THE WILMA THEATER PRESENTS THE EAST COAST PREMIERE OF THE INVENTION OF LOVE BY TOM STOPPARD
For Immediate Release: December 27,
1999
Contact: Damian J. Sinclair, 215.893.9456 x107
Philadelphia, PA - December 27 - Tom Stoppard's West End hit THE INVENTION
OF LOVE makes its East Coast debut at The Wilma Theater under the direction
of Co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka. THE INVENTION OF LOVE begins previews
February 9, opens February 16 and runs through March 12. Tickets range
from $7 - $45 and can be purchased by calling 215.546.7824 or online at
www.wilmatheater.org.
In THE INVENTION OF LOVE, Oscar winner Tom Stoppard explores the life of classical scholar and renowned poet A.E. Housman. Old and infirm, Housman dreams that he is dead. As Charon, the mythical boatman, ferries him across the river Styx, Housman returns to the Oxford of his youth, where he fell in love with the scholarship and with his fellow student Moses Jackson. Stoppard's dream world includes Victorian London, where parliament has made homosexuality a crime, and the French seashore, where Oscar Wilde - convicted of that very crime - is living out his final days. This complex and rewarding play, that the London Sunday Times called "Stoppard at his best; manipulative, inquisitive, irresistible," weaves ideas, wit and passion.
The Wilma Theater has a longstanding relationship with Tom Stoppard, whose play Arcadia opened the new Wilma Theater space on the Avenue of the Arts in 1996. The Wilma has also presented Mr. Stoppard's plays TRAVESTIES and ON THE RAZZLE to great critical and audience acclaim.
THE INVENTION OF LOVE is underwritten by these Producers who are providing leadership support of the production: Ted and Stevie Wolf, Harvey and Virginia Kimmel, Daniel Berger, Jack and Helen Bershad, Mark and Tobey Dichter, Jefferson Bank, Ralph and Suzanne Roberts, and these major funders: The Philadelphia Theatre Initiative ($80,000), The National Endowment for the Arts ($22,000), The Arcadia Foundation ($20,000), The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation ($15,000), The Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation ($10,000), SmithKline Beecham ($10,000) and promotional partner Borders Books. The opening night sponsor is The DoubleTree Hotel Philadelphia.
Every Monday night during the run of THE INVENTION OF LOVE, The Wilma Theater will host a Book Club to discuss the play. Wilma Theater dramaturg and literary manager Carrie Ryan will be on hand to give interested patrons and community members unique insights into the script meant to enhance further viewing of the play. This discussion will be free to subscribers and $5 for all others interested in attending. The first discussion group is set for Monday, February 7 at 6:30pm.
Several discussions with the actors in THE INVENTION OF LOVE will be presented for audiences and the general public after select Saturday matinees and Thursday evening performances. The discussions will occur after the February 24, March 2 and March 9 Thursday evening performances and after the February 19 and February 26 Saturday matinee performances. On February 14, there will be a public symposium about the play with the two actors portraying the young and old A.E. Housman. Tickets for the symposium can be obtained by calling The Wilma Theater box office at 215.546.7824.
THE CREATIVE TEAM
Tom Stoppard (playwright) wrote his first play, Enter a Free Man, while working as a journalist in Bristol. He was introduced to American audiences in 1967 with the Broadway hit, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which was followed by The Real Inspector Hound, After Magritte, Jumpers, Travesties, Dirty Linen, New-Found-Land, Night and Day and Arcadia. His off-Broadway productions include Enter a Free Man and the double bill of Dogg's Hamlet and Cahoot's Macbeth. For television, Stoppard's work includes the highly-acclaimed adaptation of the 1889 British novel by Jerome K. Jerome called Three Men in a Boat, seen on American public television in 1979. Professional Foul, a play he wrote for television, has won awards from BAFTA and the Broadcasting Press Guild. His radio plays include If You're Glad, I'll be Frank, Albert's Bridge (Italia Prize Winner), M is for Moon Among Other Things, The Dissolution of Dominic Boot and Artist Descending a Staircase. Tom Stoppard has written screenplays for the films Despair, The Romantic Englishwoman, The Human Factor, Brazil, Empire of the Sun, The Russia House, Billy Bathgate and received the Academy Award for his screenplay of Shakespeare in Love. He directed and wrote the screenplay for the film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead which won the Prix d'Or at the Venice Film Festival 1990 for Best Film.
Blanka Zizka (Director) has been the Co-Artistic Director of the Wilma since 1981. She has directed over 30 plays and musicals. Her favorite productions include Orwell's Animal Farm; O'Neill's The Hairy Ape, Ionesco's Macbett, Fugard's Statement After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act and Playland, Dulack's Incommunicado, Sherman's When She Danced, Stoppard's Travesties, Cartwright's Road, Brecht's The Threepenny Opera and Freed's The Psychic Life of Savages. Ms. Zizka directed Jiler and Leslee's Avenue X (Barrymore Winner, Best Overall Production of a Musical and Harold Prince Award for Direction of a Musical) and Wright's Quills (Barrymore Winner, Best Overall Production of a Play). She was awarded the first Barrymore Award for Best Direction of a Play for Road, and in November 1995 she and the cast of Road presented their production at the Prague International Festival in the Czech Republic. Ms. Zizka received the American Association of University Woman 1997 Achievement Award and the 1996 City Paper Award for Best Direction of a Play for Muller's Quartet. Last season Ms. Zizka directed the American premiere of Portia Coughlan at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, Polly Pen and Laurence Klavan's Bed and Sofa and Orpheus Descending at the Wilma.
Michael McGarty (Set Designer) recently designed the premiere of Jonathan Tolins' If Memory Serves at the Promenade Theatre. Other recent credits include McNally's Master Class on Broadway (Tony Award, Best Play), in London and the national tour. Mr. McGarty designed the Broadway revival of Wait Until Dark and the Broadway premiere of Julia Sweeney's God Said "Ha". Recent off-Broadway productions include the Alan Arkin/Elaine May comedy, Power Plays. He also is a resident designer at Trinity Repertory Company. Additional Regional Theaters include ACT in Seattle, Geffen Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, The Dallas Theatre Center and The Kennedy Center.
Janus Stefanowitz (Costume Designer) has designed for several Philadelphia theaters including The Wilma Theater (most recently Orpheus Descending, Love and Anger and The Cripple of Inishman), Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival, Arden Theatre Company and The People's Light & Theatre Company. She earned an MA in Theater at Villanova University and an MFA at Temple University. She teaches costume design at The University of Pennsylvania and Villanova Graduate Theater Department. Since 1995, Ms. Stefanowitz has been nominated for six Barrymores, and in 1998, won the Barrymore Award for Best Costume Design for On the Razzle for The Wilma Theater.
Russell Champa (Lighting Designer) Previous Wilma credits include Bed and Sofa, The Psychic Life of Savages, The Threepenny Opera, Quills (Barrymore Award Winner) and Avenue X. Broadway credits include God Said "Ha" at the Lyceum Theatre. Other New York credits include Circle Rep., The Barrow Group, East Cost Artists, and Zena Group. Regional credits include: Trinity Rep., Providence; Delaware Theatre Company, Wilmington; The Actor's Gang, Los Angeles; Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.; and Dallas Theater Company, Dallas.
Adam Wernick (Composer/Sound Designer) has worked on more than 30 productions at The Wilma Theater as a composer, sound designer and music director. His sound design for Quills received a Barrymore Award and his scores for Arcadia and Quartet received Barrymore Award nominations for Outstanding Original Music. Adam has also received the prestigious F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theater Artist. He works extensively for The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. where he has collaborated with directors Michael Kahn, Garland Wright, Joe Dowling, and others. His scores for Richard II and Hamlet each received Helen Hayes Award nominations.
THE INVENTION OF LOVE FEATURES A CAST OF 11 ACTORS
Mark Alhadeff (Housman) has appeared as Claudio in Measure for Measure, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in many productions at the University of Michigan where he received his BFA. He is making his Philadelphia debut.
George Tynan Crowley (Oscar Wilde) recently played the role of Oscar Wilde in the Florida Studio Theatre's production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. He has been seen in The Winter's Tale and The Taming of the Shrew at the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. He is making his debut in Philadelphia.
John Curless (Ruskin/Stead) has been seen on Broadway in The Sound of Music, The King and I, Racing Demon and A Small Family Business and has been a part of the national tours of Crazy for You, The Real Thing and Aren't We All? He has appeared in many Off-Broadway productions and television shows. He is making his debut at The Wilma Theater.
Edmund C. Davys (Jowett/Harris) previously played Henry Carr in Travesties at The Wilma Theater. On Broadway he played Jonathan Small in Crucifer of Blood with Glenn Close and Paxton Whitehead at the Helen Hayes Theater and played the role of Alan Gregg in Shadowlands with Nigel Hawthorne and Jane Alexander at the Brooks Atkinson Theater.
Eli Finkelman (Pollard) is a recent graduate of Temple University. He has appeared in several productions with the Philadelphia Theatre Company and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, where his plays White Heartbeat and Plastic were produced.
Lenny Haas (Chamberlain) has been a resident actor at the People's Light and Theatre Company since 1988. At The Arden Theatre Company he has performed in The Real Thing, Private Lives and A Midsummer Night's Dream for which he received a Barrymore Award nomination for his portrayal of Nick Bottom.
Benjamin Lloyd (Pater/Labouchere) was last seen at The Wilma Theater in Travesties. His portrayals of Doyle in Three in the Back, Two in the Head at InterAct Theatre Company and Matamore in The Illusion at the Cheltenham Center for the Arts both received Barrymore Award nominations.
Laurie Norton (Kate) has been seen in multiple productions at Villanova Theatre, including In the Boom Boom Room, Racing Demon, The Devil's Disciple, The Art of Dining and Angels in America. Her portrayal of Harper Amaty Pitt in Angels in America received a Barrymore nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Ian Merrill Peakes (Jackson) makes his debut at The Wilma Theater. He has previously been seen in Philadelphia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Molly Delicious, The Real Thing and Three Days of Rain at the Arden Theatre Company.
Martin Rayner (AEH) makes his debut at The Wilma Theater. He has received multiple Drama Critics Awards for his performances in An Enemy of the People, A Christmas Carol, The Importance of Being Earnest and Misalliance with the Dallas Theater Center and in Midsummer Night's Dream and King Lear at the Dallas Shakespeare Festival. On Broadway, he played Finney in Conversations With My Father and Off-Broadway appeared in Travels With My Aunt at the Minetta Lane Theatre. He has appeared in many television programs and films.
H. Michael Walls (Charon/Pattison) was last seen at the Wilma in the Barrymore-winning production Road. He has been seen previously in Philadelphia in performances of A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Taming of the Shrew with the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and Willi, Man and Superman, Saint Joan, Henry V and Hamlet at the Arden Theatre Company.
The award-winning Wilma Theater has been producing innovative work in Philadelphia for 20 years. Tickets are also on sale for the final production of the Wilma's 1999-2000 season - the U.S. Premiere of David Gow's searing drama, CHERRY DOCS, running May 3 through June 4, 2000.
THE INVENTION OF LOVE at The Wilma Theater runs February 9 through March 12, 2000. Ticket prices range from $7 - $45, with discounts available for seniors and groups of 10 or more, and special radically discounted tickets for student and theater-goers under the age of 30. Tickets are available at the Wilma Box Office:
Phone: 215.546.7824
FAX: 215.893.0895
Email: tickets@wilmatheater.org
Online: www.wilmatheater.org
In person: Broad & Spruce Streets, Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia
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