To 100 Years
Admission to Delaware Art Museum will be free June 23 to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions. First “Once Upon a Time in Delaware/In Quest of the Perfect Book” explores decorative book covers through the eyes of artist Nina Katchadourian and local collector Mary G. Sawyer. Katchadourian used volumes from Sawyer’s collection of 2,000 rare books to makes photographs of books grouped so their titles can be read as a sequence. The results are both humorous and insightful. Meet Katchadourian at 1:30 p.m. for discussion and a dessert reception. Reservations are requested. In commemoration of the museum’s centennial, “100 Works for 100 Years” displays a fraction of the 12,000 objects in its collection, each selected for its aesthetic merit, popularity or provenance. Each tells a unique tale. 571-9590, delart.org
Star Chamber
The Delaware Chamber Music Festival presents outstanding chamber music performances June 15-24 that generate critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences. Under Barbara Govatos, first violinist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, the festival features four concerts by the area’s best chamber players, musicians who have been heard from Vermont’s Marlboro Festival to Salzburg’s Mozarteum. Here’s your chance to hear them at home. It happens at the Music School of Delaware in Wimington. 442-0572, dcmf.org
Dedicated
No plans for June 20? Stop by the Newark Arts Alliance, where the gang will dedicate the new Terry Foreman Gallery. The gallery is named for founding member and former director Terry Foreman, who is known as a tireless advocate for the arts as a way of developing community. “When I came to Newark in 1991, I met a lot of artists, but there was no [arts] organization, especially for visual artists,” she says. “There seemed to be a need to corral our efforts to make the arts more accessible for everyone.” Foreman oversaw the move of the organization twice, she implemented the Art to Go and Camp Imagine children’s programs, she started adult classes, and she was responsible for many of Newark’s public murals. The dedication is a fitting tribute to her on the occasion of her departure. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The dedication happens at 7:30 p.m. 893-1156, newarkartsalliance.org
Hello, “Bye Bye”
Who will win teen idol Conrad Birdie’s last kiss before he leaves for war? Will it be all-American Kim? Will Conrad give it all up and settle down in Sweet Apple? See the Wilmington Drama League’s production of the Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie” June 15-24. 764-1172, wilmingtondramaleague.org
The Shows Go On
“Star Wars: A New Musical Hope” is anything but the same old song and dance. Yes, it is the same story of Princess Leia’s efforts to save the rebel forces from Darth Vader and the evil empire. But this version features a tap dancing chorus line of storm troopers. So there you have it. See old friends Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2, C3PO and Jedi Obi Wan Kenobi. And see how Bootless Stageworks pulls it all together at the OperaDelaware studios through June 17. 658-8063, bootless.org
The comedy “I Remember Mama” has been described as “one of the most heartwarming depictions of American life yet to reach the stage.” See why when Possum Point Players present their production through June 17 at the playouse in Georgetown. Mama (E.J. Panico of Seaford), Papa (Pat Erhardt of Seaford) and assorted relatives, friends and boarders, raise four children through childhood in turn-of-the-century San Francisco, where Mama’s compassion and wisdom carry all through illness, poverty, romance and more. This is the biggest cast PPP has ever assembled for a comedy, so it is one special occasion. 856-4560, possumpointplayers.org
It’s been 39 years since “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” changed late-night cinema. It’s been 49 years since Chapel Street Players started having annual fundraisers. This year, the stage version of the film and the fun-draiser are one and the same. If you miss Saturday nights at the old State Theater in Newark, this is your chance to relive those days—the CSP is most definitely encouraging audience participation. It should be quite a party. Get there before June 23. 368-2248, chapelstreetplayers.org
Who can resist this? In “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the inventor of the wheel, his family and his saucy maid face calamity after calamity—war, flood, famine, climate change and economic collapse—yet somehow manage to pull through. Yes, there is hope. This uproarious Pulitzer winner even offers wooly mammoth. Need we say more? Catch the UD’s Resident Ensemble Players production at Roselle Center for the Arts through July 5. 831-2204, rep.udel.edu
The Art Goes On…
You love to visit the beach and mountains during summer. So did some of the country’s most famous artists, and they created some unforgettable images while there. The Brandywine River Museum presents them, along with scenes from Europe, Asia and the Mideast, in “Summer Sojourns: Art on Holiday.” See nearly 100 paintings, drawings and prints from its collection, including work from N.C. Wyeth’s visits to Port Clyde, Maine, including “Herring Gut” and Untitled (View of Eight Bells), and works that show how the ocean and dunes in Rehoboth Beach inspired some of Howard Pyle’s paintings of pirate lore. There’s more, of course. See it through Sept. 3. (610) 388-2700, brandywinemuseum.org
The Station Gallery features a show of new paintings by Lynne Lockhart and Kirk McBride. Both paint in oil, gathering inspiration from their travels and from their home on the Eastern Shore. The exhibition runs through June 30. 654-8638, stationgallery.net
Artwork from this year’s Plein Air Coastal Delaware Event will be on exhibit and for sale in the Homestead Gallery of Rehoboth Art League, even as the 39th annual Members Fine Craft Exhibit is shown in the Cockran and Tubbs Gallery. That’s a lot of good art. Hit the opening reception June 1. Both shows will run through June 20. 227-8408, rehobothartleague.org
Get to The Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover for “Jewels of the Generations: The Legacy of Loockerman and Bradford Family of Dover.” The exhibition displays early American clothing, Victorian jewelry, European and Asian ceramics, American and European silver, American and European portraits, and Delaware- and Philadelphia-made furniture as collected by Vincent Loockerman and his descendants, the Bradfords. When Loockerman died in 1785 he was probably Dover’s largest collector of Delaware and Philadelphia-made furniture. For the past 200 years, his family has lived with those pieces while adding their own. Biggs Museum founder Sewell C. Biggs was an admirer of Loockerman’s collection, hence the exhibition and related events. See it through June 24. Also at The Biggs, “Picturing WWI: The American Illustration Collection of the Delaware National Guard,” shows works by local illustrators such as Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972) and Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887-1962) as created for magazines such as Ladies Home Journal to depict key events of the war. It’s a rare opportunity to view the collection of the Delaware National Guard. Visit through June 24. 674-2111, biggsmuseum.org
Cheers to Winterthur for “Uncorked! Wine, Objects & Tradition,” a celebration of 300 objects and imagery created in response to our love of wine. “Uncorked!” shows how wine was marketed and consumed in America and Britain from the 1600s through the 1800s. See unique wine bottles, decanters and cellarettes, lead figures of Bacchus, “Champagne Charlie” song sheets, advertisements and more. The exhibition will be on view through January 6. winterthur.org/uncorked