Philadelphia, PA - The Wilma Theater presents Christopher Hampton's seductive and savagely witty look at 18th century French games of love and lust, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Co-Artistic Director Jiri Zizka will direct this production by one of London's most acclaimed playwrights, Christopher Hampton. Les Liaisons Dangereuses begins previews November 21, opens November 28, and runs through December 23. Tickets range from $7 - $39 and can be purchased by calling (215) 546-7824 or online at www.wilmatheater.org.

Jiri Zizka, director of the production says: "In the second half of the 18th century an unknown French author wrote to his friend that he intended to write something Îout of the ordinary, eye-catching, something that would resound around the world even after I had left it.' Not many authors can boast having accomplished such an impressive goal. In centuries to come, Laclos' novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses would inspire numerous generations of writers, readers, and filmmakers. In fact, it became the subject of four impressive film treatments. Having admired their indulgence in cinematic splendor, I realized that no visual imagery could effectively replace the verbal virtuosity with which the characters seduce each other and their audience. Hampton's innately theatrical adaptation fascinates me because it expresses perfectly the true spirit of the novel. It creates a delightful and dangerous world where lives are made or ruined with a flick of a well-turned phrase."

Les Liaisons Dangereuses is set during the political and social upheaval of pre-revolution France. La Marquise de Merteuil and Le Vicomte de Valmont are accomplices in a game of sexual corruption, deceit and betrayal. Played out in a number of Parisian salons and bedrooms, the Marquise and Vicomte scheme together to seduce two innocent victims. The New York Times calls Les Liaisons Dangereuses, "A compelling evening of malicious wit."

Les Liaisons Dangereuses premiered at The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1985 and won London's Olivier Award for Best Play. In 1987 it transferred to Broadway and garnered multiple Tony nominations, including Best Play. Christopher Hampton's film adaptation subsequently earned three Academy Awards for "Dangerous Liaisons", including "Best Screenplay." Les Liaisons Dangereuses was adapted from the novel with the same title by Choderlos de Lacos, written in 1781.

Choderlos de Laclos chose a career in the army but soon left it to become a writer. His first novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782), caused an immediate sensation. Written in epistolary form, the story deals with the seducer Valmont and his accomplice, Mme de Merteuil, who take unscrupulous delight in their victims' misery. Laclos then entered politics, working for a while as secretary to the duc d'Orléans. He again joined the army in 1792, and ultimately rose to the rank of general under Napoleon, serving in the Rhine and Italian campaigns.

The Creative Team
Christopher Hampton (playwright) became the youngest writer ever to have a play performed in the West End in 1966, with When Did You Last See My Mother? He continued to write for the theatre throughout the 1970s with such plays as Total Papa Villone Eclipse, The Philanthropist, Savages with Paul Scofield and Tom Conti, and Treats (all at the Royal Court), as well as a number of translations of such classics as Uncle Vanya, Hedda Gabler, A Doll's House and Moliere's Don Juan. During the 1980s, he penned Tales From Hollywood in 1982, translated Tartuffe for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Barbican Theater in 1983 and, most notably, in 1985 he adapted the Choderlos de Laclos novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses for the Royal Shakespeare Company which ran for nearly 2000 performances in the West End. His most recent theatre work was the stage adaptation of Sunset Boulevard for Andrew Lloyd Webber, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. His film work includes A Doll's House in 1973, starring Claire Bloom and Tales From the Vienna Woods, directed by Maximillian Schell in 1979. In 1984, he completed The Honorary Consul, based on a Graham Greene novel, starring Michael Caine and Richard Gere, followed in 1986 by The Good Father, based on a novel by Peter Prince. In 1988 he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (from his own play) for Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer. He also won a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.

Jiri Zizka (Director) became the Artistic Director of the Wilma in 1979 where he has directed over 40 productions including Orwell's Animal Farm, Camus' The Stranger, Brecht's Mother Courage, Capek's The Insect Comedy, Weiss' Marat/Sade, his own adaptation of Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Brecht/Weill's The Happy End, Orwell's 1984, (at the Wilma, Kennedy Center and Off-Broadway), Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and a US premiere of Havel's Temptation (a co-production with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival). Mr. Zizka has also directed a feature film of Havel's Largo Desolato, adapted by Tom Stoppard, starring F. Murray Abraham for PBS's "Great Performances." He wrote and directed Inquest of Love, a film for PBS/WHYY, which was nominated for an Emmy Award (Mid-Atlantic) and received the Golden Eagle Award for Excellence. His most recent theater credits include George F. Walker's Love and Anger, Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, Mark Saltzman's The Tin Pan Alley Rag, David Gow's Cherry Docs Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound, Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy and Stephen Sondheim's Passion.

Dawn Robyn Petrlik (Set Designer) is nationally recognized for her work on and Off-Broadway as well as in film and television. Her recent credits include production designer for Manhattan Crawl (TV premiere); set design, Equus (Mumpuppet Theater); costume and props design, Pirates of Penzance (Off-Broadway, outdoors); sets and costumes, Lear and Now (JCSS tour); costume design, world premiere of Every Day a Visitor (Promenade Theater); set design, world premiere of The Crumple Zone (off-Broadway, Rattlestick Theater); associate set design, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (London and L.A); set design, U.S. premiere of Discovering Elvis (Circa 21 Theater); set design, Footloose (Circa 21 Theater). Dawn has also assisted on many Broadway Productions, including The Producers, The Sound of Music, The Lion King and Kiss Me Kate. This is her first design for the Wilma Theater after assisting on Passion last season.

Janus Stefanowicz (Costume Designer) has designed for many Philadelphia theaters including The Wilma Theater (most recently Patience, Passion, Perfect Pie, Black Comedy, The Real Inspector Hound, Spin, The Invention of Love, Orpheus Descending, Love and Anger and The Cripple of Inishman), Philadelphia Festival Theater for New Plays, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia Young Playwrights Festival, Arden Theater 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. Stefanowicz has been nominated for six Barrymore Awards, and in 1998, won the Barrymore Award for Best Costume Design for On the Razzle for The Wilma Theater.

Jerold R. Forsyth (Lighting Designer) has designed more than 200 productions to date. Philadelphia area credits include: The Wilma Theater (41 productions), Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Villanova University Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Amaryllis Theatre, Arden Theatre, American Music Theater Festival, The People's Light & Theatre Company, Bristol Riverside Theatre, Venture Theatre, Philadelphia Festival Theatre for New Plays, and Philadelphia Drama Guild. Additional East Coast credits include The Kennedy Center, New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center, York Theatre Co., Village Theatre and Opera Ebony - New York. Awards include the 1995 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lighting Design and The Philadelphia Inquirer - Most Notable Lighting Design in 1993 and 1995.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses features a cast of 10 actors (listed in alphabetical order)

David Bardeen (Azolan) last appeared at The Wilma Theater as Bartley in The Cripple of Inishmaan. Other Philadelphia credits include: It's All True at InterAct Theatre Company; Company, Molly's Delicious (Barrymore Award Nomination, Best Supporting Actor) and Candida at the Arden Theater and The Heiress and Last Night of Ballyhoo at The Walnut Street Theatre.

Darren Bevill (Major-Domo) has been seen in Scrooge and Marley at the Haddonfield Players, An Idiot's Guide to Life at Penny Templeton Studio, All's Well That Ends Well at the American Globe Theater, Richard III and Hamlet:In a Nutshell at The Angle Group and Twelfth Night at LaMama, Etc. Darren is making his Wilma Theater debut.

Nancy Boykin (Mme de Volanges) has been seen in Juno and the Paycock, Counselor at Law, The House of Blue Leaves, On the Razzle, The Music Man and Into the Woods at Interact Theatre Company (LA); Othello, Misalliance and The Royal Family at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Painting Churches at The Alley Theatre and The Admirable Crichton at Long Wharf Theatre. Nancy is making her Philadelphia debut at The Wilma Theater.

Lise Bruneau (La Marquise de Merteuil) has been seen regionally at Seattle Repertory Theatre in Pygmalion and An Ideal Husband; at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in The Winters' Tale and Love's Labour's Lost; at the American Conservatory Theater in Angels in America and at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Pentecost, The Triumph of Love and Lady from the Sea. Lise recently appeared in The Wilma Theater's production of Patience.

Mary Kathrine McCool (Cécile Volanges) has been seen in Philadelphia in This Mansion is a Hole, Fab 4 Reach the Pearly Gates, Stupor, Gold Russian Finger Love, The Loverboy Trilogy, Status Quo Portfolio and The Sleep of Reason with New Paradise Laboratories; The House of Bernarda Alba at Lantern Theater and Drink Me at InterAct Theatre Company. Mary is making her Wilma Theater debut.

Adrienne Dreiss (La Présidente de Tourvel) has been seen in The Cherry Orchard at Santa Fe Stages, The Weir and Love's Labor Lost at the Old Globe Theatre, Measure for Measure and The Glass Menagerie at Yale Repertory Theatre and As You Like It and Pericles at the Houston Shakespeare Festival. Adrienne is making her Philadelphia debut at The Wilma Theater.

Matthew McIver (Le Chevalier Danceny) has been seen in New York in On the Middle Watch at New 42^nd Street Theater, Salome at Lincoln Center Director's Lab, Crimes of the Heart at Producer's Club, Notions of Motion at Adobe Theater and The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year at Triad Theater. Regionally he has performed in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at Shenandoah Shakespeare and Twelfth Night at Express Theatre. Matthew is making his Philadelphia debut at The Wilma Theater.

Kristen Quinn (Émilie) has been seen in Philadelphia in The House of Bernarda Alba and The Bacchae at The Lantern Theater, Bell and Clock at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival and Jason and Medea at Theatre Double. Elsewhere, she has performed in Breach of Contract at the Schubin Theatre, Country Club at the Montgomery Theatre Project and Measure for Measure at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Kristen is making her Wilma Theater debut.

Peg Small (Mme de Rosemonde) has been seen on Broadway in Orpheus Descending and Arsenic and Old Lace. Off-Broadway she has been seen in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Samuel Beckett Theatre and Isn't it Romantic? at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Regionally she performed in The Heiress and Wit at Syracuse Stage, Moon Over Buffalo and Do Not Go Gentle at the Fulton Opera House, Other People's Money at Coconut Grove Playhouse and in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. Peg is making her Philadelphia debut at The Wilma Theater.

Richard Thompson (Le Vicomte de Valmont) has appeared on Broadway in Death of a Salesman at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and The Heiress at Lincoln Center Theater. Off-Broadway he has been seen in The Forest and Hard Times at Pearl Theatre Company, Baltimore Waltz at Circle Repertory Company and Home Game at Manhattan Class Company. Regionally he has been seen in Death of a Salesman at the Mark Taper Forum, A Christmas Carol and Servant of Two Masters at Hartford Stage, Look Back in Anger at the Studio Theatre, The Baby in the Ice Box, The Matchmaker, The Interview/Heaven and The Christmas Carol at The McCarter Theatre Center and One Flea Spare and Trying to Find Chinatown at the Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The award-winning Wilma Theater has been producing innovative work in Philadelphia for 22 years. Next up in the Wilma's 2001-2002 season will be Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith, February 13- March 17, 2001.

Phone:	(215) 546-7824
Fax:	(215) 893-0895
Email:	tickets@wilmatheater.org
Online:	www.wilmatheater.org
In person:	Broad Street & Spruce Street, Philadelphia
Hours:	Monday and non-performance days 10:30am - 5:00pm Tuesday - Thursday 10:30am - 7:00pm Friday and Saturday 10:30am - 7:30pm Sunday 10:30am - 1:30pm (or 10:30am - 7:00pm when evening performance).

La Marquise de Merteuil Mme. de Volanges Cécile Volanges Major-Domo Le Vicomte de Valmont Azolan Mme de Rosemonde La Présidente de Tourvel œmilie Le Chevalier Danceny Playwright Director Set Designer Costume Designer Lighting Designer Dramaturg

Cast

Lise Bruneau Nancy Boykin Mary Kathrine McCool Darren Bevill Richard Thompson David Bardeen Peg Small Adrienne Dreiss Kristen Quinn Matthew McIver Christopher Hampton Jiri Zizka Dawn Robyn Petrlik Janus Stefanowicz Jerold R. Forsyth Nakissa Etemad

# # #