WILMA THEATER ANNOUNCES 20TH ANNIVERSARY GALA ON JUNE 10, 2000 - A CELEBRATION OF BLANKA AND JIRI ZIZKA'S ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS
For Immediate Release: March 22,
2000
Contact: Damian J. Sinclair, 215.893.9456 x107
Philadelphia, PA - The Wilma Theater will host a Gala on June 10 to celebrate
Blanka and Jiri Zizka's accomplishments in their 20 years as Artistic
Directors of the Theater. The celebration will consist of cocktails and
hors d'oeuvres in the Wilma lobby, a cabaret performance on stage featuring
Broadway star Alison Fraser (pictured left from her performance in
the Wilma's 1994 production of GUNMETAL BLUES), and dinner and dancing
in the nearby Ormandy Ballroom at The DoubleTree Hotel. Festivities will
begin at 6:00pm at The Wilma Theater and will continue until the music
dies at the DoubleTree.
The highlight of the night will be the cabaret performance by Broadway star Alison Fraser, whose most recent Broadway credit is Dorine in Tartuffe: Born Again at Circle in the Square. She has received two Tony Award nominations, one for playing Josephine/Monica in Romance/Romance, and the other for portraying Martha in The Secret Garden (for which she also received a Drama Desk nomination.) Off-Broadway she has played Uta in Charles Busch and Rusty Magee's The Green Heart at Manhattan Theatre Club. She originated the part of Callie in the world premiere of Tracey Jackson's Jackie O's Glasses at the Westport Country Playhouse. She is the recipient of the first-ever Barrymore Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of the Blonde in Gunmetal Blues at The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.
The Artistic Committee for the 20th Anniversary is chaired by Sir Tom Stoppard and includes other Wilma artistic "friends": F. Murray Abraham, Joe Dante, Frances Fisher, Alison Fraser, Amy Freed, Ellen Greene, Mark Saltzman and Michael Weller. The Leadership Committee includes the following community leaders: Dolly Beechman-Schnall, Helen and Jack Bershad, Mark Dichter, Faatimah and Kenneth Gamble, Christie Hastings, Harvey Kimmel, Edith Kohn, Ed and Sheila Letven, Sissie Lipton, James McGillin, Michael Piasecki, Vivian Piasecki, Ralph and Susan Roberts, John Rollins, Dianne Semingson, Mari Shaw, Gillian Wakely, Bob Walner, Kenneth Wesler, Albert Wolf and Jeanne Wrobleski.
Since Blanka and Jiri Zizka took over the artistic helm of The Wilma Project in 1980, the Wilma has grown to national and international prestige in the arts community. Their staging of George Orwell's 1984 was presented at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC and at the Joyce Theater in New York. They co-produced Vaclav Havel's Temptation at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and a PBS broadcast of Largo Desolato, a feature film directed by Jiri Zizka, which was adapted by Tom Stoppard from a Vaclav Havel play. In Philadelphia, Zizka-led productions at The Wilma Theater have received 18 Barrymore Awards and have received high critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New York Post, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune.
20th Anniversary Gala tickets will cost $250 and all proceeds will support the Wilma's 20th Anniversary Artistic Initiative Fund. For more information or to reserve your space contact Special Events Manager Stephan Sitzai at (215) 893-9456 x108.
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