Wilmington's Summer in the Parks Turns 5

This post comes from a release courtesy of The City of Wilmington...

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki and The Grand Executive Director Mark Fields today announced details about the fifth season of Summer in the Parks, a series of interactive cultural experiences provided free in Wilmington’s neighborhood parks. The program, a collaboration between the City and The Grand, will feature more than 60 events in 13 parks and public spaces across the city.

Each week, Summer in the Parks will feature cultural programs on a fixed schedule in eight city parks, including Haynes, Tilton, Holloway, Woodlawn, Prices Run, Barbara Hicks, Judy Johnson, and the Helen Chambers Playground. In addition, each week will feature a more traditional concert during the early evening. While The Grand serves as producer for the innovative program, it draws on a wide variety of artistic talent from Wilmington and the region.

“The partnership between the City and The Grand has produced unique and outstanding programs which children and families have enjoyed for the past few years,” said Mayor Purzycki. “We are pleased to present another summer of fun, entertainment and interactive opportunities in our City parks.”

All of the Summer in the Parks activities are designed to be more than presentations or performances by including some component of audience participation or interactivity, such as storytelling, theater, art, music, dance, and crafts. Summer in the Parks will showcase a total of 191 individual artists this summer representing 32 cultural organizations and groups. A full schedule of daytime and evening activities can be found on The Grand’s website.

Pamelyn Manocchio, The Grand’s Director of Community Engagement, is the producing coordinator for Summer in the Parks. “These seven weeks represent some of the most creative, engaged people from the arts community. All of them are dedicated to the idea of taking art out of our theaters and studios and right into the heart of these neighborhoods. We’re not asking the people to come to the art. We’re bringing the art directly to the city residents.”

“We’re extremely proud of this program,” said Fields, “for what it does for the city’s youth and families, but also what it demonstrates about the highly collaborative arts community we have created through the years. Summer in the Parks is a testament to the dynamic contribution the arts makes to the city all year long.”

Summer in the Parks 2017 Schedule: June 26-August 10 (no programs July 4)

Weekday Mornings 9:30-10:30am 

• MONDAY: Haynes Park (N. Franklin – W. 30th & 32nd Streets) 
• TUESDAY: Woodlawn Park (4th & Ferris Streets) 
• WEDNESDAY: Tilton Park (N. Franklin – W. 7th & 8th Streets) 
• THURSDAY: Helen Chambers Playground (N. Madison & W. 6th Streets) 

Weekday Afternoons 12:00-1:00pm

• MONDAY: Barbara Hicks Park (Bradford & B Streets) 
• TUESDAY: Holloway Park (N. Lombard & E. 7th Streets) 
• WEDNESDAY: Prices Run (BBW Park at N. Locust & E. 23rd Streets) 
• THURSDAY: Judy Johnson Park (N. Dupont & W. 3rd Streets) Evening Events for Families 6:00-7:30pm

Evening Events for Families 6:00-7:30pm

• WEDNESDAY 6/28: Union Park Gardens (S. Bancroft Parkway & S. Sycamore Street) Elbert-Palmer Drum Line & Diamond State Concert Band 
• THURSDAY, 7/6: DCH Urban Farm (E. 12th & Brandywine Streets) Antony & Friends 
• THURSDAY, 7/13: Haynes Park (N. Franklin – W. 30th & 32nd Streets) Christina Cultural Arts Center 
• THURSDAY, 7/20: Tilton Park (N. Franklin – W. 7th & 8th Streets) Dance4Life 
• THURSDAY, 7/27: Judy Johnson Park (N. Dupont & W. 3rd Streets) Pristine Raeign 
• THURSDAY, 8/3: Kosciuszko Park (Sycamore & S. Broom Streets) Richard Raw Productions 
• FRIDAY, 8/4: Stapler Park (W. 16th & N. Union Streets) Wilmington Ballet 
• THURSDAY, 8/10: Elbert Park (S. Buttonwood & D Streets) Atiba Music & Carib 

Featured artists include: Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, ASCAB Capoeira Delaware, Delaware Art Museum, Delaware Contemporary, Delaware Shakespeare, First State Ballet Theatre, FLYOGI, Found Art Fun, GCJ Uniques, Griots Wa Umoja, Illstyle & Peace, Janina Williams World Music, LaFate Gallery, Maya Belardo Music, Minas, Music School of Delaware, Philly Vibes, Pieces of a Dream, TAHIRA, Walt the Street Dog, Warm Hugs Good Hearts, Wilmington Drama League, Yoco Knit Shop.

Art Museum Kicks Off Summer with Thursday Happy Hours

This post comes from a release courtesy of Delaware Art Museum...

To kick off summer, the Delaware Art Museum is hosting Happy Hours every Thursday --- June 29 through September 14 --- from 5:00-7:00pm on the Museum's back terrace in the Copeland Sculpture Garden or in the Thronson Café during inclement weather. Drinks and food specials will be provided by Toscana, the Museum's exclusive caterer. 

Special themed Happy Hours will take place on select dates throughout the summer. On June 29, July 6, and July 13, guests will enjoy local musician Seth Tillman on vocals and acoustic guitar. On July 27, the Museum will host a special Game Night featuring bean bag toss, Jenga, and other outdoor games. On August 31, visitors are invited to bring their four-legged friends for Doggy Day Happy Hour, with special dog treats included. All dogs must be leashed during the event.

Visitors are also invited to enjoy the special exhibition The Original Mad Man: Illustrations by Mac Conner (on view June 24-September 17) and retro-inspired cocktails Thursday evenings. This comprehensive and lively installation explores the work of one of America's original "Mad Men." McCauley ("Mac") Conner (born 1913) created advertising campaigns for a variety of products during the decade when the advertising industry was at its height and centered on Madison Avenue.

Mac Conner's illustrations for leading women's magazines such as Redbook and McCall's animated a wide range of popular literature, from romantic fiction and detective stories, to topics of import such as Cold War anxiety and juvenile delinquency. His work is a "time capsule" of an era when commercial artists helped to redefine American style and culture.

Always on view are the Museum's renowned collection of British Pre-Raphaelite art and the spectacular collection of American art and Illustration.

The Thronson Café is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m., Thursdays, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m., and Sundays, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. 

See www.delart.org. 

Finally, Some American Idiots with Something to Say (or Sing)

By Guest Blogger, Dan Sanchez

Dan holds a BA in Theatre Production from the University of Delaware and has studied theatre around the world. Dan has worked extensively both onstage and behind the scenes across the Mid-Atlantic Region with theaters such as Three Little Bakers, The Candlelight Theatre, the Philadelphia Theatre Project, The Milburn Stone Theatre and Phoenix Festival Theater. 

“If you don’t like sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, and cursing, you’re in the wrong show,” said Wilmington Drama League's Stage/Production Manager, Kathy Buterbaugh during her Saturday, June 10, curtain speech. “This is a 90-minute show without an intermission; so I hope you have three beers because once this thing starts, it just goes!”

And, boy, does it! Based on Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot, Director Chris Turner brings the show to life on the Wilmington Drama League (WDL) stage with a cacophony of song and dance in a story of love, loss and redemption.

Originally conceived as a rock-opera by Green Day frontman Billy Joe Armstrong, the band had always intended for this music be performed on stage a la The Who’s Tommy, and used their 2004 album release as a sort of demo. Flash forward to September 2009: The show is running at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California. It was then transferred to the St. James Theatre on Broadway where the musical officially opened on April 20, 2010. The show closed on April 24, 2011 after 422 performances.

The musical won two 2010 Tony Awards for Best Scenic Design of a Musical and Best Lighting Design of a Musical. It was also nominated for Best Musical that same year but lost out to Memphis. In 2011, the Broadway Cast Recording of American Idiot won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

The basic storyline of American Idiot is flimsy but familiar: Three young suburbanite kids get bored/feel trapped with their mundane lives – as well as mommy and daddy’s rules – and decide to break free.

Subsequently, one (Will, played by William Bryant) stays home after finding out his girlfriend, Heather, is expecting. Another (Tunny, played by Ben Long) joins the military and is shipped off to war. And, in a role originated by and named for Wilmington native Johnny Gallagher, Jr. (Original Cast of Spring Awakening. TV & Film: The Newsroom, 10 Cloverfield Lane) is Brandon Zebley as Johnny, who yearns to break free and live a less than humdrum life, ultimately turns to drugs.

Rounding out the cast of Wilmington Drama League production is an energetic bunch of local talent: Alexander Cook, Gina Dzielak, Kendra Eckbold, Marion Jackson (Heather), Daulton Mahley, Darby McLaughlin (Whatshername), Ty Pride (Extraordinary Girl), Felipe Rocha, Chrissy Stief and Shane Wilson.

Tony Delnegro’s interactive set features multiple levels, a plethora of flatscreen TVs, graffiti, and gives a sense of an urban everywhere and a dystopian nowhere, providing an ample playground for the shows many locales. Combined with smart lighting design by Aaron Cook and Brian Kavanaugh, this production also employs two projectors focused on the walls of the house to immerse the audience in a world of ever-changing imagery – by Banksy, a city skyline and more – to set the mood perfectly.

The choreography by WDL perennial Dominic Santos manipulates tribal-like movements and punk-rock head-banging to evoke the angst and feelings of disenfranchised young adults.

Standout performances among the talented cast come from the ladies opposite of our main character trio; Marion Jackson as the pregnant and disappointed Heather; Darby McLaughlin as the sultry vixen Whatshername; and Ty Pride as the Extraordinary Girl. Each of these young ladies have angelic voices that effortlessly soar through each song they belt.

The real highlight of this show, however, is the band who rocks out on this non-stop wave of music with the energy and vigor of an actual Green Day concert. But, of particular note, is Music Director/Band Leader, Caty Butler. This young talent takes the stage for the first time in American Idiot as the enticing smack dealer St. Jimmy, a role traditionally played by a man and one she only stepped into a week before opening. Butler outright owns this role and commands the stage with her vocal prowess. I look forward to watching her continue grow as a musician and wait with baited breath to see her onstage as an actor again.

Though I did over hear an older patron ask, “What the hell did I just watch?” after the show, I would say that’s a good indication that this ain’t your NaNa’s Broadway and highly recommend checking out the charismatic production of this high-concept rock-opera before it’s gone.

American Idiot at the Wilmington Drama League runs through June 18. Tickets are available via the Drama League website www.WilmingtonDramaLeague.org or via phone at 302.764.1172.