For Immediate Release: February 23, 2007
Media Contact: Amy Watson Bish, Delaware Theatre Company, 302.594.1104 x244

Delaware Theatre Company’s (DTC) Totally Awesome Kids acting troupe will present Totally Awesome Pirates, Monday, March 19 at 7:30pm on DTC’s main stage. The event is free and open to the public. Totally Awesome Kids is a program for people with cognitive disabilities, enabling participants to learn about theatre through warm-ups, improvisation exercises and performance. The program is funded by the Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with cognitive disABILITIES (DFRC) and AstraZeneca. The kids involved with Totally Awesome Kids are encouraged to explore their creative sides while expressing themselves freely, in a safe and fun environment. Participants, whose ages range from 12 to 34, meet weekly for forty-five minutes to one hour and fifteen minutes from November to March.

Totally Awesome Kids began in 1992, and many of the participants have been involved since the program started. The evening will kick off with curtain warmers from the first group of performers. These activities will demonstrate the group’s work over the rehearsal period and learning experiences in different acting games and activities. The second group of performers will present Totally Awesome Pirates, an original play loosely based on the story The Great Piratical Rumbustification by Margaret Mahy. The play tells the tale of Orpheus Clinker, a pirate who is looking for a place to hold his annual pirate party. He decides to become a babysitter, and hold the party while he is babysitting the newest family in town, the Terrapins. Mr. and Mrs. Terrapin leave their four children in what they think are good hands, only to have a huge party thrown at their fancy new home while they are away.

DTC Director of Education and Community Engagement Charles Conway and Totally Awesome Pirates director Danny Peak chose to adapt the story to stage because they thought it would be a great way to showcase the children’s talent. “You never know what to expect from a pirate, which is kind of how the show pans out,” says Conway. Many of the scenes are put together by improvisation during rehearsals, and also by reviewing the story weekly in preparation for the performance. “It’s a great night of theatre,” Conway adds. “The energy in the room is exciting.”

The performance will take place at the Delaware Theatre Company, located at 200 Water Street, Wilmington, DE. The event is free and open to the public, but a reservation is needed. For more information about the performance, call Brook Patterson at (302) 594-1104 ext. 249. To reserve tickets, contact the box office at (302) 594-1100.

Delaware Theatre Company’s 2006-2007 season is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase. Totally Awesome Kids is sponsored by Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with cognitive disabilities and AstraZeneca. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to promoting and supporting the arts in Delaware. The Delaware Division of the Arts provides technical and financial assistance to artists and arts programs and serves as a clearinghouse for information on the arts.

Delaware Theatre Company, Delaware's premier professional theatre, is located at 200 Water Street, on Wilmington’s exciting Riverfront. Delaware Theatre Company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, Theatre Communications Group, the Wilmington Arts Coalition, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, and the Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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