Upper Darby Summer Stage celebrated a 50-year legacy this weekend that gives young people theatrical experience while offering professional-quality shows, writes Emily Neil and Kenny Cooper for WHYY.
The program, which hosts more than 800 children and young people each summer to produce eight shows, pulled out all the stops Friday and Saturday, with a 150-person alumni cast putting together two anniversary performances at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, highlighting some of the program’s best productions.
“It’s really like a full-fledged community theater, but it’s theater for young people and by young people,” said Harry Dietzler, founder and retired director of Summer Stage.
Dietzler founded the theater program in 1976.
Now under the guidance of the Upper Darby Arts and Education Foundation, Summer Stage has produced its share of celebrities over the years, including Tina Fey and David Corenswet.
Beyond celebrity, however, many Summer Stage participants say the experience helped them later in their chosen careers.
Summer Stage has shaped Upper Darby and put “on the map as an arts community,” Dietzler said.
“It gave lots of people an opportunity to experience the arts, maybe, who wouldn’t have had it.”
Find out more about Summer Stage’s impact at WHYY.
