Totally Awesome Players & Delaware Young Playwrights Festival Hit the DTC Stage

DTC's Totally Awesome Players.
Photo courtesy of Delaware Theatre Company.

The content of this post comes from Delaware Theatre Company's email newsletter...

Totally Awesome Players Performs Two Original Plays

Over 25 years ago, Charles Conway, Danny Peak and some brave young actors — with support from the Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities (DFRC) — began this inspiring ensemble of kids called the Totally Awesome Players (TAP) Program. This troupe, and its newer cohort, TAP 2 ensemble founded in 2012, employ acting skills and the creation of a play to increase the collaborative skills and active creativity of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Now, the group of adults still meets weekly to collaborate with one another and put on a show. This season, as always, began with a theme: Time to Change, brainstorming how our lives can change in small ways and large ways, and how we react to the changes that we are unable to control. 

From there, the group of 33 performers and nine volunteers devised two original plays: The Best Laid Plans, a story of four students in detention exploring the paths their lives might take, and One, Two, Three, Change, a woman’s journey of positive small changes that transform into larger life changes.

The players worked tirelessly from November to March, not only improving their acting and memorizing skills, but retaining and growing the fundamental pillars of the program established back in 1992: You Can’t Be Wrong — a brainstorming rule that encourages any and all ideas, and No Negatives — toward yourself or others.

On Monday, March 18, 2019 the ensemble will share their original works on the DTC mainstage in the culminating performance. Admission is $5, and a reception follows the performance. 

The TAP troupes meet weekly, and participants create, write, rehearse and perform a play. These original plays are presented on the mainstage of DTC and other community venues. The program has also offered in-school workshops at the Howard T. Ennis School, a school for students with significant disabilities located in Sussex County and Kent County Community School in Dover.

The winners of the Delaware Young Playwrights Festival.
Photo courtesy of Delaware Theatre Company.

DTC Fully Produces Five Student Plays

The Delaware Young Playwrights Festival (DYPF) is a program designed to provide an outlet for Delaware students in Grades 8-12 to get the professional playwright treatment. DTC brought in designers and professional actors to bring their plays to the stage with lights, projections, sound, costumes and props.

After months of writing and editing, the culminating performance was attended by 175 people and honored all 83 students who wrote plays this season. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Delaware Young Playwrights Festival Winners

• The Lines of Our Lives | Jordyn Flaherty, Charter School of Wilmington
• In All Honesty | Jalyn Horhn, MOT Charter High School
• (A Little Bit) of the Book of Exodus | Tristen Hudson, St. Elizabeth School
• Senior Year Shakespeare | John Morrison, St. Elizabeth School
• Star Signs and Book Shops | Madelyn Thomas, St. Elizabeth School

See www.delawaretheatre.org.

Rehoboth Art League Hosts 23rd Young at Art Exhibition

This post content comes from a Rehoboth Art League press release...

On Saturday March 16, 2019 the Rehoboth Art League (RAL) will host the works of over 250 young artists. Students from 25 public and private schools in Sussex County will gather for the opening of the 23rd Annual Young at Art exhibit on the historic Henlopen Acres campus of the Art League. This year’s exhibit will be on view in the Corkran and Tubbs Galleries from March 16 through March 31, with an opening reception on Saturday, March 16 from 10:00am-2:00pm, with award presentations at 11:00am.

The exhibition will feature teacher-selected artwork created by students in elementary, middle and high schools in Sussex County. Each art teacher has selected the best student works to represent the school, which will be judged with ribbons, cash awards, and scholarships. In addition to a Best in Show Award and Awards of Excellence Prizes for elementary, middle, and high school students, two promising students will receive Pre-College Scholarships to the Delaware College of Art and Design. Furthermore, six promising young middle school artists will receive a Picasso O’Keeffe Scholarship to be used towards art supplies or classes.

This event is free and open to the public. Also, on display in the Step-Up Gallery is our Members’ Sales Exhibition, showcasing an eclectic collection of fine art and crafts by RAL Member Artists.

This exhibition is being underwritten by PNC Bank and is sponsored by the Village Improvement Association, The Howard Pyle Studio Group, and Old World Breads. 

Chelsea Anokye-Agyei to Represent Delaware in 2019 Poetry Out Loud Finals

Chelsea Anokye-Agyei in performance.
Photo by Joe del Tufo.

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

From an initial field of 20 Delaware high school students and then 12 state finalists, Chelsea Anokye-Agyei, a senior from Hodgson Vo-Tech High School, earned the title of 2019 Poetry Out Loud Delaware State Champion at the state finals held in Smyrna on February 26. The first runner-up was Samuel McGarvey from Tall Oaks Classical School, and the second runner-up was Sarah Stevenson from Milford Senior High School.

Anokye-Agyei’s final recitation, The Albatross by Kate Bass, earned her high marks with the judges. The full poem can be found on the Poetry Foundation’s website.

For her winning presentation, Anokye-Agyei will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington with a chaperone to compete at the national championship on April 29-May 1. Hodgson Vo-Tech High School will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry materials. Samuel McGarvey, the first runner-up, will receive $100, and Tall Oaks Classical School will receive $200 for its school library.

The Poetry Out Loud state competition, sponsored by the Delaware Division of the Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, is part of a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition.