Wilmington Drama League offers young people theater adventures and life skills

I was a second-grader when I first got involved in the Wilmington Drama League, after watching my older brother Justin have fun on stage. Ten years and dozens of shows later, the fun of acting has led me to the fun of working behind the scenes.

I’ve done almost everything backstage, and I wrote my college application essay on how that experience has taught me life skills like socializing, maintaining relationships and problem solving. Being on the stage crew is like magic that transports everyone from one place to another.

My experiences are similar to many other young people involved in the Drama League. We enjoy creating theater for others, and yet we get so much back in personal growth and skills development.

“It shaped who I am,” said Lola Fenning, a Brandywine High junior who, like me, began by acting and moved behind the scenes over her five years of involvement. In college, she wants to double major in adolescent education and directing and minor in playwriting. “I fell in love with theater.”

Ross Morrell, like me, followed an older sibling into the Drama League.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said of sister Jessica Stamp’s volunteering backstage.

Ross, a sixth-grader at the Cab Calloway School of the Arts, has developed such a strong reputation that he’s been asked to work among adults backstage on main-stage productions. “It’s a really good environment,” he said of the Drama League. “It’s inclusive. They care.”

After many decades of producing theater for young people, the Drama League in 1989 established a Children’s Wing, which became the Chrysalis Players in 1996. We continued with that evocative imagery in 2022 with Imago, a monthly group for young playwrights created by Eric Merlino, the adult Chrysalis president.

“It’s really fun to have a community and be part of it,” said Ivy Jackson, a Wilmington Friends seventh-grader who is Imago’s youth leader. Like many young people who give and get so much, Ivy has also acted, directed and written plays.

“The Drama League has provided opportunities for leadership for young people that are rare to find in other places,” she said. “They value the input and involvement of young people and give them the chance to take risks and build leadership skills.”

Those chances meant that the Drama League has been the first stop for many entertainment careers. Our most famous alumna is Aubrey Plaza, an Emmy nominee for “White Lotus.”

Aubrey Plaza's new role:Aubrey Plaza & Dan Levy spell trouble in ridiculous Loewe commercial. Watch it here

Others who turned their childhood dedication and development at the Drama League into arts careers include KJ Johnson, who played Young Simba in “The Lion King” on Broadway and was back at our camp last summer; Charlie Kahler, who played Young Simba in “The Lion King” national tour; Tony winner John Gallagher Jr.; Broadway performers Ben Jackson Walker and Tatiana Lofton; “Saturday Night Live” writer Neil Casey; Los Angeles filmmaker and casting director Jeremy O’Keefe; actors/writers/directors Keith Powell and Seth Kirschner; Emmy nominee Carly E. Ciarrocchi; and Justine Ciarrocchi, a producing partner with actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Ross, Lola, Ivy and I all started at the Drama League in Pillow Plays. Presented by kids, for kids, Pillow Plays are an excellent way to introduce your children to theater, as an actor or as an audience member!

Mt. Cuba adventures:Spring flowers, events bloom at Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware

Our next Pillow Plays are “Not-So-Grimm Tales” (directed by Lola) on Saturday, April 6 at the Drama League and Sunday, April 7 at the Newark Free Library and “Goodnight Princess: Sleepless in Fairytale Land” (directed by Ivy) on Saturday, May 4 at the Drama League and Saturday, May 11 at the Newark Free Library.

More youth programs this summer include our popular summer camp, which runs from July 8 through Aug. 2, with performances of “Disney’s Descendants: The Musical,” on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 2 and 3, and the Jeff Walker Youth One-Act Festival, for and by young people as well, on Saturday, Aug. 10.

Next on the main stage is “The Psychic: A Murder Mystery … Of Sorts,” April 11-14; “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” May 10-19, with Lola as assistant director and me as stage manager; and “Bonnie & Clyde” June 14-23, with Lola as stage manager.

After graduating this year from Cab, I will attend the University of Delaware. As for continuing in theater, I already have a UD connection: Seven years ago, I played Chip in a Harrington Theatre Arts Company production of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Jared DeStafney is youth president of the Drama League’s Chrysalis Players and the 2023 winner of the Bob Evans Award for youth volunteering. To find out what’s going on at the League, sign up atwww.wilmingtondramaleague.org/get-our-e-newsletter