For Immediate Release: April 21, 2006
Media Contact: Amy Watson Bish, Delaware Theatre Company, 302.594.1104 x228

For the fourth consecutive year, Delaware Theatre Company will present the Stephen Daniel Foulk Volunteer Award to a volunteer who has served the Theatre in some remarkable capacity. This year, DTC will honor two outstanding individuals whose contributions to the theatre are both unique and exceptional. Mike Barko of Wilmington will be honored for his commitment to DTC's annual fundraiser, the Wine Feast & Auction. His award will be presented on Saturday, May 13th at the evening performance of A Murder, A Mystery & A Marriage: A Mark Twain Musical Melodrama by Aaron Posner and James Sugg. Suzanne Goddard of Wilmington and Stratford-upon-Avon, UK, is being awarded for her extensive service to DTC's Department of Education at a private brunch to be held in her honor on April 23rd.

Mike Barko has devoted countless hours of his time to the Wine Feast & Auction since 2002. For this major DTC fundraiser, he serves on the Wine Committee and helps to guide the shape of the event's Live Auction. With his extensive knowledge and love of wines, Mr. Barko conducts the extremely detailed research for the evening's Live and Silent Auction Program. His tireless dedication to the event and his erudite wine copy have helped to position the Wine Feast & Auction strongly within the region's wine community. Producing Director Anne Marie Cammarato says, "Mike has become an essential part of the Wine Feast's and DTC's success. He brings such passion and good will to the Theatre. He truly embodies the Volunteer Award." Mr. Barko and his wife, Cindy, had their first date at one of the early DTC Wine Auctions, and so the annual event, now in its 17th year, has always had a special place in his life.

A leader in Wilmington's community theatre arena and a long time DTC subscriber, Mr. Barko took his first acting class at the theatre. His first acting role was in a Delaware Young Playwrights Festival (DYPF) production. He has since gone on to star in various productions with the Wilmington Drama League (where he has been on the board for the past eight years), City Theatre Company, and Candlelight Dinner Theatre, among others. He also has directed two one-act plays at Wilmington Drama League.

Suzanne Goddard began her service to DTC as part of the Delaware Young Playwrights Festival (DYPF) Literary Committee in 2003. In 2005, Ms. Goddard joined the Department of Education as their Education Volunteer, which furthered her involvement in DYPF and other areas of the Department. For this year's Festival, in addition to reading many of the 432 submitted plays, she became involved in classroom visits to participating schools, helped the playwrights with their re-writing process, and participated in dramatic readings of the most effective plays. She also became involved in DTC's Student Matinee series by writing the educational study guide, Insights.

Ms. Goddard considers herself, "a passionate amateur, a communicator, and an enthusiastic supporter of the live arts in Delaware and especially DTC." Her principal artistic passion, however, is for the works of William Shakespeare. In 2004, she donated a talk on "Shakespeare's Drunks" to be auctioned off at the Wine Feast & Auction, and in 2003 and 2005 she presented two sets of master classes on Shakespeare's Macbeth as part of DTC's "Summer on Stage" summer camp. This season, as part of DTC's Fall Theatre Classes, she taught a successful five-week "Shakespeare Salon." "Suzanne's help has been invaluable to the Education Department, particularly this year. Her hard work and innovative ideas have proved enormously effective, and with her help, the many programs we offer have reached larger audiences and engaged the community," says Charles Conway, Director of Education.

Brought up and educated in the United Kingdom, Ms. Goddard holds a BA with first class honors, and her final year of college-level studies was devoted exclusively to the works and life of Shakespeare. She also pursued her Masters-level education at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, which is part of the University of Birmingham. In addition to her studies and personal performance history, throughout her career Ms. Goddard has taught Shakespeare to all levels and ages of students. She continues as a teacher, coach, tutor and lecturer in the region.

The Stephen Daniel Foulk Award was established in 2003 by friends and family to memorialize this tireless, enthusiastic and generous DTC volunteer. Stephen's association with DTC began in the 1980s with the Theatre's annual fundraising event, the Barefoot Ball. Over the years, he co-chaired the Barefoot Ball and also served on the Theatre's Board of Directors. Stephen loved theatre and understood the absolute importance of volunteers for those non-profit institutions that make contributions to the surrounding community.

The Award's founders determined that the Volunteer Award "shall be used to honor a DTC Volunteer who exemplifies the qualities which were paramount in the life of Stephen Foulk." The award acknowledges the recipient's recognition of the valuable role that not-for-profit institutions play in the life of the community, as well as attentive and committed focus on the work of the Delaware Theatre Company and selfless giving and sense of good will and compassion. Nominations for the Award come from DTC staff, and the award winners are presented with a beautiful engraved hand-blown glass bowl from Simon Pearce on the Brandywine.

You can find out more information on Delaware Theatre Company at DTC's website www.delawaretheatre.org.

Delaware Theatre Company's 2005-2006 season is sponsored by JPMorgan Chase. Artist transportation provided by Amtrak. This program is made possible, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency committed to promoting and supporting the arts in Delaware. The Delaware Division of the Arts provides technical and financial assistance to artists and arts programs and serves as a clearinghouse for information on the arts.

Delaware Theatre Company, Delaware's premier professional theatre, is located at 200 Water Street, on Wilmington's exciting Riverfront. Delaware Theatre Company is a member of the League of Resident Theatres, Theatre Communications Group, the Arts Consortium of Delaware, the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, and the Wilmington Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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