Jiri Zizka had not been active at the Wilma since 2010, when he said he was moving into a consulting relationship to pursue other artistic endeavors. During his tenure - the Zizkas became co-artistic directors three decades ago - he directed more than 70 productions and was a visible force in the emergence of Philadelphia as a theater town.
The company's spokesman announced Thursday that out of respect for Mr. Zizka's passing, the Wilma's annual fund-raiser, scheduled for Feb. 11, would be postponed. Blanka Zizka issued no statement and was not available for comment. She had been with their son, Krystof, who lives in New York, and returned "completely exhausted," the spokesman said.
Mr. Zizka had recently been in the Czech Republic on the occasion of his father's death, the spokesman said.
He grew up in Prague and was educated at Charles University. He went on to become director of Prague's largest underground theater, where, under communist rule, harassment and imprisonment for some artists followed the theater's popularity. On the summer day in 1976 that he and his girlfriend, the actress Blanka Vinicova, planned to defect, she learned she was pregnant. After putting themselves in danger by bribing an official, they fled to West Germany, spent time traveling, and arrived in the United States in 1978.
The next year they became artists-in-residence at the six-year-old Wilma Project. The avant-garde company was a good fit for them, and it has continued to specialize in edgy plays. Such theater is now part of the mainstream in part because of the Wilma's influence.
At first, the couple wrote, directed, and acted. Mr. Zizka coauthored an animated film, It's So Nice to Have a Wolf Around the House, nominated for an Oscar in 1980, and also directed television commercials.
