Delaware Theatre Company announces its upcoming 2023-24 season.
Audience favorites pop up in the new season as Delaware Theater opens with the high-energy crowd-pleaser, Michael Frayn’s Noises Off.
Delaware Theater Company Executive and Artistic Director Matt Silva notes the importance of a strong kickoff.
“You know the thought around the season is, let’s connect with people and make them feel some joy. Even if there are tears let them be tears of amazement as opposed to trauma. And Noises Off does that.,” said Silva.
Noises Off is followed by Kings of Harlem opening in October, and Peter and the Starcatcher in December.
2024 kicks off in February with Always Patsy Cline and Delaware Theatre closes the season with Flatlanders, a co production with Philadelphia’s 1812 Productions.
While every effort is made to cast local actors, Silva said the role of Patsy Cline requires a specific voice.
“We auditioned lots of singers who are fantastic singers and vocalists, but there was some sort of like, some sort of that contemporary nasal quality that you kind of hear in pop singing and to strip that away is really difficult and Patsy had none of that,” Silva said.
As detailed in a recent Marketplace story, theatre companies across the country are shuttering for the season, unable to fund the performances. Silva is confident Delaware Theatre Company is riding out the pandemic hangover.
“I tell you, it’s not easy. I mean, the cost of labor is up 30%, the cost of materials is up 30 to sometimes 40% and nationally, ticket sales are down 15 to 35% depending on what theatre you’re at, so you’ve got a real-time cash flow swing of almost 60%. So you’ve got to make up for it somehow and you have to be smart and you have to be nimble and you have to change the old model that was sort of broken before the pandemic," said Silva.
Part of that nimble thinking is repurposing the show’s physical properties. The theatre industry has always been effective in reusing parts and pieces, but Silva says the current economy for producing theatres presents new and grander opportunities.
“And those are the types of models and thinking where you can say, ‘okay where can I save 15, 30, 50 thousand dollars and do some cost-sharing?’ That’s something we’ve been working on a whole lot and it’s been really fun in the design process.”
