Congrats to DE Arts Info Blogger Jessica Graae for 5 Homey Awards Noms!

Cheers to Wilmington singer-songwriter and Delaware Arts Info blogger, Jessica Graae, whose debut album, Gypsy Blood, has garnered her five nominations at tonight's Homey Awards!

Gyspy Blood is a stirring acoustic album with tracks that delve deep, lyrically and vocally, with themes that range from the hopeful to the melancholy. The darkly atmospheric opening opening track, "Find Me a Rose," has been nominated for Best Song, though it's tough picking a favorite out of the 13 songs (but not impossible: my personal favorite is "Clear as a Line"). You can check out the album on Jessica's Reverbnation page.

The 8th Annual Homey Awards and Concert is happening tonight at World Cafe Live at the Queen, with a live performance of "Find Me a Rose" from Jessica, as well as performances by John Dutton, Amelia Scalies, and BlackRue, and live sets by The Joe Trainor Trio, Glim Dropper, The Great SOCIO, and June Divided.

Congrats to all of the nominees! Check out our rave reviews of fellow nominees Hot Breakfast and Angela Sheik by clicking the links!

Tickets are just $10. The full list of nominees is after the jump:

Sunshine on Leith Has Its US Debut in Delaware

The Scottish musical Sunshine on Leith, featuring songs by The Proclaimers, has never had a production outside of the United Kingdom -- until now. Under the direction of Allyson Good (the DE Shakespeare Festival's Education Coordinator and Poetry Out Loud State Coordinator), the heartfelt story of love, family, and community made its US debut on the amateur stage of the Wilmington Christian School.

It's a challenging show, not just with the required vocal harmonies and choreography, but because it tackles a modified version of the Leith dialect (the true dialect, Good explains, would be nearly impossible for the audience to understand). It's clear the actors spent a lot of time working on the accents, both in the dialogue and in the song lyrics.

The present-day story centers on Davy (Jeremy Gouveia in the production's standout performance) and Ally (Daniel Jacobson), two friends returning home to the working-class Leith section of Edinburgh after serving in the war in Afghanistan. They land jobs, hang out at the pub, and think about their futures. Davy's sister Liz (standout Katie Barton), who is also Ally's girlfriend, is restless. Through Liz, Davy meets her friend an fellow nurse, Yvonne (Kaylene Mummert), a young English woman, and they fall in love. Meanwhile, Davy and Liz's parents, Rab (Peter Spangler/Isaac Barrick in flasback) and Jean (standout Christina Sanders) hit a rough patch as they celebrate a milestone anniversary.

The youth cast handled the material well, from the stirring opening featuring "Sky Takes My Soul" to the popular "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in the finale. Though the story is rooted in a community far away, it's one that transcends place and time; Wilmington Christian should be very proud.

Justice Prevails in the Delaware Theater Company’s production of "The Exonerated"

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's gripping play The Exonerated explores the unjust treatment six individuals experience with the US legal system. Brilliantly intertwining multiple true stories about individuals who were wrongly charged for murder and sentenced to death, The Exonerated is a 90-minute play that captivates from beginning to end. With a stark tiered set, director David Bradley puts the focus on his actors and the stories they are sharing.

Majority of the play is made up of soliloquies by the ensemble cast. David Alan Anderson, Megan Bellwoar, Akeem Davis, Anthony Lawton, Frank X, and William Zielinski portray the incarcerated characters, along with Tom Byrn, Dan Hodge, Aime Donna Kelly, and Susan Riley Stevens who play various roles, including police officers and spouses of the convicted individuals. Great sympathy is felt for the convicted as they express the sorrow for time lost with their children and loved ones, and
knowing the real murderers are free while they endure imprisonment.

The entire cast gives exceptional performances. Using only chairs as props, the actors have the great task of keeping the audience engaged, which they all successfully accomplish. Not needing a set, the actors fill the stage with their moving stories, which reveal the flawed practices within our justice system and the harsh realities of life in prison.

The previous production I saw of The Exonerated had the cast sitting in a row of chairs reading the script, similar to DCT’s wonderful production of Love, Loss, and What I Wore. However, Mr. Bradley has his actors moving and at times interacting in small scenes. (Only Mr. X wasn’t able to participate in the interaction with his fellow actors. Unfortunately, he fell when exiting the raised stage the day before the performance I attended; leaving him injured. Being a real professional, Mr. X sat in a chair on the side of the stage performing his role as an 18-year-old African-American man who was convicted for a murder based on the color of his skin.) Having the actors in motion added a new element to the play that brought it to life. This production feels complete rather than just a reading.  

The Exonerated runs through March 9, at The Delaware Theatre Company. Visit www.delawaretheatre.org or call 302.594.1100 for additional information and to purchase tickets.