The Wilma Theater presents the World Premiere of Language Rooms

by Yussef El Guindi

directed by Blanka Zizka

March 3 – April 4, 2010

The Wilma Theater continues its 2009 – 2010 season with the World Premiere production of Language Rooms, a black comedy that exposes the divided loyalties among today’s immigrants, discovering the rising cost of the American Dream. The play, from rising Arab-American playwright Yussef El Guindi, is directed by the Wilma’s co-Artistic Director Blanka Zizka.

A recipient of the Edgerton Foundation’s prestigious New American Play award, Language Rooms begins previews on March 3, opens on March 10 (press night), and closes on April 4, 2010. Tickets range from $36 to $65, and are available at the Wilma’s Box Office by calling (215) 546-7842, visiting www.wilmatheater.org, or coming to the theater, located at 265 South Broad Street in Philadelphia. Student tickets are available for as little as $10, depending on date and time, made possible through a grant from PNC Arts Alive.

Ahmed is a shining example of the American Dream, successfully landing a big-time position as a translator at a top-secret detainment facility. But things are not what they seem in this twisted workplace, as he soon finds himself dodging shifty video cameras and absurd interoffice mind games. Brilliantly shifting between comedy and political suspense with surprising twists along the way, Language Rooms is a riveting dark comedy about the abuses of patriotism and loyalty.

Director Blanka Zizka says, “What I like so much about the play is that it deals with the world we live in right now, without suffering from ideological or political agendas or predictability. Just the opposite: the play is fresh, inventive, darkly funny, and fiercely original. It explores the absurd reality that can ensue from pursuing a dream without noticing that the dream has lost its moral standing, leaving merely insistence on loyalty.”

Language Rooms tells an updated immigrant story, pinned down in the glare of an interrogator’s lamp and through the lens of the Arab-American experience. El Guindi’s script highlights the tension between first- and second-generation immigrants, as their personal desires get caught in the machinery of the outside world. As Egyptian-born playwright El Guindi says, “the price for a better life is always a little higher than you think it will be.”

As El Guindi tells Wilma Dramaturg Walter Bilderback, “The wonderful optimism of this country, the propulsion to keep going, to reinvent, that weightlessness, the acceptance that you can change your name, your history, kick your past to the curb as you gun for a new beginning, I think all those good things end up gutting you of a center, a wholeness. What becomes of your touchstones, your anchor, your story, after you leave so much behind?  Who are you when you’re always in flux?”

The Wilma’s World Premiere of Language Rooms grows out of an intensive development process, which began with a reading on the Wilma stage a year ago, in addition to workshops at Vassar & New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater and at the Wilma this summer. The Wilma welcomes back Yussef El Guindi – who The Philadelphia Inquirer calls “laugh-out-loud funny” – for an extended residency during rehearsals.

WICKED Announces Lottery for $25 Seats

Performances Begin January 6 at the Academy of Music

January 4, 2010

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from January 6 – 24, 2010 at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time up to 20 people who present themselves at the Academy of Music box office (Broad St. & Locust St.) will have their names placed in a ‘witches hat’ and then 30 minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of seats at $25 each, cash only.  This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person. A limited number of regular price tickets still remain for performances of WICKED.

WICKED begins performances at the Academy of Music January 6 and runs through January 24. When WICKED played Philadelphia in 2006 and 2007, both engagements sold out in record time and broke box office house records.

CLICK HERE TO BE REDIRECTED TO GROUPON.COM TO PURCHASE THE DISCOUNTED TICKETS

Click above to buy a $34 second-tier ticket to “Mattila Debuts” on 1/15/10 at 8 p.m., “The Firebird” on 2/14/10 at 2 p.m., or “Philadelphia Premieres” on 2/18/10 at 8 p.m. ($71 Value).

• Buy here for a $47 front or center orchestra ticket to “Mattila Debuts” on 1/15/10 at 8 p.m., “The Firebird” on 2/14/10 at 2 p.m., or “Philadelphia Premieres” on 2/18/10 at 8 p.m. ($96 value).
• Buy here for a $52 first-tier rear box-seat ticket to “Mattila Debuts” on 1/15/10 at 8 p.m., “The Firebird” on 2/14/10 at 2 p.m., or “Philadelphia Premieres” on 2/18/10 at 8 p.m. ($106 value).

This Valentine’s Day, give the classical music buff in your life a gift that makes up for last year’s gift of tickets to see Composerbot, the music-composing automaton that went “a little caca” immediately after completing its Ninth Symphony and devoured an innocent Ford Tempo. Today’s deal gets you a seat at your choice of three differentPhiladelphia Orchestra performances at Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center, with second-tier, front or center orchestra, and first-tier box seats available for all three shows. Prices start at $34 for second-tier seats ($71 value), go up to $47 for front or center orchestra seats ($96 value), and end at $52 for box seats ($106 value).

You’ll have your choice of three stellar performances:

• On Friday, January 15, at 8 p.m., enjoy “Mattila Debuts”. For this show, Finnish soprano Karita Mattila will be singing Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Martinu’s Symphony no. 3, and the Adagio from Mahler’s Tenth.
• On Valentine’s Day at 2 p.m., Andrey Boreyko will be conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra through “The Firebird”, featuring Barber’s Night Flight, Chopin’s second piano concerto, Kancheli’s “Morning Prayers,” and Stravinsky’s legendary Firebird suite.
• On Friday, February 18, at 8 p.m., conductor Rossen Milanov will be at the helm for “Philadelphia Premieres”, which features a little Barber and Rachmaninoff, as well as Richard Danielpour’s A Woman’s Life, which focuses on the life of American soprano Angela Brown.

If you can’t decide, then don’t. You can buy Groupons for all three concerts. Verizon Hall can house hundreds, so buy one for everyone in your scrappy, punk-rock marching orchestra.

You must bring your Groupon to the box office at least 48 hours ahead of your chosen show to receive your seats.

Receive 30% off tickets to La Sylphide and Barber Violin Concerto.

June 5-6 at 8 p.m.
June 6 at 12 p.m.
June 7 & 13 at 2 p.m.
June 11-12 at 8 p.m.

La Sylphide

Returning to Philadelphia for the first time in 21 years, the oldest ballet in existence is set in the Scottish Highlands. August Bournonville’s ethereal tale of love still enthralls audiences today with the captiviating romance and demanding choreography that made this work ahead of its time. 

Barber Violin Concerto

Company Premiere
Peter Martins explores the contrast between classical ballet and modern dance in this innovative work to Samuel Barber’s deeply expressive, romantic score.

Please use discount code LS30 when ordering.  For tickets click here.

The Pennsylvania Ballet is offering a limited number of Orchestra seats to each performance (May 6 – 10 at the Merriam Theater) at the steal of a deal price of just $25 (regularly priced at $95.50). These tickets are online, by phone, or at the Merriam Theater box office by using the code TANGO25.

The PA Ballet also has a special package deal for Mother’s Day, which includes brunch and the ballet. Package prices begin at $82.30 and include a 3-course brunch (tax

and gratuity incl.) at the Palm at 12 p.m. on Mother’s Day, followed by a 2 p.m. performance of Tango with Style at the Merriam Theater. Reservations must be made by Friday, May 8 by contacting Arajua Backman 215.587.6921 or abackman@paballet.org.

Tango with Style offers three contemporary works, each with a compelling stylistic foundation that highlights the extraordinary artistic depth and innovative repertoire of this nationally-recognized ballet company.

Koresh Dance Co @ Suzanne Roberts Theatre at Broad and Lombard, April 30th to May 3rd. $5 off tickets of $20-$30. To receive this offer is to use the discount code KCD at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre box office www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org / 215-985-0420.

Koresh Dance Company is Philadelphia’s third largest dance company and will be performing at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre from April 30th to May 3rd. Programming for Koresh Dance Company’s 2009 Spring Season includes a new work by Roni Koresh, and Paul Selwyn Norton, a rising figure on the Dutch dance scene.   
Two works:

ev•o•lu•tion by Roni Koresh:  Language and art have remained essential to human nature throughout the ages. The need for human expression is as universal as the need for replenishing ourselves through procreation.  Expression is fundamental to the reasons for our existence and to understand that expression in its purest form is to understand ourselves. Roni explores this subject and more through his intricate choreography set to music by Franz Peter Shubert, Pete Nemlok, Fariborz Lachini, Greg Smith, John Vosbikian – and more. 

Pieces of 9 by Paul Selwyn Norton:  “Pieces of 9″ is representational on my recent focus on “music for dance”. I believe that it is important that composers have just as equal a standing on stage as the choreographer. Their music should not only serve the choreographer’s vision’ but should be also resonate with the same respect and vitality as the dance. These pieces are my thanks to the great work of John Cage, Jose Luis Greco and Elmer Schönberger.