It’s not every day that the UD’s Resident Ensemble Players perform the work premiere of a play—or get a play written especially for them by an acclaimed playwright. Yet that is what happened April 20, when the curtain rose on “O Beautiful” by Theresa Rebeck. You can see it at the Roselle Center for the Arts until May 15.
The comedy-drama addresses contemporary controversies over gun rights, race, life and choice, fanatical conservatives and the media. The dramatis personae includes historical and religious figures, from the founding fathers to Jesus Christ, as they meddle, mediate, and comment on the life of five students and their families in a typical American high school.
Though Rebeck has written for film and for some of the most popular television series of the past 20 years, she considers herself a playwright foremost—specifically a woman playwright who is obsessed with what it means to be American. Her credits include “Brooklyn Bridge,” “L.A. Law,” “Maximum Bob” and others. She has been a writer and producer for “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and “NYPD Blue.” She has won Mystery Writer’s of America’s Edgar Award, the Writer’s Guild of America award for Episodic Drama and the Peabody for her work on “NYPD Blue.” She wrote the pilot script for NBC’s “Smash,” which follows a group of characters producing a Broadway musical. She is also executive producing with Stephen Spielberg.
“As a writer, I have always considered it my job to describe the world as I know it; to struggle toward whatever portion of the truth is available to me,” she has said. “O Beautiful” is one more step in the journey toward understanding, and one well worth seeing. Do it soon. For more call 831-2204, or visit pttp.udel.edu.
Last Chance for Comegys
If you haven’t seen “Fred Comegys Photographs” at Delaware Art Museum, go. Now. May 1 is your last chance.
For more than 50 years, photographer Fred Comegys has photographed celebrities and locals for the The News Journal. There are few local news events that he hasn’t witnessed and documented. His work has also appeared in Life, Time, Sports Illustrated, and other national magazines. In 1985, he was named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year by The National Press Photographers Association. That same year, he was one of five finalists for a Pulitzer.
All of that makes Comegys a local treasure. His images not only help show us who we are, but they have helped us define ourselves as Delawareans. Who would we be without him?
If you’ve been a longtime reader of the paper, you know. If you doubt his cultural significance, visit the museum. For more, call 571-9590 or visit delart.org.
Honey Do
What is sweeter than honey? Only life itself, and no one knows that better than Winnie the Pooh. Join him, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and Christopher Robin as they set off on many adventures. See “Winnie the Pooh” by Children’s Theatre of Dover at the Schwartz Center for the Arts on Saturday, April 30, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 1, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $8 to $10. For more, call 678-5152, or visit schwartzcenter.com.
Timeless
Who doesn’t love “The Sound of Silence” or the melancholy “Scarborough Fair”? Only Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel could have produced such uniquely memorable songs, and only AJ Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle can summon their spirits so faithfully. They play April 29 at World Cafe Live at The Queen as “Simon & Garfunkel Retrospective,” recreating the duo’s early years in the Greenwich Village coffeehouse scene. You’ll recognize some tunes and learn about others that aren’t so well known. The show starts at 8 p.m. For more, visit worldcafelive.com.
