Delaware Theatre Company.

The Delaware Theatre Company (DTC) was founded in Wilmington, Delaware in 1978 with a mission to create theater of the highest professional quality in Delaware and thereby enrich the vitality of the area through artistic programming, education and community service. The largest professional theater in Delaware, DTC was the collective brainchild of Cleveland Morris, Peter DeLaurier and Ceal Phelan. The three friends founded DTC "to revive a city that had fallen victim to the race riots of the late 1960s [and] whose historic past was overshadowed by the urban wasteland that had replaced neighborhood vitality.., [and to start] a professional regional theatre" (Kipp, page 13). With support from Mayor Bill McLaughlin, the Company was established in an abandoned firehouse on French Street in Wilmington, at the affordable rent of one dollar per year. The French Street Firehouse served as the site for "rehearsals, set construction, office work, and plays," (Delaware Theatre Company) despite struggles with space issues and financial resources. In 1983, as a result of raising almost two million dollars in a capital campaign, DTC moved into a new building on the Christiana waterfront.

The Delaware Theatre Company is currently governed by a board of directors that is led by a team of four officers: a chairman, vice chairman, treasurer and secretary. In addition, several committees have been formed to help manage particular aspects of DTC. Over the years, there have been development, executive, long range planning, nominating, benefit and finance committees, and others.

Since its inception, the Delaware Theatre Company has produced about five plays are produced per season. Plays have included A Christmas Carol, Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest, Our Town and Looking Over the President's Shoulder . In addition, new plays dealing with interracial dynamics in America continue to be discovered by a biennial competition called "Connections."

Cleveland Morris was a co-founder and the first artistic director of the Delaware Theatre Company. Morris was born circa 1940 and educated at Yale University, where he studied drawing and color theory. He also studied at West of England College of Art and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art. From its founding until 1998, Morris served as the artistic director for the DTC with goals to provide high professional quality theatre. Morris' talent was well-known, and according to Phil Toman of WNRK Radio, "every time [he saw] ‘directed by Cleveland Morris' in a program, [he] got a mindset…it [was] going to be good." After serving the Delaware Theatre Company for twenty years, Morris resigned in 1998 in order to write novels and paint still life artwork. He moved to Virginia in 1999. He was succeeded by Fontaine Syer, who served as artistic director of DTC until 2005, and Anne Marie Cammarato, who served from 2005 to 2010.

The Delaware Theatre Company operates "nationally recognized education programs [which] reach out to all sectors of the community," (Delaware Theatre Company). Among these programs are the Theatre in the Schools matinee program; classroom visits by Delaware Theatre Company teaching artists; post-performance conversations with members of the cast; "Insights," a standards-based study guide for teachers; and Summer on the Stage. Moreover, the Delaware Theatre Company focuses on providing at-risk youth access to the arts. Some of the programs designed to help this demographic are Totally Awesome Kids, Pro-Actors, and a partnership with the Ferris School.

Delaware Theatre Company. http://www.delawaretheatre.org/. (accessed December 7, 2010). Kipp, Carol. "Delaware Theatre Company: Spirited Past, Promising Future," PrimeLife. January/February 2005.

From the guide to the Delaware Theatre Company records, 1979-2000, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)