Showing posts with label Matt Silva. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Silva. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2025

Take a Spin with Ray Didinger's World Premiere at DTC

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

Delaware Theatre Company (DTC) opens its 2025-2026 season with the World Premiere of Spinner by Ray Didinger – the local Hall of Fame sportswriter and radio legend. The play shares the true story of former NHL player Brian “Spinner” Spencer and the trauma that engulfed him after his NHL debut for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Spinner by Ray Didinger, premiering at Delaware Theatre Company.
Photo by Matt Urban, NuPOINT Marketing
“It sounds like a fairly ordinary sports story, but that night – December 12, 1970 – was anything but ordinary,” Didinger recounts. “A hockey game resulted in a family tragedy that
made headlines across North America. I was assigned to follow up on the story, and that’s how I met Brian Spencer.”

Brian and his twin brother Byron Spencer (Sean Lally) are being
raised hockey players in tiny Fort Saint James, British Columbia. Their father Roy (Scott Greer) is adamant that at last one of his sons is going to play his way out of town and into the NHL. His practical wife Irene (Karen Peakes) disagrees, reminding Roy that he moved them there to start a family and build a better life.

While Byron drops hockey and focuses on his future, “Rink Rat” Brian loves every minute of being on the ice. Roy is driven by his dream and is confident Brian is NHL material. He works multiple jobs to provide his hockey prodigy with everything he could need…to play hockey, not progress with real life. Brian’s schoolwork suffers, breaking his former schoolteacher mother’s heart. But scouts take notice and Brian feels he’s on the true path to success.

All of this – and the fateful night – are depicted in a non-linear timeline. The audience can sense the stresses of singularly striving towards a goal plus growing familial fractures caused by the desire. While choppy at times, the cuts back and forth in time help develop both the characters and the plot.

When new father Byron confronts his father and asserts, “It’s a goddamn game,” Roy doesn’t see it that way. Roy is quick to anger and his presence is foreboding. He’s not malicious, but he funnels so much of his energy into getting Brian to the ranks of professional hockey that he loses sight of what may be most important in his life. Greer does an exceptional job getting the audience to root for his vision while simultaneously realizing his methods are smothering. He’s close to the edge and it’s anyone’s guess to what might set him off.

It turns out, 1970s Canadian broadcasting rights are the trigger and Roy heads to local CBC affiliate CKPG to fix what he feels is a personal slight – TV won’t be airing Brian’s NHL debut in his hometown. Receptionist Carol (Genevieve Perrier) and engineer Stu (Dave Johnson) try to placate Roy with the (true) explanation that the broadcast feed is out of their control. They are powerless to help him. He is powerless to help himself. It descends further into tragedy from there.

All of this happens on a cool outdoorsy set by Scenic Designer Parris Bradley. Bradley has split logs and tree stumps dominating the stage along with CRT TV screens. Lighting Designer Shannon Zura and Projection Designer Colin J. Sass amplify this (and more) with excellent effects which provide accompaniment to the story. Director Matt Silva keeps the pacing fairly tight, adding to the tension. The cast is rounded out by Charlie DelMarcelle, who plays Roy’s levelheaded friend Harry.

“Since its first reading last September, it has been a joy to watch Spinner take shape,” remarks Artistic Director Mimi Warnick. “Ray has carried this story close to his heart throughout his remarkable career, and it is an honor to see it premiere on the DTC stage and kick off our 46th season.”

Spinner reflects on the risks, rewards, and regrets we all face when chasing something bigger than ourselves. It’s a powerful tale of sacrifice, family, and the lengths we’ll go to make our dreams a reality…even when the cost is too high. At the Talkback I attended, playwright Didinger explained that the story is about “the price to pay to fulfill [your] dreams.” The Spencer family certainly – and heartbreakingly – did that.

Didinger was the first print journalist inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. As a columnist for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Daily News, he was named Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year five times. In 1995, he won the Bill Nunn Award for long and distinguished reporting on pro football and his name was added to the writers’ honor roll at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Didinger also won six Emmy Awards for his work as a writer and producer for NFL Films. He has authored or co-authored a dozen books on professional football. His play, Tommy and Me, about his friendship with Eagles Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald, has been performed in area theaters since 2016. (DTC featured the show in 2021.) He can be heard talking football on 94WIP Sports Radio and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

The performance schedule of Spinner is: Wednesdays (2:00pm), Thursdays and Fridays (7:00pm), Saturdays (2:00 & 7:30pm except September 20 (Opening Night curtain is only at 7:30pm), and Sundays (2:00pm) through October 5.

Tickets start at $34 and discounts are available. The one-act show is roughly 75 minutes long. Join DTC for Viewpoints every Wednesday starting 45 minutes before the start of the show. There will be Talkbacks after several performances with Didinger and featuring writers, radio personalities, former athletes, and more. Visit www.delawaretheatre.org/spinner for the schedule of Talkback participants. Call 302.594.1100 or visit www.delawaretheatre.org to purchase tickets or for performance information. Delaware Theatre Company is located at 200 Water Street in Wilmington.

Reveiwer aside: I was lucky enough to have Hockey Hall of Fame goalkeeper Bernie Parent sit behind me at the performance. He was welcoming and gregarious. He also flashed me his two Stanley Cup rings while sporting a massive grin. On stage for Talkback, he was honest and funny.

Saturday, April 20, 2024

DTC's 44th Season Closer, "The Flatlanders," Certainly Doesn't Fall Flat

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

Delaware Theatre Company (DTC) closes its 44th season with the touching and funny play The Flatlanders by Bruce Graham. DTC has partnered with 1812 Productions to present this new composition about what it takes to keep the flame alive when everything else is, quite literally, falling apart.
The Flatlanders now playing at DTC.
Photo by Matt Urban, NüPOINT Marketing.

The show is a World Premiere for playwright Graham, who won the Rosenthal Prize for his play Coyote on a Fence, two Barrymore Awards for Something Intangible and Any Given Monday, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for The Outgoing Tide. He has received grants from the Pew Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation plus was a past winner of the Princess Grace Foundation Statuette.

“We couldn’t be more excited to bring our audiences another world premiere production,” says Matt Silva, Executive and Artistic Director of DTC. “New work is important. So is laughter.”

And there is plenty of laughter – smart, corny, and edgy – to be found in The Flatlanders.

Travelers Ronnie (Jennifer Childs) and Michael (Scott Greer) must break into a remote cabin in the Poconos during a blizzard to ride out the storm. The two “flatlanders” from Philadelphia are in a committed 14-year relationship which is about to become wedded bliss (maybe?) in a day’s time. While taking stock of what the cabin can provide them, the couple also takes stock of their relationship.

Childs, the producing artistic director of 1812 Productions, and Greer are partners on stage and off. Besides both performers having celebrated solo careers, the couple has performed and created works together at 1812 Productions, Arden Theatre Company, Cape May Stage, and many more.

That deep personal connection is shown in the way the actors interact on stage. Timing and side glances and sighs and exasperations all feel very real to the audience. There are “no bars” or “hotspots” at the cabin so this typical modern couple must converse without modern distractions. The only outside voice is from DJ Skip on WJUL, whose bad jokes and anachronistic playlist constantly add a bit of humor to the situation.

But the lead characters provide plenty of great jokes and physical gags themselves. From Ronnie making one-point lists – plus the ever-growing IOU list to reimburse the owners of the cabin – to Michael gradually revealing his kinks (with help from a prop box), there’s always something happening on stage holding your attention.

The soon-to-be newlyweds discuss past successes, current failures, and future desires. Their banter ebbs and flows from normal, banal topics to conquering personal fears to upending societal norms. It’s a contemporary play and the topics are relevant but delivered with biting wit.

The main theme of the show can be summarized by a burst of dialog when Ronnie posits that maybe being married instead of just being together will lead to boredom. She says she knows what buttons to push now. Michael counters that they’ll find “new buttons to push” and they will be better for the growth. As he puts it, they are already feeling “the seven-year itch times two” but he is happy. No need to radically change what they’re doing now…maybe just tweak a few things here and there.

Michael’s statement “All of this will clear up and we’ll be fine” takes on a double meaning when considering the storm swirling outside and the reckoning happening inside the cabin – i.e., there will be resolution.

The production is directed by multi-time Barrymore Award winner Matt Pfieffer, whose work has appeared at Arden Theatre Company, the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Exile, People’s Light, and many others. The three scenes are nicely segmented and compartmentalized. Pfieffer keeps the movement and dialog moving, but not so fast as to miss the point.

The performance schedule of The Flatlanders is: Wednesdays (2:00pm), Thursdays (7:00pm), Fridays (8:00pm), Saturdays (2:00 & 8:00pm), and Sundays (2:00pm) through May 5. Tickets start at $32 while discounts are available for students, groups, and military members/veterans. The show runs approximately 80 minutes with no intermission. 

There will be pre-show Viewpoints on Wednesdays at 1:15pm during the run, plus talkbacks after Thursday performances. The April 27 2:00pm performance includes American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. 

Call 302.594.1100 or visit DelawareTheatre.org to purchase tickets or for performance information. Delaware Theatre Company is located at 200 Water Street in Wilmington.

Don’t be a “DQ” and make plans to catch this show!

Monday, April 17, 2023

Theatre Review: Man of La Mancha | Delaware Theatre Company

By Mike Logothetis
Theater reviewer Mike Logothetis grew up in North Wilmington, performing in school and local theater productions. He lives in Newark, but you can find him wherever the arts are good.

Delaware Theatre Company (DTC) closes its 43rd season with the excellent and heartwarming Man of La Mancha. Winner of five Tony Awards including Best Musical, Man of La Mancha features adventure, romance, and rousing classics like “The Impossible Dream” and “I, Don Quixote.” Set during the Spanish Inquisition, the titular Man of La Mancha embarks on an ambitious quest to right all wrongs in the world.

The show was written by Dale Wasserman with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is skillfully directed by DTC Executive Director Matt Silva. Unique to DTC’s production, the sweepingly epic score is brought to life by the performers themselves – all actor/musicians who play their instruments live on stage. Simply stated, they are masters of their substantial crafts.

The opening number (“Prison Scene”) exhibits the cast’s vast range of musical, vocal, and acting chops on a magical set designed by Chris Haig. The setting is a dungeon with articulating stage parts, platforms, stairs, entryways, and steaming floor gates. Literally, the stage is set for an epic theatrical adventure.

And DTC’s Man of La Mancha delivers in a grand way. The story is captivating, the pacing is tight, the acting is superb, and the music is timeless. The company had the audience in the palm of its collective hand, delivering a great Opening Night performance.

When Miguel de Cervantes (Scott Langdon) and his manservant (Victor Rodriguez, Jr.) are thrown into the dungeon by the Spanish Inquisition, doom pervades the scene. Their fellow prisoners attack the newcomers and are eager to steal the contents of a large trunk Cervantes has brought with him. However, a sympathetic criminal known as “the Governor” (Nichalas Parker) suggests setting up a mock trial instead. Only if Cervantes is found guilty will he have to hand over his possessions. Cervantes immediately pleads guilty, but then asks if he may offer a defense in the form of a play, acted out by him and all the prisoners. The “Governor” agrees, and the prisoners watch Cervantes transform into Alonso Quijana – an old gentleman who has read so many books of chivalry and thought so much about injustice that he has lost his mind and set out as a knight-errant. Quijana renames himself “Don Quixote de La Mancha” and goes off to find adventures with his squire, Sancho Panza. The pair tilt at windmills and later take refuge at an inn Quixote swears is a castle.

Langdon and Rodriguez portray Don Quixote and Sancho Panza with prowess. Quixote’s wobbly knee and shattered mind is captured beautifully by Langdon with his powerful stage presence and voice. The role is difficult because the actor must inhabit a political prisoner playing an old man believing he is a chivalric knight. Langdon deftly shifts from mindset to mindset plus delivers superb singing in solo and ensemble pieces. The wonderful physical humor and sincerity Rodriguez imbues into Panza is matched only by his soaring vocals. To quote a line from Panza in the show, “I like him.”

Of course, any great quest must have a damsel and Sierra Wilson towers in her portrayal of Aldonza/Dulcinea. Don Quixote sees the inn’s serving wench and part-time prostitute Aldonza and declares that she is his lady, Dulcinea, to whom he has sworn eternal loyalty (“Dulcinea”). Aldonza is confused and annoyed by Quixote’s persistence but comes around to his kindness by providing him a token of her esteem – an old dishrag. Wilson tempered her powerful voice when required and raised it to stratospheric heights in moments of passion. She commanded you to watch her whenever she was on stage.

Back in the story, Don Quixote’s niece has gone with his housekeeper to seek advice from the local priest, who realizes that the two women are more concerned with the embarrassment Quijana’s madness may bring them than with his actual welfare (“I’m Only Thinking of Him”). Self-serving people want to return Quijana to his home, end the charade of Quixote, and have the old man quietly live out the rest of his life.

What happens to Quixote, Quijana, and Cervantes
plus the ancillary characters on stage  won’t be revealed herein. Suffice it to say there are epic battles, both verbal and physical; personal growth; and hope springing from despair. I can say with confidence that many theatergoers will be humming “The Impossible Dream” walking out through the lobby after the curtain drops.

Other highlights of the show include Josh Totora’s performance of “Barber’s Song” as a one-man band; the four-man guitar-playing arrangement (with percussion) during “Little Bird, Little Bird”; the brilliant effects during “Knight of the Mirrors”; and the overall motion of the action. Kudos to director Silva for keeping things dynamic on stage with insightful physical instructions for his players.

The performance schedule of Man of La Mancha is: Wednesdays (2:00pm), Thursdays (7:00pm), Fridays (8:00pm), Saturdays (2:00pm & 8:00pm), and Sundays (2:00pm) through April 30. Tickets start at $29 while discounts are available for students, groups, and military members/veterans. The show is roughly two-and-a-quarter hours long with one 15-minute intermission. There will be pre-show Viewpoints on Wednesdays at 1:15pm during the run plus talkbacks after Thursday performances. Call (302)594-1100 or visit DelawareTheatre.org to purchase tickets or for performance information. Delaware Theatre Company is located at 200 Water Street in Wilmington.

My advice is to “sit aquí” at DTC and enjoy the show!