Newark Arts Alliance Wants YOU...(to Provide Works for Its Newest Exhibit)!

Post information courtesy of The Newark Arts Alliance

The Newark Arts Alliance is presenting a “Community Art Gallery” from Tuesday, August 13, to Saturday, August 24.  The local community is invited to bring in works of art that they own and love for display in the Newark Arts Alliance’s Terry Foreman Gallery.  Works can be submitted from Friday, August 9, to Sunday August 11.  Participants should also bring a brief statement (200 words or less) on why they chose their piece for submission.  Works of art need not be original.  

This exhibition offers a chance for art lovers and collectors who are not necessarily artists themselves to participate in an exhibition.  However, artists are welcome to submit their own creations as well.  Only one work can be submitted per participant.  Submitting a work is free of charge, and works will not be offered for sale.

The Newark Arts Alliance’s Exhibition Committee will select as many works for display as space will allow.  Hanging works should have a tight hanging wire across the back.  Central hanging devices (e.g., rings and saw-tooth hangers) do not work with the Newark Arts Alliance’s hanging system.  The Exhibition Committee reserves the right to decline works, including works that are not properly prepared for hanging or display.

The Newark Arts Alliance will celebrate the “Community Art Gallery” with a reception on Saturday, August 24, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.  This event will be free and open to the public.  Drinks and light refreshments will be served.  Participants whose works are on display will be able to take their art home that night.  If unable to attend, participants should pick up their work as soon as possible following the end of the show during regular hours.

See www.newarkartsalliance.org.

Enthralled by "Two Gents"...of the DelShakes Variety!

Guest Blogger Tizzy Lockman is a near lifelong Wilmingtonian — taking breaks in her teens & 20s to study and live abroad. She has a BA in film and linguistics from New York University, and works as a media producer and nonprofit program manager. While raising an active daughter, Tizzy's hobbies include working with local schools, youth work, nonprofit board service and various community activism and events. She LOVES live music and theatre, but never gets to see as much of it as she would wish.

Balmy midsummer evenings are chockfull of outdoor offerings for culture seekers, alongside our neighbors and those giant dragonflies. And during this theatrical off-season, amidst such a variety of concerts and music festivals to choose from, the Delaware Shakespeare Festival (DSF) has emerged as summer's un-missable entertainment option.  Now in their 11th year, it seems DSF has hit their stride, adeptly combining old classical ways with their own traditions, professionalism with a refreshing spirit that meets the needs of mid-July crowds of Shakespeare lovers.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona may be unlikely to rank in the Top Ten of the casual Shakespeare fans most familiar titles — I know that, for me, it was a play I'd never seen or read before last Saturday’s opening night. And this lack of expectation is likely to give the performance a bit of an edge for audience members similarly new to the story.  One of Shakespeare's earliest comedy works, the play is surprisingly light and accessible, while managing not to spare any tricks of adventure, humor or depth.

DSF brings Two Gents to life with a cast that is remarkable in its youthfulness and professionalism. Allowing the language of Shakespeare to slip off their tongues with natural tones as if it were the latest slang, and their physical characterization to keep every word understandable to the modern ear.The four romantic leads in particular (Adam Darrow as Proteus, Brandon Pierce as Valentine, Clare Mahoney as Julia, and Emilie Krause as Silvia) are perfectly suited to portray the story of the frivolity of young men and women at crossroads, about to launch themselves towards their futures. Centered around a pair of charming best friends — the ambitious Valentine and the romantic Proteus — we meet them as the two are taking steps in different directions, the latter focused on love and the former on establishing his status in society.  But being a comedy, wires are soon to be crossed...

The comedy itself isn’t Shakespeare’s most perfect — some of the twists late in the plot beg a forgiving audience — but the cast has done such a fine job of shaping the characters they play throughout the early scenes, that makes it easier to take the leap with them and accept the surprising and outlandish decisions that make up the final act. It is a play devoted to themes of betrayal and infidelity, the foibles and madness of youth.  The four primary characters develop over the arc of the performance, at great credit to the actors. Proteus and Valentine change the most remarkably. Proteus transforming from a guileless youth to calculating deviant, and the initially cynical Valentine becomes the lost and lovelorn one. In the end, both are stronger for their evolution. Instead of seeming ridiculous, you can read their actions, such as Valentine forgiving Proteus for his plentiful indiscretions, as heroic and instructive.

Where there are gentlemen (and women) there must be servants, and the show provides a Downton Abbey-esque parallel set of players in these roles. Far from standing in the shadows of their masters, these character are broader, and the standout comedians of the night.  In particular are Speed (Max Cove), Launce (Griffin Stanton-Amiesen) and Lucetta (Caroline Crocker). They move along the action and give us breaks from it; and the inclusion of Crab the dog (played during my performance by the scruffy Prince) brings with it levity and familiar sweet laughs (along with the tension of having an animal on the live stage).

The simple staging, unadorned apart from a bouquet of colorful umbrellas, allows these performances to shine. Different this year from the past several is the flipping of the theatre — the Rockwood house to our backs, the audience is gazing down into the park, with trees as a backdrop, and entrances visible at the periphery. When the sun set at my showing, the footlights brought the set into vibrant color and cast the well-blocked figures' shadows large against the backdrop of the trees.  It was enchanting. The sound system was clear as a bell — a notable improvement from past years for which they deserve to be praised.

The Delaware Shakespeare Festival has used its past decade to develop some great traditions: Entrances from the crowd that make you feel as if you've happened upon the action, and the cast makes a hasty exit from their bows to line the path where the audience exits. It’s a reversal in which the audience feels it is being given the utmost respect by the stars they’ve spent the past hours watching.

All in all, a charming cast portraying a fun story in a bucolic setting — our local Shakespeare seems to get better with each passing year. The large and appreciative audience at my show seemed to agree; a third had attended three or more DSF performances, and more than half were brand new to the experience. One mutual happiness, indeed!

See www.delshakes.org. 

Pegasus Trio Makes Milford Musical This Week!

Pegasus Trio (L-R): Chris Braddock, guitar;
Mindy Bowman, flute & Jeanmarie Braddock, violin.

As part of Milford's popular Third Thursday art & music events, Pegasus Trio returns to Mispillion Art League in Milford to perform music of Bizet, Handel and Joplin as well as traditional Irish songs, Dixieland classics and the trio's own original compositions! Pegasus Trio — Chris Braddock, guitar; Mindy Bowman, flute; and Jeanmarie Braddock, violin — have been popular musical guests at Mispillion previously as well as many other Delaware venues. 

When not performing live, Chris Braddock and Mindy Bowman enjoy busy schedules as faculty members of The Music School of Delaware, which has a location in downtown Milford. Chris is also the Guitar Department Head of the Music School and the director of the school's bluegrass ensemble the Matson Run Pickers. Jeanmarie Braddock is also a music instructor with the Brandywine School District in New Castle County. 

Enjoy the sounds of the mighty Pegasus [Trio] this Thursday, July 18, 6:30pm at Mispillion Art League, 5 N. Walnut Street in Milford. The event is free and family friendly. I also recommend trying out Dolce, a wonderful coffee shop and bakery on Walnut Street as well!