(PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Philadelphia-based theater company The Wilma Theater has announced four bold, boundary-pushing productions for its 2025- 26 season. Audiences can look forward to the theater's first-ever all-ages production, a return of a popular dance-theater cabaret show, and back-to-back plays by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights. Additionally, the Wilma is offering more chances to witness works and progress as they’re developed from the page to the stage through limited presentations.
For the theater’s next season, the Wilma selected ambitious productions aimed at interrogating the American experience while the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. Each production offers audiences powerful reflections on justice, freedom, identity, and legacy.
“We don't set out to curate our season around a theme, but, given the upheaval in America at the moment, the Wilma leadership found everything we chose examined and interrogated the American experience in some way,” said Morgan Green, Co-Artistic Director of the Wilma. “These plays deal with historical memory and legacy, and the battle between good and evil. This is the undeniable throughline in our next season. The Wilma felt our audiences needed to spend time with these themes this year.”
Many roles in the Wilma’s season are cast from the theater’s acclaimed, award-winning resident acting collective, the HotHouse Acting Company. A key part of the theater’s creative approach centers around the HotHouse. The actors in the ensemble meet weekly to train, read plays, and develop their artistry, in addition to staging special one-night-only readings for works-in-progress. The HotHouse actors are featured throughout the Wilma’s next season, with two members stepping into the director’s chair in 2026.
The Wilma’s next season begins in November with an all-ages production of Evgeny Schwartz’s stage adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale, The Snow Queen. Under the whimsical direction of Co-Artistic Director Yury Urnov (A Summer Day, My Mama and The Full-Scale Invasion), the production follows a brave girl embarking on a magical quest for true connection fueled by love, loss, and her unbreakable human spirit. The heart-warming story of an enchanting odyssey will leave audiences young and old believing in the magic of love and the warmth of friendship. The play’s run includes select performances for student groups, and can be purchased by contacting [email protected]. The Snow Queen runs from November 11 to 25, 2025, and is recommended for audiences ages 7 or older.
Back by popular demand, the Wilma celebrates the return of Poor Judge – A Pig Iron Production, an exhilarating dance-theater cabaret set to the music of Aimee Mann. Previously presented during the 2024 Fringe Festival by Pig Iron Theatre Company, Poor Judge explores love, ambition, and the dark side of the American success story told through Aimiee Mann’s haunting catalog. Poor Judge – A Pig Iron Production runs at the Wilma from January 13 to 25, 2026.
Fans of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and former Wilma Co-Artistic Director James Ijames can look forward to a new production of his spicy satire, The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Miz Martha Washington. The play follows First Lady Martha Washington during her final hours, where she is confronted by a hallucinatory “trial” forcing her to face her past and the legacy of slavery in the United States. The HotHouse brings this pertinent and dynamic production to life with deep sincerity, high- stakes clowning, and striking imagery under the direction of company member Brett Ashley Robinson. This marks Robinson’s Wilma directorial debut and the third time a HotHouse member leads a production following Justin Jain (The Good Person of Setzuan, 2024) and Lindsay Smiling (The Half-God of Rainfall, 2025). The Wilma’s presentation of The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Miz Martha Washington runs from March 17 to April 5, 2026.
To close the 2025-26 season, Wilma Co-Artistic Director and HotHouse Member Lindsay Smiling directs a production that digs into the holes of history to confront and redefine the American story with Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks’s powerfully provocative piece, The America Play. The imaginative show revisits moments of history through the eyes of a Black Abraham Lincoln impersonator known as “The Founding Father,” who runs a tourist attraction where visitors meet other historical impersonators. Under Smiling’s direction, the HotHouse ensemble brings this imaginative work to life, creating a space for active dialogue, catharsis, and deep connection with the audience. The Wilma’s production of The America Play runs from May 19 to 31.
“America is going through a years-long identity crisis, and with the looming celebration of the semi- quincentennial, The America Play is a script that responds to this moment,” said Smiling. “With her unabashedly poetic writing style, Suzan-Lori Parks examines the interplay between personal and national identity. The America Play boldly examines the impact of 'the Great Hole of History' in an individual's pursuit of greatness and perhaps offers a redefining of what it means to be American.”
Beyond its award-winning productions, the Wilma sparks excitement and innovation by inviting the public to attend readings and workshops performed by the HotHouse. These special presentations offer an exclusive, up-close look at bold new works in progress, giving audiences the thrill of witnessing a play’s evolution – from early ideas to polished performance. The approach is inspired by the HotHouse’s founding principles of experimentation and collaboration as actors and audiences connect in real-time, shaping the work together. Previously, the Wilma presented workshops for the world premiere of the contemporary opera HILMA and staged readings for Archduke by Rajiv Joseph and Nelson Bond’s adaptation of Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Next season, Wilma Co-Artistic Director Morgan Green and playwright Milo Cramer, the creative duo behind the Obie Award-winning production School Pictures, reunite for their latest original play, JURY DUTY (working title). Currently in development for the 2026-27 season, the play blends verbatim transcripts, personal testimonies, and dynamic media design by projection designer Ray Sun to create a highly engaging courtroom experience that challenges our understanding of justice, power, and civic duty. Patrons can look forward to attending special readings of JURY DUTY and experiencing Green and Cramer’s complex exploration of the American legal system as they develop the play from the page to the stage. The Wilma is set to announce dates for readings and workshops for JURY DUTY and other works-in-progress in Fall 2025, with season subscribers receiving first access to these special presentations.
Patrons can now purchase a subscription for the Wilma’s 2025-26 season. A four-show weekday subscription is $100 for four weekday tickets to each of next season’s productions. A four- show weekend subscription is $120. The four-ticket whenever subscription – which includes tickets to be used in any combination throughout the season – is $160. This year, The Wilma is also offering a limited quantity of Opening Nights subscriptions, where patrons receive tickets for each production’s opening performance. Additionally, subscribers will receive exclusive first access to the one-night-only staged readings and workshops presented throughout the season. The Wilma’s subscriptions offer theatergoers savings of up to 60% compared to single ticket purchases. Subscriptions can be purchased at www.wilmatheater.org or by calling The Wilma’s box office at 215-546-7824.
Established in 1979, the Wilma Theater (265 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19107), recipient of the 2024 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre, is a non-profit theater company creating living, adventurous art engaging artists and audiences in imaginative reflections on the complexities of contemporary life. The theater presents bold, original productions representing a range of voices, viewpoints, and styles in order to develop the form and push existing conventions. Many of the roles in the Wilma’s productions are cast from its acclaimed, award-winning resident artists, the HotHouse Company, who meet weekly to train, read plays, and develop their artistry. The organization is currently led by a creative cohort of three co-artistic directors, Morgan Green, Lindsay Smiling, and Yury Urnov, and Managing Director Leigh Goldenberg. In 2024, the Wilma became the first Pennsylvania theater company to receive The Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre.
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