Delaware Arts and Entertainment Education: DuPont Theatre in Wilmington, Smart Talk lectures

When the DuPont presents “It’s Not Mean to be Green” by local author Jamie Kleman, it can connect it directly to school curriculum, and that’s just part of the way the theater educates, enlightens and inspires. Its 23-year-old children’s series allows 40,000 a year—from preschoolers to eighth-graders—to experience professional productions of some of the most popular and best-known shows. And for kids who can’t make it to the theater, DuPont does two presentations a year at Central Middle School in Dover, according to box office manager Diane Angeline. The result? Consider this testimonial from a second-grader: “The actors made me want to read more and play less video games.” “That cements the fact that this is the perfect time for them to explore the arts,” says general manager Annmarie O’Hara-Townsend. Further proof? How many of us visited the theater as school children? “We see it in our older patrons now,” Angeline says. “It’s something we’ve grown up with.” Look forward to a performance of “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad” for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and “It’s not Mean to be Green”—again—for Earth Day in April. Adults can look for personal enrichment through another series of Smart Talk lectures, which the theater has presented since 2000. Wilmington, 656-4401, duponttheatre.com