The Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society presents Great Expectations, performed by Gerald Dickens.

Great Expectations is known as one of Charles’ greatest novels and is a personal favourite of Gerald Dickens. His adaptation takes Pip from the lonely cold Kent marshes and follows his journey into the respectable world of London. Along the way we meet some of Dickens’s greatest characters: Miss Haversham, Estella, Herbert Pocket, Mr Jaggers, Wemmick and the Aged P. Although simply staged Great Expectations is truly dramatic.

Gerald Dickens is an actor, director, and producer, and the great-great-grandson of the author Charles Dickens. In 1993 he created his first one-man show, a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol inspired by Charles Dickens’ own energetic readings of the 1860s. A fascination with the life and works of Charles led him to write and direct further one-man shows including Mr. Dickens is Coming!, Nicholas Nickleby and Sketches by Boz. Dickens regularly performs in major theatres and arts centres, arts and literary festivals in the UK, as well as at hotels, stately homes, and on cruise ships.

NOTE: this event is in the Lewes Elementary School Auditorium (820 Savannah Road, Lewes, DE).

Thank you to Byers’ Choice Ltd. for bringing Gerald Dickens to the United States.
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In celebration of Banned Books Week, the Lewes Public Library, ACLU of Delaware, and Groome Church welcomes Del Shakes Artistic Squad.

Libraries in every state are facing an unprecedented number of attempts to ban books. In 2022 the American Library Association documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources, the highest number of attempted book bans since they began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago.

When books are banned, the voices of the author and the characters are silenced and readers are closed off to people, places, and perspectives. By standing up for stories, the power that lies inside every book is unleashed, and the array of voices that need to be heard and the scenes that need to be seen are liberated. Join us in the library as members of Del Shakes Artistic Squad bring the strength and the beauty of banned texts to life through dramatic readings. Stay afterwards for a moderated discussion led by Dr. Adenike Davidson on the readings and the issue of banning books.

Professional actors Mariah Ghant and Eric Mills, both members of Del Shakes Artistic Squad, will highlight the evening. Mariah often works with DelShakes, playing the title role of Macbeth in their 2023 summer production in Wilmington. She also works as the Artistic Associate and Library Manager for the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Mariah developed and produced last season’s readings of Black Lucy, Redux for the Lewes Public Library’s Shakespeare Festival. Eric Mills is a member of Del Shakes Artistic Squad and an avid reader. He has worked as an actor with many regional and local theaters and in the distant past dabbled in TV. He recently directed Shakespeare’s Playground for DelShakes and teaches theater around the region. He is thrilled to be back on stage with the incomparable Mariah Ghant.

Adenike Marie Davidson is a professor of Literature and Gender Studies at Delaware State University and serves as the Board Chair for Delaware Humanities. Dr. Davidson is the author of the book, The Black Nation Novel: Imaging Homplaces in Early African American Literature. Her scholarship focuses on reclaiming lost voices and texts, understanding race and gender across texts and eras, and connecting canonical and non-canonical texts to further examine the American experience.

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The Lewes Public Library Shakespeare Festival welcomes Delaware Shakespeare, which will present Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, this year’s Community Tour offering.

Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline of Britain, deals with an evil stepmother and a deadly potion, before befriending mysterious men in a woodland cave. Sound familiar, Snow White fans? Love betrayed and a Roman invasion are thrown into the mix of this beautiful, funny, and chaotic saga.

Delaware Shakespeare launched its new Community Tour in Fall 2016. The productions travel throughout the state bringing thrilling, professional Shakespeare to audiences who may not have easy access to professional arts experiences. Community Tour productions play in non-theatrical settings and the production values are scaled for those spaces, with live music, minimal sets, and whatever lighting is available. The productions are performed with a cast of six actors and a musician.

Celebrating its twenty-first season, Delaware Shakespeare creates year-round professional theatre and educational programs for residents and friends of the State of Delaware. At Del Shakes, people from all walks of life celebrate and explore their shared humanity through the lens of Shakespearean work.
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Back by popular demand! In the spirit of Halloween, Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society once again brings a reading of favorite stories and poems penned by the master of the macabre Edgar Allan Poe and read under the direction of acclaimed actress, director, and author Gayle Stahluth.

Gayle Stahlhuth produced over 120 different productions after becoming East Lynne Theater Company’s producing artistic director in 1999, and directed most of them. She has also performed in Off-Broadway shows, national touring productions, and in regional theater and film. Her one-person shows are based on Louisa May Alcott, Edna Ferber, Catharine Beecher, “Eve’s Diary” based on the writings of Mark Twain, and “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. Her two-person show based on Dorothea Lynde Dix, was commissioned by The National Portrait Gallery.
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The Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society presents Suzanne Savoy and Jack Herholdt in a live reading of “The Thanksgiving Visitor” by Truman Capote. Savoy and Herboldt first performed this piece online at the library in 2020 and are here again to share their remarkable gifts of story-telling to kick off the holiday season.

Nine-year-old Buddy has a problem. Every day, he gets stopped on the way to school by Odd Henderson, who calls Buddy a sissy, pins him to the ground and rubs burrs into his head. Miss Sook, Buddy’s older cousin and best friend, invites Odd to her big Thanksgiving dinner, where important lessons await both Odd and Buddy.

“The Thanksgiving Visitor” was first published in McCall’s Magazine in 1967, and is a companion piece to “A Christmas Memory”, which will Savoy and Herboldt will perform at the Library on Saturday, December 16, 2023.

Suzanne and Jack are familiar presences on the stage in New York City and in television, film, and video. Suzanne appeared regularly in Cinemax’s The Knick and in Better Call Saul (AMC), House of Cards (HBO) and For Life (AMC), and she tours nationally in her one-woman original show Je Christine. Jack was in the award-winning video series Celebrity Ghost Stories and in the television series It’s Quarantine with Vanessa Charbonne. Both Suzanne and Jack hail originally from Delaware.
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The Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society and Sussex County Department of Libraries present A Christmas Carol, performed by Gerald Dickens.

Gerald Dickens’ performance of A Christmas Carol has received standing ovations all over the world. Using his own adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale, Gerald Dickens plays over 30 characters using vocal and physical talents to bring each scene vividly to life.

Gerald Dickens is an actor, director, and producer, and the great-great-grandson of the author Charles Dickens. In 1993 he created his first one-man show, a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol inspired by Charles Dickens’ own energetic readings of the 1860s. A fascination with the life and works of Charles led him to write and direct further one-man shows including Mr. Dickens is Coming!, Nicholas Nickleby and Sketches by Boz.Dickens regularly performs in major theatres and arts centres, arts and literary festivals in the UK, as well as at hotels, stately homes, and on cruise ships.

NOTE: this event is in the Cape Henlopen High School Theatre (1250 Kings Highway, Lewes, DE).

Thank you to Byers’ Choice Ltd. for bringing Gerald Dickens to the United States.
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The Lewes Public Library Spoken Word Society presents Suzanne Savoy and Jack Herholdt in a live reading of “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote. Savoy and Herboldt first performed this piece in-person at the library in 2019. They return this year to share their remarkable gifts of story-telling just in time for the holiday season.

Capote’s mostly autobiographical short story first published in 1965. It takes place in the 1930s and follows the period in the lives of the seven-year-old narrator, Buddy, and an elderly woman, Miss Sook, who is his distant cousin and best friend. The evocative narrative focuses on country life, friendship, and the joy of giving during the Christmas season, and also gently yet poignantly touches on loneliness and loss. It is a companion piece to “The Thanksgiving Visitor”, which will Savoy and Herboldt will perform at the Library on Saturday, November 18, 2023.

Suzanne and Jack are familiar presences on the stage in New York City and in television, film, and video. Suzanne appeared regularly in Cinemax’s The Knick and in Better Call Saul (AMC), House of Cards (HBO) and For Life (AMC), and she tours nationally in her one-woman original show Je Christine. Jack was in the award-winning video series Celebrity Ghost Stories and in the television series It’s Quarantine with Vanessa Charbonne. Both Suzanne and Jack hail originally from Delaware.
Register