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Recognizing and congratulating the Wilma Theater for receiving the 2024 Regional Theatre Tony Award, and celebrating the Wilma's outstanding contributions to the world of theatre and Philadelphia's diverse and vibrant arts and cultural landscape.
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WHEREAS, The Wilma Theater was founded in 1973 as the Wilma Project, an avant-garde theater project that challenged the Philadelphia cultural community to create theatrical productions of original material and to develop local artists; and
WHEREAS, Blanka and Jiri Zizka, political refugees from Czechoslovakia, forged a creative relationship with the Wilma in 1979 as artists-in-residence and gained acclaim for their bold, innovative productions. The Zizkas assumed artistic leadership of the organization in 1981 and began the theater's trajectory of growth; and since then, the Wilma has been renowned for its experimental, boundary-pushing work. The theater has worked with cutting-edge playwrights including Paula Vogel, Tom Stoppard, and Danai Gurira; and
WHEREAS, In 1996, the Wilma Theater opened its 300-seat theater on Broad and Spruce streets, the first new theater built in Philadelphia in 40 years as a cornerstone of Philadelphia's new Avenue of the Arts; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, the official Wilma HotHouse Company was formed and opened the doors for the Wilma to become an incubator for artistic experimentation, and in 2020 adopted a shared leadership artistic governance structure, modelling collaboration and shared decision-making for the field of non-profit theater; and
WHEREAS, In 2021, The Wilma premiered FAT HAM, a Black, Queer spin on Hamlet by local playwright James Ijames which went on to win the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. And in 2023, The Wilma became the first and only independent Philadelphia theater to receive a Tony Award nomination for serving as a coproducer of Fat Ham's Broadway run, which received five nominations including Best Play; and
WHEREAS, Through their suite of youth progr...
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