Arts in Media Clients Ready for a Busy Fall ArtSeason!

The following information comes from an Arts in Media press release announcing its clients' fall performance seasons. Check out the organizations' respective web and social media sites for complete details and ticketing information. 

The Arts at Trinity

The Arts at Trinity, a free series in the heart of Wilmington hosted by Trinity Episcopal Church, is now in its seventh season of "pop-up" events in literature, drama, poetry and visual arts. This year opens on Saturday, Oct. 7 with the Serafin String Quartet performing works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and American composer William Grant Still. On Sunday, Nov. 5, Trinity Church Choir and an orchestra conducted by Terrence Gaus-Wollen perform sacred music by Bach as part of Trinity’s regular Sunday service. On Saturday, Dec. 2, rising jazz pianist Gil Scott Chapman performs classical and jazz works and his own compositions. All performances are free to attend. For more details, visit facebook.com/TheArtsatTrinity.

Christina Cultural Arts Center

Christina leads off its 71^st year with its second annual Homecoming Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 1:00-6:00pm. The free, family-friendly event includes tours, children’s activities and closes with JAMMIN’ @ CHRISTINA, a musicians’ jam session. This fall, Christina unveils a new program called Literary Café, which welcomes New York Times best-selling author and Delaware native Jeff Hobbs on Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21. Hobbs will discuss his work, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. CCAC’s focus on intimate live performances returns on Saturday, Nov. 18 with a concert by gospel/soul/hip hop drummer George “Spanky” McCurdy. CCAC then embraces holiday majesty on Sunday, Dec. 10 with the stunning contemporary dance/music/narration production of “Carols in Color” performed by Eleone Dance Theatre. Christina wraps up 2017 with a Student Holiday Showcase on Saturday, Dec. 16.  Full details and tickets for events are available at ccacde.org.

CityTheater Company

Delaware’s Off-Broadway drops the axe on its 24th season with Lizzie, a blistering rock opera based on the 19th Century legend of notorious accused murderess Lizzie Borden, running Sept. 8-16 (Thursday, Sept. 7, 8:00pm preview and Sunday, Sept. 10, 2:00pm matinee). Four women front a six-piece rock band to tell a tale of murder and mayhem. Lizzie marks the CTC debut of Darby Elizabeth McLaughlin in the title role, alongside Jill Knapp of Hot Breakfast!, Kyleen Shaw and Grace Tarves. The band features Meghan Doyle, Joe Lopes, Dustin Samples, Noelle Picara, Sheila Hershey and Rich Degnars.  CTC‘s Fearless Improv continues Third Thursday shows at Chelsea Tavern through 2017 with performances on Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16 and Dec 21. Shows are also held at Penn’s Place in Old New Castle on Sept. 9 and Nov. 11. Fearless Improv 101 and Improv 301 — 8-week public workshop series teaching basic scenework and advanced performance techniques —begin Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Delaware Historical Society.  In December, CTC returns to The Black Box to present a stripped-down version of the Sondheim classic, Sunday in the Park with George, running Dec. 1-16. They plan to collaborate with local visual artists to produce a “live” piece of art during each production — delivering a fresh, immersive multi-genre experience every night.  Tickets for all CTC and Fearless productions are available at city-theater.org.

Market Street Music

Wilmington’s most affordable and diverse music series presents three full-length Festival Concerts this fall, featuring organist David Schelat on Saturday, Oct. 14; Pyxis Piano Quartet on Saturday, Oct. 28; and Mastersingers of Wilmington on Saturday, Nov. 4. Its much-beloved weekly music fest, Thursday Noontime Concerts, begins Thursday, Oct. 5 with a lineup including regional favorites like Copeland String Quartet, pianist Daniel Carunchio and countertenor Gus Mercante as well as a return appearance by Lyra Russian Choir – the vocal ensemble of St. Petersburg. The Noontime schedule culminates in the holiday tradition of the Cartoon Christmas Trio on Thursday, Dec. 7 and a holiday concert by Center City Chorale on Thursday, Dec. 14. Festival concert tickets and more details can be found at marketstreetmusicde.org.

Mélomanie

Delaware’s ensemble known for ‘provocative pairings’ announces its 25th Anniversary Season! On Saturday, September 30, the season begins in a new partnership with the Delaware Historical Society for Up Close & Personal: The Violin – an informal afternoon of music and conversation featuring ensemble violinist, Christof Richter. This landmark season is highlighted by four new works from composers Chris Braddock, Jennifer Nicole Campbell, Mark Hagerty and Thomas Whitman, as well as a poetry and music collaboration entitled United Sounds of America with Delaware's Poets Laureate, The Twin Poets, Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills. The ensemble also continues its longstanding partnership with its Wilmington Series home, The Delaware Contemporary, with a performance on Sunday, Oct. 29.  That concert will feature the World Premiere of Up to the Light by Mark Hagerty with guest percussionist Chris Hanning and additional music of Bach and Abel. Full details and tickets for all performances can be found at melomanie.org.

The Music School of Delaware

The Music School boasts a busy fall of student and professional performances, beginning with its Opening Night – All Bach! A Thank-You Concert on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 7:00pm at its Wilmington Branch. This concert will feature noted works by Bach including Brandenburg Concertos #3 and #5; B Minor Orchestral Suite & Violin Concerto in E Major, performed by chamber orchestra conducted by Simeone Tartaglione. The Music School’s additional professional concerts will include music of the Revolutionary War; the 10th anniversary of its Music of Many Lands program; and an annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration.  The Wilmington Community Orchestra, under the baton of Tiffany Lu, will perform works from Barber to Beethoven. And, the school continues to host its Classical Café sessions, which encourage lively discussion on a variety of music-related topics, quarterly Open Mic Nights, a monthly Bluegrass Jam, jazz and several rock-based student and faculty ensemble performances. For complete details and tickets, visit musicschoolofdelaware.org.

Calling All Artists: The Delaware Contemporary Wants YOU to Participate

The Delaware Contemporary is hosting two exciting 6x6 events featuring artwork from artists of all ages and stages in their creative evolution!

	Delaware Fun-A-Day We are excited to host this "community-centric art project" again this year! Sign up now to have your work on display at The Delaware Contemporary  Friday, October 6 through Sunday, October 8, 2017.  FREE to participate, FREE to attend!  Registration ends Wednesday, August 30. REGISTER NOW
	SABA III Small Art, Big Auction The Delaware Contemporary will host the reprisal of SABA on Saturday, November 11, 2017 to present small works of art donated by emerging, mid-career and seasoned artists as well as students, youth and local celebrities! Help support The Delaware Contemporary by donating your work today!  Art entries due by Monday, October 30, 2017. REGISTER NOW

Chapel Street Tells a Dark Tale in "The Pillowman"

By Mike Logothetis

(L-R): John Barker, Steve Connor, Jimmy Van Buren. 

Photo by Peter Kuo.

Somewhere at the confluence of Poe, Kafka and Tarantino lies Martin McDonagh’s spellbinding play,The Pillowman. While some would label this as black comedy, I believe it is more dramatic realism. The feelings I had when processing the Chapel Street Players production on my walk home from the theater dealt more with unhealthy realistic possibilities than with sinister “what ifs.”

But my own petty internal arguments should not stop you from getting a ticket to this week’s final run of shows — because this is a play you should experience. Director J.W. Pukatsch puts his four main actors through a gauntlet of emotions because McDonagh’s script demands authenticity. While all the major players were excellent, the show is anchored by the stalwart performance of Jimmy Van Buren as the protagonist Katurian.

Writer Katurian’s 400 short stories (all but one unpublished) might be described as a how-to guide of “101 ways to skewer a 5-year-old.” The purportedly fictional stories have landed Katurian and his weak-minded brother Michal (Sean McKean) in prison, since the killings described in his simply-told fables have been replicated in the town where they live.

The policemen who interrogate Katurian – the disdainful Tupolski (Steve Connor) and his hot-headed partner Ariel (John Barker) – aren’t necessarily wrong in hating what their prisoner has written. These are sick, demented tales of torture written by a bruised man in a world the audience never sees outside of the prison walls. But do these lawmen deserve to be judge, jury and executioner on top of their detective roles?

Barker and Connor, as Ariel and Tupolski, turn the classic good cop/bad cop formula into a devilish vaudevillian routine. "Good cop" Tupolski toys with Katurian, giving him false impressions of understanding, sympathy and hope. "Bad cop" Ariel is an amalgam of the clichéd combustible, torture-happy cop with a secret past. The two have chemistry and perverse senses of humor that fit their surroundings. Neither seems to care a shred for humanity and force Katurian to continuously jump through hoops of their own manic creation.

Van Buren imbues the arrogant yet thin-skinned Katurian from his mercurial talking in the interrogation room to the more subdued time spent with his weak-minded brother in a holding cell. You want to root for Katurian, but the audience sees that he is not a wholly sympathetic character.

Katurian’s inflated sense of self-satisfaction when he tells a story – especially one of his stories – is pure arrogance. When the police criticize and threaten to destroy his writings, the passion boiling within Van Buren’s Katurian is palpable. Hard evidence, artistic merit, and Katurian’s insistence that the stories are pure fiction are all irrelevant. The police want him gone, but he will do anything save his stories (and their integrity).

The relationship between Katurian and his brother, the childlike Michal, is one where the able sibling has assumed a parental role. (What happened to the men’s mother and father is divulged within the play.)  Michal is at once innocent and unpleasant – a dichotomy captured well by actor McKean. But is Katurian the best role model for Michal? Their relationship is a unique one, to say the least, and the play exposes its lineage.

McDonagh leads the audience down a path, but not a predictable one. Its strength is in its imagery and how the principals deliver. The Pillowman is a difficult story to tell, but everything is executed admirably in this production.

The cast is rounded out by Joseph Pukatsch, Penelope Rose Teague, and Ashley Thompson in minor roles. Kudos to set designer and builder Patrick Brisiel for his inventive and effective backdrop and props.

As a playwright, McDonagh has a casual relationship with murder, mutilation and psychological aggrievement so audiences may be shaken by the events described and simulated in The Pillowman. The show contains strong language and adult situations.

The 2003 play received the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2004-5 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play and two Tony Awards.

The limited run of The Pillowman ends this week, with 8:00pm shows on August 3, 4 and 5 at the Chapel Street Playhouse, 27 North Chapel Street in Newark. Parking is available on the street or in the small lot behind the building. Tickets are $18 adult; $12 senior; and $5 student and can be purchased online, via telephone 302.368.2480 or at the box office.  

See chapelstreetplayers.org.