Thursday, January 12, 2017

DDOA Announces 2017 Awardees

This post taken from a Delaware Division of the Arts press release...

Eighteen Delaware artists are being recognized by the Delaware Division of the Arts for the high quality of their artwork. Work samples from 126 Delaware choreographers, composers, musicians, writers, folk and visual artists were reviewed by out-of-state arts professionals, considering demonstrated creativity and skill in their art form. The 18 selected fellows reside throughout Delaware including Arden, Dover, Hockessin, Milton, Newark, Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington.

Awards are given in three categories – $10,000 for the Masters Award, $6,000 for the Established Professional Award, and $3,000 for the Emerging Professional Award – and Fellows are required to offer at least one exhibit or performance during the upcoming year, providing an opportunity for the public to experience their work. The work of the Fellows will be featured in a group exhibition, Award Winners XVII, at the Biggs Museum this summer. “Individual Artist Fellowship grants provide the recognition and exposure that artists need to successfully promote their work,” said Paul Weagraff, director of Delaware Division of the Arts. “The financial award allows them to pursue advanced training, purchase equipment and materials, or fulfill other needs to advance their careers.”

The Masters Fellowship is open to differing artistic disciplines each year. In Fiscal Year 2017, Masters Fellowship applications were accepted in Folk Arts or Visual Arts from artists who had previously received an Established Professional Fellowship. In addition to exemplifying high artistic quality, Masters Fellowship applicants must demonstrate their involvement and commitment to the arts in Delaware. Listed below are the Delaware Division of the Arts 2017 Individual Artist Fellows and four Honorable Mentions.

Yolanda Chetwynd has been awarded this year’s Masters Fellowship in Visual Arts: Painting. Chetwynd is a practicing artist who has been living in Newark, Delaware since 1987. She holds an advanced painting degree from The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London as well as a Masters in Professional Studies in Art Therapy from The Pratt Institute. An award-winning painter, Chetwynd has been invited to participate in exhibitions locally, nationally, and internationally. She is also devoted to reinforcing the role of art in education. Chetwynd has worked with the Delaware Institute for Arts in Education since 1992 and has collaborated with teachers on over 100 art projects in Delaware classrooms. She was selected as one of eight regional teaching artists from the National Association of Aesthetic Education Institutes to implement a series of national training workshops and served on the team to write the Visual Arts standards for the state of Delaware. Chetwynd has previously served on the boards of directors of Delcaps and the Newark Arts Alliance.

2017 Individual Artist Fellows
Masters Award ($10,000)
  • Yolanda Chetwynd (Newark), Visual Arts: Painting
Established Professional Award ($6,000)
  • Phillip Bannowsky (Newark), Literature: Poetry
  • Arden Bardol (Dover), Visual Arts: Crafts
  • Mahasveta (Gitu) Barua (Newark), Literature: Fiction
  • Kathryn Canavan (Wilmington), Literature: Creative Nonfiction
  • A.T. Moffett (Wilmington), Dance: Choreography
  • Hugh Phibbs (Wilmington), Visual Arts: Works on Paper
  • Troy Richards (Wilmington), Visual Arts: Painting
  • Chad States (Rehoboth Beach), Visual Arts: Sculpture
  • Beth Trepper (Wilmington), Visual Arts: Photography
Emerging Professional Award ($3,000)
  • Jennifer Borders (Arden), Visual Arts: Sculpture
  • Daniel Carunchio (Wilmington), Music: Solo Recital
  • Larry Kelts (Newark), Literature: Poetry
  • Kathy Maas (Hockessin), Literature: Creative Nonfiction
  • Ray Magnani (Newark), Visual Arts: Photography
  • Terrance Vann (Wilmington), Visual Arts: Painting
  • Aaron Wright (Newark), Literature: Playwriting
  • David Yurkovich (Milton), Literature: Fiction
Honorable Mention
  • Dennis Beach, Wilmington, Visual Arts: Sculpture
  • Luigi Ciuffetelli, Hockessin, Visual Arts: Photography
  • Liz Dolan, Rehoboth Beach, Literature: Fiction
  • Linda Harris Reynolds, Wilmington, Visual Arts: Work on Paper
To contact an individual artist, please email or call Roxanne Stanulis, Program Officer, Artist Programs and Services,Roxanne.Stanulis@state.de.us or 302-577-8283.  The next deadline for Individual Artist Fellowship applications will be Tuesday, August 1, 2017 by 4:30pm.
The Delaware Division of the Arts is an agency of the State of Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit artsdel.org or call 302-577-8278.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Need a Lift This Season? Get into Kinky Boots!

The touring cast of Kinky Boots. Photo provided.
By Guest Blogger Scott Frelick
Scott is a native of Wilmington and has been involved with Wilmington Drama League, The Brandywiners and OperaDelaware. Currently, he is a member of of City Theater Company's Board of Directors. He is also an interior designer, visual artist and Realtor.

There is much uncertainty and craziness in the world today. On top of that, the pressure of holiday shopping – how do we keep our sanity? Go see KINKY BOOTS! If you need to escape into an evening of pure fun, energy and great music, this is your prescription. Kinky Boots – created by Harvey Fierstein and music icon Cyndi Lauper – is showing at The Playhouse on Rodney Square through December 18, 2016.

Kinky Boots has won every major Best Musical Award and is represented around the world with the Tony Award-winning Broadway Company now in its fourth year. Inspired by true events, Kinky Boots explores the relationship between sons seeking acceptance from their fathers. It also delivers a great lesson on accepting all people for just who they are.

Charlie Price is struggling to live up to his father’s expectations and continue the family shoe company, Price & Son. The company in Northampton, England is on the brink of collapse unless Charlie can figure a way to save the business. In an unlikely turn of events, his life’s path is crossed with the ever-glamorous and dramatic Lola. With the factory’s future hanging in limbo, Charlie and Lola take a huge gamble on fashion boots made for female impersonators. These sturdy new stilettos are a fabulous success and save the day.

The Kinky Boots touring cast features Wilmington's very own Collin Jeffery playing Young Charlie. The two main characters – Charlie played by Adam Kaplan and Lola played by J. Harrison Ghee – do a wonderful job, but Mr. Ghee is the clear star of this show and steals every scene in the most glorious way. Another true standout in the cast is Lauren, played by Tiffany Engen. Not only is her singing voice superior, she also brings a special touch of comedy to the show with every appearance. Her timing in something as simple as a hand gesture brings laughter to the audience.

This is definitely the kind of show one leaves feeling happy, lighthearted and okay with the world. The best show I have seen at The Playhouse on Rodney Square in a while. A must see!

See http://duponttheatre.com/ (The Playhouse on Rodney Square)

Saturday, December 3, 2016

"The Best of Times" Celebrated at City Theater Company

By Guest Blogger, Mike Logothetis
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.

La Cage aux Follles is a 1983 musical based on the 1973 French play of the same name by Jean Poiret. While we are firmly living in 2016, the book (Harvey Fierstein) coupled with the  lyrics and music (Jerry Herman) and the spirited direction (City Theater Company's Producing Artistic Director Michael Gray) keep this production on the edge of contemporary. Yes, it is a “period piece” of sorts, but in this case, the “period” just sets the era and location – not the themes, pace, dialog, emotion or zaniness of it all.

La Cage Aux Folles cast. Photo by Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography.
The show focuses on a gay couple: Georges, the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment, and Albin, his romantic partner and star attraction. The story begins in the titular nightclub with the audience as patrons. Georges (Paul McElwee) is emcee and host, creating a rapport with those of us still finding our seats and settling in for an evening of entertainment.

The chorus line known as Les Cagelles appear and introduce themselves to the audience through the first number, We Are What We Are. This rousing song and dance number features electric movement and snappy costume changes that will have you clapping along.  William Bryant, Zach DeBevac, Andrew Dean Laino, and Christian Ryan all play drag queens with gusto, charm, smiles and, dare I say, athleticism.

We retreat to an upstairs apartment to meet Albin (Patrick O’Hara), who is the star performer at La Cage aux Folles under the stage name, “Zaza.” We glimpse the central relationship between Georges and Albin through a sweet back-and-forth dialog and the introspective song, [A Little More] Mascara.

Joy, despair and confusion ensue when Georges’ son Jean-Michel (Zachary J. Chiero) delivers the news that he is engaged (to a woman!). Georges is reluctant to approve of Jean-Michel’s engagement, but Jean-Michel assures his father that he is in love with Anne Dindon (Grace Tarves) through the tender With Anne on My Arm. Unfortunately, her father is head of the “Tradition, Family and Morality Party,” whose stated goal is to close drag clubs and the like.

Anne’s parents wish to meet their future in-laws, but Jean-Michel has lied to his fiancĂ©e, describing Georges as a (straight) retired diplomat and not mentioning Albin at all. Jean-Michel convinces his father to partner in the lie and wants to include his birth mother at the gathering. Attempts to break the news to Albin covers two quieter songs (With You on My Arm and Song on the Sand), but before Georges can deliver Jean-Michel’s wishes, Albin runs off to the stage.

Zaza electrifies the stage and the audience performing La Cage aux Folles\, while Georges and Jean-Michel quickly redecorate the house in a more modest style. While Albin is changing for his next number, he notices the two and demands to know what is going on. Georges tells Albin of Jean-Michel’s plan and, in an odd twist, Albin re-joins Les Cagelles onstage, then sending them off as he sings the defiant solo I Am What I Am to end Act I.

Even though the show is a modern farce, Les Cagelles act as comic relief along with butler/maid Jacob (Adam Pierce Montgomery) and stage manager Francis (Dylan Geringer). How does comic relief work in a comedy? You have to see the show to fully understand that absurdity must be meted in portions, lest it become overbearing.  Suffice to say, super-over-the-top Jacob is a scene-stealer as both a servant and a club dancer.

The cabaret songs are all energetic numbers which exist to entertain while the emotional music is downplayed to add gravitas and investigation into the characters’ minds. The Joe Trainer-led “Birdcage Band” is excellent in both setting the mood and reacting to the emotion brought forth by the actors on stage. The musicians are part of the set when the audience is at La Cage aux Folles, but are cleverly hidden when the scene demands deeper character interaction.  Vicki Neal and Richard A. Kendrick have created a simple, yet elegant set that allows for up-close dynamic action as well as space between characters to represent both emotional and physical distance.  The stage lighting can convey a pulsing nightclub or a quiet room and works well in the space of The Black Box.

Act II finds Georges apologizing to Albin (Song on the Sand [Reprise]) and then suggesting that Albin should dress up as “Uncle Al” to be a part of the family dinner. Albin reluctantly agrees to act like a heterosexual for Jean-Michel, leading to some of the funniest physical and lyrical humor in the show. With the help of Monsieur and Madame Renaud (Greg Tigani and Mary Catherine Kelley), Georges successfully(?) teaches Albin to abandon his flamboyancy (Masculinity).  Jean-Michel doesn’t like the idea, but Georges angrily reminds him what a good “mother” Albin has been to him (Look Over There).

Just as Anne’s parents (Tigani and Kelley in different roles) arrive, the hosts receive a telegram that Jean-Michel’s mother won’t be joining them (Dishes [Cocktail Counterpoint]). Hoping to save the day, Albin appears as Jean-Michel’s mother. Nervous and unreliable Jacob has burned the dinner, so a trip to an elite local restaurant, owned by close friend Jacqueline (Kerry Kristine McElrone), is arranged without explaining the situation to her.  Jacqueline theatrically asks Albin (as Zaza) for a song, to which he hesitantly agrees (The Best of Times).  Everyone in the restaurant begins to take part in the song, causing Albin to yield to the frenzy of performance and tear off his wig at the song’s climax, revealing his true identity.

Arguments, comedy, and confusion are unleashed, while Jean-Michel begins to feel ashamed of the way he has treated Albin and asks his forgiveness (Look Over There [Reprise]), which is lovingly granted. However, the Dindons vow to cancel the wedding and prepare to depart, but their way is blocked by Jacqueline, who has arrived with the press – ready to photograph the notorious anti-homosexual activists with Zaza. Through a clever plan and impeccable timing and luck, the Dindons escape with their reputation intact and their daughter’s marriage to Jean-Michel validated. With everyone gone, Albin and Georges briefly sing of their love for each other before sharing a kiss (Finale [With You On My Arm/La Cage aux Folles/Song on the Sand/The Best Of Times]).

The show is a delight in script, music, pacing and topical humor. The physical comedy and clever wordplay will have audiences laughing heartily. Technically, this is a musical that needs to be tight – and it is. The effort put into set design, cast, direction, music, lighting and production camaraderie are evident in the final product. With over a 2-hour running time, I just wish I had brought a cushion for my seat.

The production of La Cage aux Folles runs through December 17 in The Black Box on the Wilmington waterfront (4 South Poplar Street, Wilmington, DE 19801). Tickets cost $20-28, but the cabaret-style set includes a limited number of upgraded seats – known as “Birdcage Seats.”  These seats are situated on platforms on either side of the theater, affording patrons a “bird's eye view” of all the dazzling stage action, complimentary table snacks and complimentary drink tickets per person. Advance purchase of these seats is advised.  Cost of Birdcage Seats is $40 per ticket (select “VIP” option at online purchase).

See www.city-theater.org