Delaware Theatre Company

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.

Sam Kissajukian: 300 Paintings

Oct 21 – Nov 8, 2026

This autobiographical one-man show follows stand-up comedian Sam Kissajukian's decision to quit comedy, rent an abandoned cake factory, and become a painter. The play chronicles the comedian's six-month manic episode, during which he created 300 large-scale paintings that...

Articles

Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY THE MUSICAL at Walnut Street Theatre

by Greer Firestone · October 9, 2026

Living or dead, to the Addams brood, “We’re all family!” They’re creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky. And at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre, they’re singing, dancing, falling in love, and confronting that most terrifying prospect of all: normality. …

Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at The Candlelight Theatre

by Rosanne DellAversano · October 2, 2026

There are probably a good number of people in their AARP years who only know one musical, and that one is probably FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. I say this because my 87 years old father recalls he and my mother seeing many Broadway musicals, but can only name one - FIDDLER. …

Review: SWEENEY TODD - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Milton Theatre

by Donna Marie Nowak · October 2, 2026

What did our critic think of SWEE at Milton Theatre?…

Review: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at Delaware Theatre Company

by Greer Firestone · September 23, 2026

New Light Theatre, in partnership with Delaware Theatre Company, has mounted a Putnam County Spelling Bee that proves once again why this company has become one of Delaware’s most conscientious and community minded artistic engines. Their mission — bringing light to the darkness by creating thea…

Review: HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED at RESIDENT ENSEMBLE PLAYERS

by Greer Firestone · September 10, 2026

A one-man show is a monumental undertaking—and a monumental responsibility. For veteran REP actor Hassan El-Amin – who is Black -there is further gravitas in giving voice to August Wilson’s HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED, a 90-minute, no-intermission journey through the experiences that forged o…

Review: ANNIE at The Candlelight Theatre

by Rosanne DellAversano · July 23, 2026

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

by Rosanne DellAversano · May 19, 2026

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

by Rosanne DellAversano · April 28, 2026

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

by Greer Firestone · April 26, 2026

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

by Greer Firestone · April 20, 2026

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…

The Calamari Sisters' Sausage Fest

May 28 – Jun 14, 2026

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

Aug 8 – Aug 17, 2025

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...

Honk!

Apr 17 – May 12, 2019

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

Feb 6 – Feb 24, 2019

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

Nov 28 – Dec 23, 2018

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

Oct 17 – Nov 4, 2018

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

Sep 12 – Sep 30, 2018

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

Apr 18 – May 13, 2018

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

Mar 6 – Mar 17, 2013

- Delia Ephron, Nora Ephron.

Boeing Boeing

Jan 23 – Feb 10, 2013

Based on the film starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis, Boeing-Boeing is the story of Bernard, a successful architect living in Paris juggling three flight attendant fiancees' - an American, an Italian and a German. With a complex system based on their flight schedules and some...