Delaware Children's Theatre
Encyclopedia
The Delaware Children's Theatre serves as a community theatre in Wilmington, Delaware
. The theatre company occupies the historic New Century Club building.
. The organization relies on volunteers for all acting and nearly all support positions as a community theater. To cover operating expenses, DCT sells tickets and receives state support through the Delaware Division of the Arts.
Tony Award
winner John Gallagher, Jr.
initially played Tom Sawyer as a child actor at the theatre before going on to Broadway
.
Minerva Parker Nichols
of Philadelphia, an early female architect, designed the colonial revival
with Palladian windows and a Gambrel
roof. While the structure served partly as a clubhouse, it also held a theatre which was used for traveling shows as well as civic speakers, including future president Woodrow Wilson
and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger
.
The structure is listed as on the National Register of Historic places and recognized as being an active place for the women's rights movement. The New Century Club was a progressive
upper class women's group dedicated to social improvement and charity as well as women's suffrage. Notable members of the Club included Emily P. Bissell, a Red Cross campaigner against tuberculosis who has a state hospital named after her, and Emalea Pusey Warner, who successfully campaigned for public vocational education and has a local elementary school named in her honor. Other New Century women's clubs formed nearby in Milford and Newark, Delaware as well as Chester, Pennsylvania.
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. The theatre company occupies the historic New Century Club building.
Theatre Company
Originally named the Children's Repertory Theatre of Wilmington, the organization began in 1973 with their first production of PinocchioPinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
. The organization relies on volunteers for all acting and nearly all support positions as a community theater. To cover operating expenses, DCT sells tickets and receives state support through the Delaware Division of the Arts.
Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
winner John Gallagher, Jr.
John Gallagher, Jr.
John Howard Gallagher, Jr. is an American actor and musician perhaps best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's rock musical Spring Awakening...
initially played Tom Sawyer as a child actor at the theatre before going on to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
New Century Club
The Theatre occupies the historic New Century Club building. The organization constructed the building in 1893 and occupied it until 1975. The Delaware Dinner Theatre and Delaware Ballet Company then used the building until 1982 when DCT moved in.Minerva Parker Nichols
Minerva Parker Nichols
Minerva Parker Nichols was the second American female architect who established a successful, although brief, business and recognition, and the first one who did so without partnership or assistance of a man...
of Philadelphia, an early female architect, designed the colonial revival
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
with Palladian windows and a Gambrel
Gambrel
A gambrel is a usually-symmetrical two-sided roof with two slopes on each side. The upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle, while the lower slope is steep. This design provides the advantages of a sloped roof while maximizing headroom on the building's upper level...
roof. While the structure served partly as a clubhouse, it also held a theatre which was used for traveling shows as well as civic speakers, including future president Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
.
The structure is listed as on the National Register of Historic places and recognized as being an active place for the women's rights movement. The New Century Club was a progressive
Progressivism in the United States
Progressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
upper class women's group dedicated to social improvement and charity as well as women's suffrage. Notable members of the Club included Emily P. Bissell, a Red Cross campaigner against tuberculosis who has a state hospital named after her, and Emalea Pusey Warner, who successfully campaigned for public vocational education and has a local elementary school named in her honor. Other New Century women's clubs formed nearby in Milford and Newark, Delaware as well as Chester, Pennsylvania.
See also
- New Century Club (Utica, New York)
- Grand Opera House (Wilmington, Delaware)Grand Opera House (Wilmington, Delaware)The Grand Opera House, also known as The Grand or Masonic Hall and Grand Theater, is a 1,208-seat theater for the performing arts in Wilmington, Delaware. The four-story building was built in 1871 by the Delaware Grand Lodge of Masons to serve as a Masonic Temple and auditorium. The construction...
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, DelawareNational Register of Historic Places listings in Wilmington, DelawareThis is a list of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington, Delaware:This page was transferred for reasons of size from National Register of Historic Places listings in New Castle County, Delaware, of which it is an integral part...