directed by blanka zizka
CREATIVE TEAM
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 ApeMacbett; 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, the 1996 City Paper Award for Best Direction of a Play for Muller's Quartet, and is a member of the Mayor's Advisory Committee of the Arts. Last season, Ms. Zizka directed the American premiere of Portia Coughlan at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, and 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, the Geffen Playhouse, the Mark Taper Forum, Dallas Theatre Center and The Kennedy Center.
JANUS STEFANOWICZ (Costume Designer) has designed for several Philadelphia theaters including The Wilma Theater (most recently Orpheus Descending, Love and Anger and The Cripple of Inishmaan), 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. Stefanowicz 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 Repertory Theatre, Providence; Delaware Theatre Company, Wilmington; The Actor's Gang, Los Angeles; Shakespeare Theatre, D.C.; and Dallas Theater Center, Dallas.
ADAM WERNICK (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 Wilma's East Coast premiere of THE INVENTION OF LOVE
features a boat that flies directly over the heads of the audience!
THE CREW
Production Manager Neil Kutner
Technical Director Christopher Nelson
Production Stage Manager Patreshettarlini Adams
Dramaturg Carrie Ryan
Company Manager Don Montrey
Master Electrician Deborah Peretz
Assistant Costume Designer Charlotte Cloe Brecher, Margaret McCarty
Props Master Jen Haley
Production Fellow Andy Schmitz
Artistic Fellow/Assistant Director Emily Shooltz
Assistant Stage Manager Geoffrey Kershner
Carpenters Doug Thomas, Peter Harvey, Chris Ellsworth, Justin Bauer, Patrick White, Nick Rye
Electricians Brian Davies, Andy Schmitz, Laura Wentz, Nora Berger-Green, Michael Kiley, David O'Connell, Sue Beckius
Sound Board Operator Nick Rye
Light Board Operator Andy Schmitz
Deck Crew Chris 'Baldini' Ellsworth, Brian Davies, Melanie Lichtenstein, Geoffrey Kershner
Wardrobe Master Charlotte Cloe Brecher
Additional Scenic Artist Nick Rye
Draperies Melanie Lichtenstein
Scene Shop Noble Theatrical Productions
Special thanks to Andy Gallia, Alex Purves, Josiah Davis, Kevin Tracy, Oliver Watson, and Quaker Jobbing.
