Caryl Churchill Festival at The Wilma Theater April 18, 2006

The Wilma Theater is thrilled to present for the first time in Philadelphia a Caryl Churchill Festival from April 19 ? June 4, 2006. The theater will explore this pioneering, sophisticated and surprising playwright?s work across the decades of her career with two full productions, five free public readings and a symposium. Cloud 9, directed by Blanka Zizka, is Churchill?s classic play written in 1979, which takes an inventive and playful look at gender identity, sexual politics and class roles in Victorian British Africa and 1970s London. Her most recent play, A Number directed by Jiri Zizka, raises additional questions of identity through a father-son relationship, family secrets and the ethical challenges of cloning.

A bold and exciting endeavor for the Wilma, the festival marks a first both for Philadelphia audiences and for the theater. The Caryl Churchill Festival will give audiences a unique opportunity to delve deeply into Churchill?s work, from her earliest plays to her most recent, while the Wilma runs two shows in repertory for the first time in the theater?s history, along with readings of Traps, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Top Girls, Fen, and Far Away.

Tickets are $32 to $49, with $10 student rush tickets available, and a special $10 discount for patrons who purchase tickets to both plays. Tickets can be purchased at the Wilma Theater Box Office (265 South Broad Street), online at www.wilmatheater.org or by phone at 215-546-7824.

Official Website: http://www.wilmatheater.org