For Immediate Release: February 22, 2005
Media Contact: Patricia Dill, Delaware Theatre Company, 302.594.1104 x228

Delaware Theatre Company's Totally Awesome Kids take the stage to present The Squeaky Wheel at 7:30 P.M. on Monday March 7th at Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington. This performance is FREE and open to the public, with a reception afterwards.

In 1992, with backing from Delaware Foundation Reaching Citizens with Cognitive Disability, Delaware Theatre Company created an acting program for children with special needs. Totally Awesome Kids is the only program of its kind in Delaware, and one of only a handful nationwide. Now, Totally Awesome Kids is living up to its name as the program presents The Squeaky Wheel on Monday March 7th.

The Squeaky Wheel is an unpublished children's story, written and adapted for the stage by Charles Conway, Director of Education at Delaware Theatre Company.

The story follows Bobvietta, a young girl who rides her bike to the market every morning. As the title implies, her bicycle's front wheel squeaks as Bobvietta rides, much to the chagrin of the snoozing villagers. For her birthday, Bobvietta wishes to become a bird so that she can fly to the market instead of angering the villagers with her noisy bicycle. Her brothers and sisters give her the next best thing by fixing the squeaky wheel. But when Bobvietta rides quietly through the village and no one wakes up, the villagers realize how much they have come to rely on something they had viewed as an annoyance. In the end, the villagers honor the significance of the squeaky wheel by giving Bobvietta a special gift.

The piece is directed by Danny Peak, a freelance director and acting instructor who has been with Totally Awesome Kids since its conception in 1992. The cast is comprised of eleven beginners, twenty returning actors, and nine adult volunteers, including Delaware Theatre Company staff.

At the parents' request to raise the bar this year, the troupe compressed their schedule to only nine rehearsals, and added a "curtain warmer" to share a sneak peek into what makes their Monday-night classes totally awesome. The troupe also upped the ante by recruiting parents for stage crew, as well as costumes and props committees.

Most importantly, Totally Awesome Kids highlights the kids' talents by focusing on group dynamics rather than individual disabilities. These kids are extraordinarily personable and unprejudiced, a gift which sometimes can get them into trouble in the world. But on stage, this lack of inhibition transfers to a confidence and warmth that draws in the audience. As Charles Conway says, Totally Awesome Kids is "truly theatre because we never know what will happen out there."

Totally Awesome Kids also will give a special performance for the Student Council for Exceptional Children at University of Delaware on March 14th.

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