The history of Philadelphia's Wilma Theater during the 1990s, with archival recordings of the voices of Jiri and Blanka Zizka.

For images and additional information about this episode, see the blog post on our website HERE.

The original interviews of Jiri Zizka can be found on YouTube - HERE and HERE.

The original interview of Blanka Zizka can also be found on YouTube - HERE.

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

The voices of Jiri and Blanka Zizka help to narrate the history of Philadelphia's Wilma Theater during the 1980s.

For images and additional information about this episode, see the blog post on our website HERE.

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

A conversation about the impact that Blanka and Jiri Zizka had on the Philadelphia theater scene in the 1980s and 90s.

If you have not yet listened to our Episode 97, "Off-Off Broad Street," in which we discuss the history of "The Wilma Project" during the 1970s, you can find it here:  https://www.buzzsprout.com/1721762/episodes/16873817

This is one of a multi-part series on the origin and history of and the Wilma Theater. In this episode, we talk to Dr. Marcia Ferguson of the University of Pennsylvania, who published a book in 2008 entitled Blanka and Jiri Zizka at the Wilma Theater, 1979-2000: From the Underground to the Avenue. You can find it here:  https://a.co/d/f8xC7rC

To learn more about Marcia Ferguson and her work, go to her own professional website: https://www.marcialferguson.com/

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

Charlie Gilbert returns to talk about the music theater and the many new musicals being created and developed in Philadelphia during the 1980s and 90s.

We discuss the founding and early years of the American Music Theatre Festival, musicals performed at the Walnut and Arden Theatres, and the beginning of the Musical Theater Program at the University of the Arts - as theatrical and musical activity up and down Broad Street flourishes.

To learn more about Charlie Gilbert and his work, visit his website: https://chasgilbert.com/ - there's a great blog post there, by the way about his role in the creation of the Sondheim/Wideman musical Assassins.

And here is where you can learn about MusicCoLab, an exciting new organization dedicated to developing new works of musical theater in the Philadelphia area: https://musicolab.org/

A blog post on our own webpage, about the 1985 production of The Gospel at Colonus in Philadelphia, is HERE.

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

An interview with actor Johnnie Hobbs and choreographer Patricia Scott Hobbs about the Freedom Theatre in North Philadelphia. 

In an archival recording, the Philadelphia composer and teacher Charles Gilbert talks to his longtime friends about their experiences at the Freedom, including working with founder John E. Allen and his successor Walter Dallas. 

Though this is not a comprehensive narrative, we are pleased to begin sharing the story of this important cultural institution, which changed so many people's lives in the Philadelphia African American community. 

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

Director and Producer Joe Canuso sits down with us to talk about his life and career in Philly theater.

From acting at the Pocket Playhouse in the 70s, performing with dance troupes in the 80s, creating cutting-edge shows for the new Fringe Festival in the 90s, founding and leading Theatre Exile in the 2000s, Joe did brought a darkly comic edge and a driving energy to the Philly theater scene.

Along with the playwright Bruce Graham, Joe helped to bring to life the play "The Philly Fan." In this interview, Joe talks about the star of that one-man show, his friend and colleague, the late great Tom McCarthy.

For a selection of images and photos from Joe Canuso's career, and many of the plays and production we discuss in this conversation, go to the blog post on our website: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/killer-joe-canuso---images-for-episode-101/

For the complete performance 2001 by Jillene Ringle with the Big Mess Orchestra at the Trocadero Theatre, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGvjcWt4YBY

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

A conversation with one of the longest-serving and most consequential artistic directors and producers of the modern era of Philadelphia theater history, Sara Garonzik.

As we continue our Season Four, we learn about her early years - first as and actor, then as a director, then as a producer at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. And we learn her stories about how she took PTC from a 25-year-long home at the Plays and Players Theatre to the new Suzanne Roberts Theatre on Broad Street.

Plus, we learn about how she committed the theater to presenting consequential  modern American playwrights such as Terrence McNally, David Ives and August Wilson, and worked with so many amazing directors, composers and performing artists of the American theater - everyone from Richard Thomas to Billy Porter to Bill Irwin to Kathleen Turner.

A blog post on our website, with photos of Sara Garonzik and the opening of the Suzanne Robert Theatre in 2007 on Broad Street is here: https://www.aithpodcast.com/blog/images-for-episode-100-the-suzanne-roberts-theatre-grand-opening-2007/

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

Our interview with teacher, writer and director Robert Hedley - the former Chair of the Theater Departments of both Villanova and Temple Universities.

In our conversation, we discuss many things - including his early years, his coming to Villanova, his work with playwright David Rabe and producer Joseph Papp, and his work in helping to found The Philadelphia Company (the precursor to the Philadelphia Theater Company).

For a full bio of Bob's work, go HERE.

(Cover image for this episode is 1976 photo of Robert Hedley directing the actors Carla Belver and John Yinger - during rehearsals in the early years of the Philadelphia Company. Image from the Temple University Special Collections Research Center, George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection.)

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

Cato: A Tragedy was a famous 18th Century play by Joseph Addison - supposedly the favorite play of George Washington himself! What connection did it have to the history of America - and the theater history of Philadelphia?

This is an edited audio recording of a panel discussion at the Museum of the Revolution in Philadelphia, recorded on April 9th, 2025.

A video of the entire event can be found at the MOAR website, HERE.

For photographs from the event on our own AITH website, go HERE.

For tickets to see CATO (Remixed) at Carpenters Hall) from May 1 to May 18, 2025, go HERE.

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.

The story of three small ambitious cutting-edge Philadelphia theater companies of the 1970s. Why did some survive - and some falter?

For a blog post with images of the productions and people we discuss in the episode, go HERE.

(Cover photo for the episode shows the actor Daniel Oreskes in The Servant of Two Masters, which was being presented by The Repertory Company in West Philadelphia's Clark Park during the summer of 1975. He is having his costume arranged by an unidentified female member of the company. Photo taken by Salvatore C. DiMarco, Jr. for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries)

Support the show

"Adventures in Theater History: Philadelphia" the BOOK can be ordered from independent bookstores and at all online book retailers now!

Our website: www.aithpodcast.com

Our email address: [email protected]

Bluesky: @aithpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AITHpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aithpodcast/

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AITHpodcast

© Podcast text copyright, Peter Schmitz. All rights reserved.

℗ All original voice recordings copyright Peter Schmitz.

℗ All original music copyright Christopher Mark Colucci. Used by permission.