Nigerian village for the bright lights of the NBA, where he emerges as an all-world talent driven by passion, power, and destiny. Under the directorial vision of Wilma Co-Artistic Director Lindsay Smiling (recently seen on stage in Fat Ham and My Mama and the Full-Scale Invasion), The Half-God of Rainfall features the HotHouse Acting Company and explores the intersection of patriarchy, imperialism, and American basketball.  

Archduke

by Rajiv Joseph 

Directed by Blanka Zizka

April 15 to May 4, 2025 | Opening Night: Friday, April 18, at 7 p.m.

Three boys – Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabež, and Nedeljko Čabrinović – are recruited by a mysterious organization with promises of glory, purpose, and a sandwich. Their depraved Captain sends the boys on a mission he claims will restore order and justice to their struggling nation and avenge the unfairness of their terminal illness. Their assignment? Assassinate the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sophie. Beloved playwright Rajiv Joseph (Describe the Night) returns to The Wilma with a play that asks, what happens when a person feels like they have nothing left to lose? What methods are acceptable in the fight against oppression? Led by The Wilma's visionary Founding Artistic Director Blanka Zizka (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Kill Move Paradise) and featuring the HotHouse Acting Company, Archduke offers audiences a humanized glimpse into the catalyst of World War I.

A Summer Day

by Jon Fosse

Translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde

Directed by Yury Urnov

June 10 to June 29, 2025 | Opening Night: Friday, June 13, at 7 p.m.

Experience the haunting beauty of Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse's A Summer Day, directed by inventive Co-Artistic Director Yury Urnov (Mr. Burns, Minor Character, 12th Night) in a production delving into the depths of human connection, memory, and existential longing. Is there one day in your past you keep replaying again and again? When do we start spending more time in the past than in the present? Through Fosse's poetic language and Urnov's innovative direction and immersive visual design, audiences are transported into an epic and intimate world where past and present intertwine, inviting reflection on the fleeting nature of time and the eternal search for meaning. Often referred to as a modern-day Ibsen, Fosse won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023 - one of the few playwrights to ever receive that honor - and is rarely produced in the United States.

*BONUS*

Poor Judge

Created by Pig Iron Theatre | From an Original Idea by Dito Van Reigersberg

Presented by FringeArts in Association with The Wilma Theater as part of the 2024 Fringe Festival

Directed by Eva Steinmetz

Music Direction by Alex Bechtel
September 11 to 22, 2024

An original work of dance-theater cabaret born from the catalog of alt-rock iconoclast Aimee Mann. Dreamed up by Philadelphia's beloved Dito Van Reigersberg, this live music mixtape is part spy story, part woeful tale of lost loves, and part Hollywood audition – all performed by a local supergroup of actor-musicians. 

About The Wilma Theater

Established in 1973, The Wilma Theater (265 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19107) is a non-profit theater company creating living, adventurous art engaging artists and audiences in imaginative reflections on the complexities of contemporary life. The theater presents bold, original productions representing a range of voices, viewpoints, and styles in order to develop the form and push existing conventions. Many of the roles in The Wilma's productions are cast from its acclaimed, award-winning resident artists, The HotHouse Company, who meet weekly to train, read plays, and develop their artistry. The organization is currently led by a creative cohort of three co-artistic directors, Morgan Green, Lindsay Smiling, and Yury Urnov, and Managing Director Leigh Goldenberg. Learn more about The Wilma Theater and purchase tickets at www.wilmatheater.org.

 

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