Clear Space Theatre in Rehoboth Beach will have a new member of its leadership team soon.
The theatre company announced that it has hired Wes Drummond as its new artistic director. Drummond, a veteran theatre director, comes to the First State from the Duluth Playhouse in Minnesota. He will work alongside Managing Director Joe Gfaller.
In addition to his work in Minnesota, Drummond brings a wealth of experience on Broadway with credits on productions including “Les Miserables,” “Oliver!” and “A Christmas Carol.” That will be a major asset, says Gfaller.
“He definitely has a lot of East Coast history and relationships,” Gfaller says. “He's worked in New York as the assistant to some directors on Broadway and off-Broadway productions prior to his time getting his MFA at Penn State.”
Drummond, who is currently working remotely as he makes the leap from Minnesota to Delaware, will be fully onsite at Clear Space starting next month.
He comes at a particularly exciting time for the theatre company. In March, the company announced that it would receive a $350,000 grant from the Longwood Foundation to expand its arts education efforts. And, last fall, Clear Space reached an agreement with Rehoboth Beach for a major expansion of its facilities and a new location, coupled with a generous incentive package from city officials.
Planning for the new, larger theatre is moving along, Gfaller says. Work is underway on geotechnical studies and soil sampling.
“That sort of was our first step in literally understanding the ground beneath our feet for this new building,” Gfaller explains.
Meanwhile, Clear Space is reaching out to architects, with a goal of issuing a request for proposals and selecting an architect later this year. Once that happens, the company’s efforts will shift to an intense public outreach effort.
“We know what the facility needs to be on the inside, but we want to make sure that how the facility interacts with the community on the outside is a key piece of the plan,” Gfaller says. “It will be here for many, many decades and hopefully serve as a postcard for coastal Delaware and for Rehoboth Beach.”
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
