The name "Wilma" refers to an imaginary oppressed sister of Shakespeare created by Virginia Woolf.

[3][4] As of 2018[update], the theater had won 68 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre and received 238 nominations.

[5] On May 22 2024, it was announced that the Wilma would be the recipient of the 2024 Regional Theatre Tony Award, which comes with a $25,000 grant.

The Wilma has been noted for this, due in part to its unique organizational structure: it switched from one artistic director, which is standard, to four in early 2020, and then down to three when Blanka Zizka retired in 2021 (leaving James Ijames, Yury Urnov, and Morgan Green), and it also has a permanent troupe of in-house actors, known as the Hothouse.

[8] WHYY's arts and culture reporter Peter Crimmins has similarly noted that "The Wilma is distinctive not only for the excellence of its original productions, but [also] for its unique approach to running a theater company.