Wilma Theater (Philadelphia)
Theater company in Philadelphia, PA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wilma Theater is a non-profit theater company located at 265 S. Broad Street at the corner of Spruce Street in the Avenue of the Arts area of Center City, Philadelphia. The company's current 296-seat theater opened in 1996 and was designed by Hugh Hardy.[1]
.jpg)
Pennsylvania
USA
The Wilma Theater in 2024 | |
 Interactive map of Wilma Theater | |
Former names | Wilma Project (1973–1996) |
|---|---|
| Address | 265 Broad Street, Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA |
| Coordinates | 39°56′50.4″N 75°09′52.2″W |
| Capacity | 296 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1996 |
| Website | |
| https://wilmatheater.org/ | |
History
The Wilma Theater began in 1973 as the "Wilma Project", founded to produce original material and to develop community-oriented artists. The name "Wilma" refers to an imaginary oppressed sister of Shakespeare created by Virginia Woolf.[2]
Blanka Zizka and Jiri Zizka from Czechoslovakia joined the project in 1979 as artists-in-residence, and later took over artistic leadership, changing the name to the Wilma Theater. The company staged their productions at a variety of different theaters, in particular a 100-seat converted garage on Sansom Street, but opened their current 296-seat theater on S. Broad Street in 1996.
Jiri Zizka left the theater at the end of the 2009–2010 season and died in January 2012.[3][4]
In 2015, the theater formed a permanent troupe of in-house actors, the Hothouse.[5]
Yury Urnov, James Ijames, and Morgan Green were named co-artistic directors alongside Blanka Zizka in 2020, with Zizka retiring in 2021.[6][7] Ijames departed the Wilma in 2023 and Lindsay Smiling, an actor in the theater's resident HotHouse company, was named as a co-artistic director with Urnov and Green.[8] In 2026, it was announced that Lindsay Smiling would become the sole artistic director, with Urnov staying on as resident director.[9]
Awards and honors
As of 2018[update], the theater had won 68 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre and received 238 nominations.[10]
On May 22 2024, it was announced that the Wilma would be the recipient of the 2024 Regional Theatre Tony Award, which comes with a $25,000 grant.[11][12] Zizka credited the Hothouse for the award, describing them as the "soul" of the Wilma.[12] WHYY's arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins has similarly noted that "The Wilma is distinctive not only for the excellence of its original productions, but [also] for its unique approach to running a theater company."[12]