Delaware Today magazine Arts & Entertainment Feature: Community Theater, The Wilmington Drama League on 18th and Market streets

As Constant as the Northern Delawarean

The Wilmington Drama League has been around since The Great Depression. And given today’s recession, entertainment is as important now as it was then. In the ’30s, a small band of folks started staging plays at an old grist mill at 18th and Market streets in Wilmington. Seven years later, they owned a building on West Lea Boulevard. The troupes have been bringing down the house since.

League president Nick D’Argenio has done a ton of acting in musicals, comedies and dramas, but he prefers directing. “I enjoy watching the audience react to the shows as a whole, not just to me, the individual actor,” he says. One of his recent shows, “The Producers”—itself about the travails of putting on a show—is one of his favorites.

An interior designer, D’Argenio uses his work skills to manage this landmark theater. “You learn to plan in three dimensions,” he says. The skill helps him with staging and set design.

Having good taste by day does not limit him from exhibiting tastelessness by night. Note his performance in “Urinetown The Musical.” Enough said.