Wilma Theater announces makeover, new name, and fund drive

In an announcement late Monday, the Wilma Theater announced the following big changes: a makeover, a name change, a fund-raising campaign, and the establishment of a permanent company.

The theater's "Transformation Fund" has a stated target of $10 million. Main goals include redoing the Wilma lobby to include a cafe and a new second floor, and changes to the theater façade.

But they won't be taking down the familiar tall, squiggly, beribboned Wilma neon sign looking out over South Broad Street, inviting visitors to the theater since 1996. More on that in a minute.

The Wilma also announced the permanent establishment of the Wilma HotHouse workshop program, an intensive exploration of dramatic technique and materials that had a pilot run in the fall.

About 75 percent of the $10 million has been raised, according to the theater's news release. Half of the sum came as a gift from the Wyncote Foundation, and an additional $2.5 million came from money the theater has raised itself. James Haskins, managing director of the Wilma, said the theater was "looking to complete the public phase of fund-raising by the end of July 2018. It will be achieved through a mixture of individual donors, foundation opportunities, and naming opportunities."

The lobby will get a second floor, and the theater will create an education and training studio, which will be one naming opportunity. Other smaller such naming rights, Haskins said, may arise within the new cafe area.

The Wilma is to be renamed the Wilma at Aurora. This honors Chara Aurora Cooper Haas, mother of the four Haas brothers - Frederick, Leonard, David, and Duncan - who compose the Wyncote Foundation board of directors. The Philadelphia foundation was established in 2009 with funding from the Otto and Phoebe Haas Charitable Trusts at the direction of John C. Haas, husband of Aurora.

Despite the name change, the Wilma sign will remain the Wilma sign. The eminent playwright Tom Stoppard, in town for the opening of his play The Hard Problem at the Wilma, was also on hand for the announcement Monday evening, when he reminisced about first visiting the brand-new Wilma building in 1996, and beholding the sign with cofounders Jiri and Blanka Zizka: "I remember being in the street with Jiri and Blanka when that sign was lit up for a test run, and it just made me laugh, it was so, so - Zizka. . . . There's something about the genius of this theater, which is colorful, and off-center in a nicely unconventional way."

Stoppard and other admirers of the Wilma sign can rest assured that it will not change. "The neon sign will remain the same. The Wilma will remain as it is," Haskins said. "In the marquee, however, we will add Wilma at Aurora, and the word Aurora will be added in colored glass above the doors."

Leonard Haas said he and his brothers had long admired the Wilma. "I have worked in the acting profession for many years," he said, "and I can appreciate, both as a drama person and now, from the other side, as a supporter, just what the Wilma does."

Haas' long association with Blanka Zizka and the Wilma has included opportunities to observe the HotHouse program up close. "Part of this Transformation Fund," Haas said, "is to help secure enough finances to guarantee they can incubate and workshop and process new work as Blanka has been doing." She has brought in directors such as Tea Alagic and Yury Urnov and master trainers such as Jean-René Toussaint and Csaba Horvath.

"In this day, in the arts funding climate we have," Haas said, "it isn't often that a theater gets a chance to sustain a long-term, intensive project like this. I totally get what they're going for, and we see the results."

jt@phillynews.com 215-854-4406 @jtimpane