The Understudy

Through Jan. 30, $36-$65, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org.

by Mark Cofta

[ theater ]

Last season, Philadelphia Theatre Co. canceled Theresa Rebeck's Mauritius, replacing it with Kathleen Turner's Red Hot Patriot. Now Rebeck's back, two Broad Street blocks away, with the off-Broadway hit The Understudy at the Wilma Theater. Known locally for Bad Dates (which won a 2007 Barrymore Award for actress Susan Riley Stevens at Act II Playhouse), Rebeck has penned a dozen plays, two novels, scripts for Law & Order, and Free Fall Zone, a hilariously cynical writing memoir. Her acerbic wit shines in The Understudy, a clash of stage, screen and literature in which a Hollywood action star finagles a role in Franz Kafka's newly discovered play, but feels undermined by his understudy.

Through Jan. 30, $36-$65, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., 215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org.