Wilma Theater Honors Peggy Greenawalt At 2009 Gala 5/1

The Wilma Theater will celebrate co-Artistic Directors Blanka Zizka and Jiri Zizka's 30th Anniversary with The Wilma Theater and will honor Board Chair Peggy Greenawalt at its 2009 Gala on May 1, 2009 beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The event will kick off at the theater with a cocktail hour, a 30th Anniversary performance, and presentation of the Wilma Star Award. The party will continue next door in the DoubleTree Hotel's OrmAndy Ballroom with a stationed dinner, silent auction, and music spun by a local guest DJ.

Blanka Zizka and Jiri Zizka immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia after their theater was closed down by the government. They staged their first Wilma production in May of 1979 - an original adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm, a novel that had been censored in their homeland. That production marks the beginning of the Zizkas' 30-year relationship with the theater and their eventual founding of The Wilma Theater as it is known it today.

During their tenure, they have directed a combined total of 103 productions at the Wilma, including world and American premieres, in addition to productions in New York and around the country. The Wilma Theater has established a national reputation for evocative, artful work ranging from the international drama of Bertolt Brecht, Athol Fugard, Eugene Ionesco, Caryl Churchill, Linda Griffiths, Martin McDonagh, Peter Shaffer, and Tom Stoppard to new American plays by Arthur Miller, Sarah Ruhl, Dael Orlandersmith, Doug Wright, Itamar Moses, and many others.

The Wilma Theater will honor Board Chair Peggy Greenawalt with the newly named Wilma Star Award in recognition of her eight years of service to the Board of Directors. Greenawalt was named Board Chair in 2005 and has been a fervent advocate for the Wilma. A graduate of Smith College, with an MBA from Columbia University Business School, Greenawalt draws from professional experience in the private sector to benefit numerous philanthropic endeavors. She generously shares her passion, energy, and financial savvy with local cultural and educational institutions, including, Germantown Friends School, the Center for Bioethics at University of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. She is also a founding member of the board of SummerBridge Germantown, an academic enrichment program. Past volunteer work includes the Chestnut Hill Historical Society and Philadelphia International Theater Festival for Children, among others. Greenawalt and her husband Rich are avid theater patrons, and relentless advocates for the arts. They have raised two children in the Philadelphia area.

Individual Gala tickets are now on sale. Patron tickets are $300 per person, and Subscriber tickets are $250 per person. Corporate sponsorships and advertising opportunities are also available. For more information, contact Julie Rossnagle, the Wilma's Special Events Manager, at (215) 893-9456, Ext. 124.

Gala proceeds allow The Wilma Theater to continue its mission of producing bold and inventive theater and to attract promising playwrights through its commissioning program. Committed to artistic excellence and quality educational programs, Gala proceeds also help support Wilmagination, an outreach program serving inner city middle and high school students as part of their Building the Audiences of Tomorrow campaign.

Support is provided by 30th Anniversary Sponsor Rohm and Haas and event sponsors Asher & Company, Ltd., CDI Corporation, Diversified Search, Drexel University, David Haas, Independence Blue Cross, Knowledge Rules, KPMG LLP, Lobro Associates, Veritable, LP, and WolfBlock LLP.

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