Season Teasers

The Wilma will present rehearsed readings of exciting new plays under serious consideration for the upcoming 2010/11 Season. Audiences are invited to participate in the discussions immediately following the readings as the Wilma gathers input and responses to plays.

Job
by Thomas Bradshaw
Directed by Blanka Zizka
January 4, 7:30 pm 

The New York Times has called Thomas Bradshaw a “prolific provocateur” who “shocks and awes with profane comedy,” and The New Yorker says “he has sliced open the pretensions of the white avant-garde with a wittily glistening axe.” Job is Bradshaw’s raucous, comic take on the Biblical story of a devout man of God whose faith is tested at the hands of Satan. Please join us as we introduce this brilliant young American writer to Philadelphia audiences.

The Mammaries of Tiresias
by Guillaume Apollinaire
directed by Walter Bilderback
January 11, 7:30 pm

Guillaume Apollinaire epitomized the Parisian art world at the time of World War I. A close friend of Picasso’s, he coined the word “surrealism” to describe this raucous and astounding comedy, full of characters who repeatedly (and with gusto) change genders, woo, and duel, epitomizing Apollinaire’s quest for an art that fosters “A spirit of joy ecstasy virtue.”  Featuring Mary McCool, Erin Reilly, Sarah Sanford, and Luigi Sottile.

THE CONTINGENCY PLAN
by Steve Waters

The Contingency Plan is a new, two-part British play that has drawn comparisons with the work of Tom Stoppard and George Bernard Shaw. More Intelligent Life says that playwright Steve Waters "has managed what had seemed impossible and written an intelligent and entertaining play about climate change."

On the Beach (Part One)  
directed by Blanka Zizka
January 18, 7:30pm

About to take a government job, glaciologist Will returns from Antarctica to his parents' coastal home, a visit which re-opens 30 years of secrets regarding his father's disgrace as a scientist.

Resilience (Part Two) 
directed by Walter Bilderback
January 25, 7:30pm 

Will and his civil servant girlfriend Sarika go to London to advise the new Conservative government on flooding in the UK. He meets his father's old adversary and finds himself caught between the plans of two ambitious Cabinet members.

Readings are FREE - reservations are required.
For tickets, please call the Box Office at 215.546.7824 or email tickets@wilmatheater.org.