Delaware Theatre Company
Delaware Theatre Company 200 Water St Wilmington, DE 19801Wilmington, DE 19801
302-594-1100
Website
About the Theatre
The mission of Delaware Theatre Company is to create theatre of the highest professional quality in Delaware and thereby enrich the vitality of the area through artistic programming, education and community service. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts fueled America’s regional theatre movement. As a result, by the late 70s, there were resident professional theatres from coast to coast. Many of these new theatres (like their “Off-Off-Broadway” counterparts) found abandoned properties and turned them into performance spaces. And Wilmington was no exception. In 1979, Delaware Theatre Company found its first home the moment founding Artistic Director Cleveland Morris set eyes on an abandoned firehouse at Third and French Streets. With minor renovations funded by the city, individual donors and sweat equity, the company was ready to put on a show. The fare wasn’t intended to be a grab bag of “something for everyone,” but rather an attempt to show that theatre—an ancient, powerful art form—was capable of touching every human emotion. In 1984, the City of Wilmington asked Delaware Theatre Company to relocate, and with the successful completion of Delaware Theatre Company’s first capital campaign, led by Board Chairman Charles F. Richards, Jr., it became the first arts and culture organization on the Riverfront. While always an important pillar of Delaware Theatre Company’s programming, in 1991 the Education Department was created, with Charlie Conway at the helm. Over the next 25 years, Conway and his team created ensemble-based programs that have grown into numerous offerings, touching multiple populations in various locations in the community—from prisons to nursing homes to schools. In 2012, Bud Martin assumed the role of Executive and Artistic Director at Delaware Theatre Company. Martin, whose career went from the theatre to corporate finance to Broadway producer, identified and created a new strategic plan with the vision of creating an energized and reinvigorated company. Since 1979, the theatre has produced 220 mainstage productions, seen by more than one million patrons, and has impacted over 100,000 people through its Education and Community Engagement programs.Upcoming Shows
Review: ANNIE at The Candlelight Theatre
Who doesn’t enjoy an evening of young musical theater performers strutting their stuff on a professional stage? Not me and certainly not the enthusiastic Opening Night audience of ANNIE now playing at The Candlelight Theatre. …
Review: ARSENIC AND OLD LACE at The Candlelight Theatre
It doesn’t matter if you know the stage version, or the movie version, or don’t know anything about it, just know ARSENIC AND OLD LACE has an easy to follow plot that leads you down a path of hijinks straight to your funny bone.…
Review: RIDE THE CYCLONE, THE MUSICAL at Wilmington Drama League
For many, the wild and unpredictable ride of a roller coaster is exhilarating and euphoric, while for others, it is traumatic and elicits multiple phobic fears. The musical RIDE THE CYCLONE is very much like a roller coaster in that the mindset of the viewer makes all the difference. Labeled as a �…
Review: 1776 at Walnut Street Theatre
The Walnut Street Theatre’s opening night production of 1776 is, quite simply, magnificent. It arrives not merely as a theatrical event, but as something more essential—an experience that feels necessary.…
Review: THE CHEQUERBOARD WATCH at Delaware Theatre Company
George Abbott earned the reputation of Broadway’s “show doctor” in the 1950s because he had an uncanny ability to fix troubled musicals quickly and commercially. Producers would bring him in—often late in rehearsals or even during out-of-town tryouts—to tighten scripts, sharpen comedy, res…
Review: CABARET at Smyrna Opera House
The Smyrna Opera House’s Cabaret isn’t just good—it’s a minor miracle. This is their first musical in years, and instead of easing back in with something safe, they went straight for one of the most stylistically demanding, tonally complex shows in the canon. And they pulled it off with grit…
Review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at The Candlelight Theatre
A monster of a musical hits The Candlelight Theatre stage.…
Review: POTUS at The Contemporary
Producing a play called POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive in today’s political climate takes nerve. Aisle Say applauds Kerry Kristine McElone and the Board of City Theatre for having exactly that kind of chutzpah. Mounting this razor-edged farce at a mo…
Review: THE PRODUCERS - A MEL BROOKS MUSICAL at The Candlelight Theatre
What did our critic think of THE PRODUCERS - A MEL BROOKS MUSICAL at The Candlelight Theatre?…
Review: THE LITTLE MERMAID at Wilmington Drama League
Disney’s The Little Mermaid, loosely based on the fairytale of Hans Christian Andersen, tells the simple story of the beautiful young mermaid, Ariel, and her longing to leave her ocean home and live in the world above with humans.…
Past Shows
11 total · showing 1–10
The Calamari Sisters' Sausage Fest
Delphine and Carmela Calamari are bringing their 23rd Annual Italian Sausagefest to Delaware! Come celebrate the memories of summer with these sassy, brassy broads from
Once
Tony, Grammy and Academy Award winning, Once weaves a captivating musical spell as it follows an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant over the course of one life changing week. Bursting with joy and aching with heart, Once uplifts the power of reaching out with kindness, and the...
Kinky Boots
Delaware Theatre Company opens its 45th anniversary season with Kinky Boots, a musical directed by Lena Mucchetti. Featuring a book by Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein and a score by Grammy® winner Cyndi Lauper, this production runs from September 25 to October 13, 2024. The...
Honk!
book & lyrics by Anthony Drewe music by George Stiles directed by Bud Martin This delightful and award-winning adaptation of one of the world’s most beloved fables, “The Ugly Duckling,” is a heartwarming celebration of what makes us special. Since it first hatched in 1993, Honk!...
Saint Joan
by Bernard Shaw adapted by Chelsea Marcantel directed by Bud Martin A French country girl finds herself on trial for her life after the nation’s rulers become threatened by her influence and popularity. With mysterious visions of saints inspiring her to help recover France from...
A Sign of the Times: A New 60s Musical
story created by Richard J. Robin book by Bruce Vilanch directed by Gabriel Barre choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter The year is 1965, when women’s liberation, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War dominate headlines. The pulse of a changing era lures Cindy from Middle...
Fully Committed
by Becky Mode directed by Kathryn MacMillan This devastatingly funny show follows a day in the life of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the red-hot reservation line at Manhattan’s number-one restaurant. Coercion, threats, bribes, histrionics—a cast of desperate...
Sanctions
by Bruce Graham directed by Bud Martin When a university athletic department returns to the big business of college football after its NCAA probation is lifted, staff conflict and a new scandal involving a freshman tutor threaten to blow up the whole program. From the playwright...
Ella: First Lady of Song
ELLA: FIRST LADY OF SONG conceived & directed by Maurice Hines book by Lee Summers APRIL 18 - MAY 13, 2018 REGIONAL PREMIERE! The astonishing virtuosa Freda Payne brings the First Lady of Song to life with an elegance, resonant beauty, and transcendent voice that captures the...
Love, Loss, and What I Wore
- Delia Ephron, Nora Ephron.
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Angels in America: Millennium Approaches Possum Point Players (9/11-9/20) |
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FIREFLIES Resident Ensemble Players (10/29-11/15) |
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Golden Girls The Laughs Continue The Playhouse on Rodney Square (10/17-10/17) VIDEOS |
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She Loves Me Possum Point Players (11/13-11/22) |
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SLOW FOOD Resident Ensemble Players (2/07-3/07) |
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GASLIGHT Resident Ensemble Players (4/22-5/09) |
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ELF: The Musical Milton Theatre (11/19-12/13) |
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street Milton Theatre (9/24-10/11) |
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August Wilson's HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED Resident Ensemble Players (9/04-9/20) |
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FrUiTCaKeS Second Street Players (11/27-12/06) |