Wilma Theater's 08-09 Season To Include 'Rock', 'Schmucks' and 'Scorched'

The Wilma Theater proudly celebrates its 30th Anniversary with the upcoming 2008-2009 Season.  “We have chosen plays that will be among the most inventive and thrilling ever to grace our stage,” say co-Artistic Directors Blanka Zizka and Jiri Zizka, who staged their first Wilma production in 1979 – an original adaptation of George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The 2008-2009 Season opens with the Philadelphia Premiere of Tom Stoppard’s latest critically acclaimed play, Rock ‘n’ Roll.  “With half of the play taking place in former Czechoslovakia, Rock ‘n’ Roll brings us back to one of the defining moments in our lives when we left Czechoslovakia in 1976,” says Blanka Zizka.  “Tom himself was born in Czechoslovakia, and he has long been impressed by our personal story of immigrants coming to a foreign place, knowing nobody, and creating a theater.  It is the perfect play to mark our 30th Anniversary Season.”

Over the holiday season, the Wilma will produce Schmucks, a comic fantasy by Roy Smiles whose work returns to the Wilma for a second season. A tale of a fictitious meeting between two comic icons, Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce, Schmucks received a very enthusiastic audience reception at a staged reading earlier this year. 

Following will be the intensely dramatic and moving Scorched from the internationally acclaimed Lebanese-born playwright Wajdi Mouawad.  Portraying characters searching for humanity while surrounded by the irrationality of war in the Middle East, this play was called “a fiery epic of intricate layers that mixes humor, tenderness, tragedy, and social upheaval.” (TorontoStage.com)  

Closing the season will be Terry Johnson’s Olivier Award Winner for Best New Comedy, Hysteria, based on an historical meeting between Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí.  An explosive comedy, this production full of surrealist imagery will feature the Wilma’s trademark excellence in design, with a set by Mimi Lien who won a Barrymore Award for Outrage at the Wilma in 2005.
 

Rock ‘n’ Roll (Philadelphia Premiere)

September 17 – October 26, 2008 (press opening: Sept. 24)

by Tom Stoppard     

directed by Blanka Zizka

 
This extraordinary theatrical event from Academy Award winner and four-time Tony® Award-winner Tom Stoppard (The Invention of Love) was a recent hit on Broadway following a record-breaking run in London's West End.  In August 1968, Russian tanks are rolling into Prague; Jan, the Czech student, lives for rock music; Max, the English professor, lives for Communism; and Esme, the flower child, lives for a high.  By 1990, the tanks are rolling out, the Stones are rolling in, and idealism has hit the wall.  Stoppard's sweeping and passionate play spans two countries, three generations, and 22 turbulent years, at the end of which, love remains — and so does rock ‘n' roll. “Triumphant… Rock ‘n’ Roll is arguably Stoppard’s finest play… he is a magician, and this is a passionate, decades-spanning tale of love, revolution, and music!” – The New York Times

Schmucks (U.S. Premiere)

December 3, 2008 – January 4, 2009 (press opening: Dec. 10)

by Roy Smiles

directed by Jiri Zizka

 
It’s 1965, and the great Northeast Blackout covers New York City in a state of panic and disorder.  Isolated in a small diner, a young stand-up comic with an upcoming gig on The Ed Sullivan Show encounters comic icons Groucho Marx and Lenny Bruce and implores them for comedic guidance.  What results is an exhilarating and unpredictable debate of the nature and purpose of comedy.  From one of London’s funniest playwrights, Roy Smiles, comes the U.S. Premiere of the play that the Wilma’s audience found wickedly entertaining during a reading earlier this year.  “An evening of total comic virtuosity… another success for the prolific and aptly named Roy Smiles!” – The Evening Standard

Scorched (Philadelphia Premiere)

February 25 – March 29, 2009 (press opening: March 4)
by Wajdi Mouawad     

translated by Linda Gaboriau     

directed by Blanka Zizka
 
A tour-de-force epic mystery depicting one woman’s moral conviction to interrupt the cycle of war and revenge, Scorched is an intensely dramatic play from internationally acclaimed Lebanese-born playwright, Wajdi Mouawad.  After the death of their mother, twins Janine and Simon receive a surprising request in her will to deliver letters to a father they thought was dead and a brother they never knew existed.  These tasks lead them on a journey to the heart of their mother’s war-torn Middle Eastern homeland.  In the course of their search, they learn about their mother's long-concealed history and uncover shocking secrets about their own origins. Born in Lebanon in 1968, Mouawad fled the war-torn country with his family, and they settled in Montreal after spending a few years in Paris. Scorched has had over 100 productions in French speaking countries; the Wilma’s production will mark only its second production in the U.S.  “Scorched introduces a playwright with an important voice to the English language theater.” – Variety

Hysteria (Philadelphia Premiere)

May 13 – June 14, 2009 (press opening: May 20)

by Terry Johnson    

directed by Jiri Zizka

 
Winner of an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and based on an actual meeting between two of the world’s greatest and most eccentric men – Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí – Hysteria is a madcap comedy full of mistaken identities, missing clothing, and dazzling surprises.  Set in London in 1938, this wild comedy showcases Freud as he deals with several unexpected encounters with his physician, a persistent young woman who delves into his past, and his biggest fan, surrealist Salvador Dalí.  Soon Dalí’s surreal imagery begins to take over both Freud’s consciousness and his study in this explosive comedy full of mix-ups, misunderstandings, scantily clad women, and Freudian slips. “Hysteria is an exuberant surprise… as unexpectedly resonant as a crazy sonnet.” – The New York Times

Special Events
Throughout the season, the Wilma will announce free readings which offer audiences previews of plays, chosen from the best new writing from the U.S. and abroad. Audience members will also have opportunities to attend special chats with members of the artistic team and symposia on themes related to the season’s plays. Confirmed panelists include Jonathon Glover, author of Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century, and Mark W. Edmundson, author of The Death of Sigmund Freud, with more to be announced.  The Wilma’s symposia are supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation Excellence Awards.

Subscriptions & Tickets
Subscription prices range from $32-$210, with Flex Subscriptions available that give subscribers the flexibility to choose performance dates over the season. Special discounts are available on single tickets for seniors, students, educators, under-35 patrons, and groups of 10 or more.  Subscriptions and tickets are available by calling (215) 546-7824, visiting The Wilma Theater box office located at 265 South Broad Street in Philadelphia, or online at www.wilmatheater.org.  Single tickets for the 2008-2009 Season go on sale August 1st. 

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