The future of Upper Darby\u2019s renowned summer theater program, Summer Stage, was brought into open conflict Saturday when former director Harry Dietzler called for the organization to become fully independent from the school district and township.<\/p>\n
Dietzler, the founder of the program and its retiring director, posted a letter to social media saying Summer Stage, which has been the pride of the township for 46 years, has become \u201dthe victim of government bureaucracy and limited vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
The program has been jointly run by the township and the school district through the township Department of Recreation since Dietzler got the go-ahead from then Mayor Sonny Kane to hold the first show in 1975.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Dietzler stated the relationship has deteriorated as the township and district have recently disbanded the joint Department of Recreation which has made it impossible to run the program successfully. He also complained that dealing with separate municipal governments made operating the program unmanageable.<\/p>\n
Officials at both the township and the school district were quick to react to the letter. On Sunday afternoon, they released a joint reply saying that they are thoroughly committed to the program and stating that Dietzler\u2019s narrative is a manufactured \u201ccrisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUpper Darby Summer Stage is and has always been fully funded and operated by Upper Darby Township in strong partnership with the Upper Darby School District,\u201d said the joint statement from Upper Darby School District Superintendent Dan McGarry and township Chief Administrative Officer Vincent Rongione. \u201cThe District and Township have uniformly and consistently indicated during discussions that they are in favor of the Summer Stage program that has existed for nearly 50 years continuing on the high school site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the letter on social media was surprising, change has been percolating.<\/p>\n
In July, Dietzler told the Daily Times that \u201cwe\u2019re like a square peg in a round hole anymore. The school district gets more and more stretched so it gets more and more difficult for them to support us. We need to look more to the private sector to ensure that we\u2019ll be around for the next 46 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2020, Dietzler said he was asked by officials to disentangle the township and district\u2019s relationship with Upper Darby Summer Stage and the Performing Arts Center, where its shows are staged.<\/p>\n
He consulted with a nationally known expert on nonprofit organizations and held conversations with Summer Stage senior staff and the Upper Darby Arts and Education Foundation, a nonprofit formed in 1998 to improve the quality of educational and cultural programs in the Upper Darby School District. They have also been involved with Summer Stage during that time.<\/p>\n
It became the view of Dietzler and his supporters that the program should be taken over by the foundation. He said he presented that proposal to the school district and the township in November of 2020 but they were not in agreement at that time.<\/p>\n
Dietzler said in August there were separate meetings with the school district and the township, at which time it was understood that both the township and school district agreed that the Summer Stage could be operated by the foundation, while still remaining in the Performing Arts Center at the high school.<\/p>\n
Dietzler said he made a public announcement following the last show of the season.<\/p>\n
Officials at the township and school district agreed they have been in talks about the future of Summer Stage but deny they want to take it out of the public sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen public assets are privatized, as the foundation currently proposes, the costs for the participants and audience members greatly increase,\u201d said the joint letter from the two officials. \u201cThe township and the school district both contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars a year that are not recouped by the ticket price and program fees. A privatized Summer Stage will not be able to support the real costs of facilities and personnel associated with operating this invaluable public program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials also said there was no verbal agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think sometimes people take liberty with the facts when they have these conversations,\u201d said McGarry in a phone call Monday. \u00a0\u201cSome of the information that is out there, it is as if this nonprofit has taken over Summer Stage or has been running summer stage since its inception, which is categorically false. This has been a joint venture, a township program, where the school district supports the township in the efforts to support this community. Students have access to a summer program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rongione said officials have made the same statements publicly as they have privately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did jointly commit to fully funding and executing the program,\u201d Rongione said. \u201cI think it was tremendously misleading to suggest there was a verbal agreement of anything beyond that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials at the foundation said they do understand the cost of the program and note they raised more than $500,000 in donations this summer to support the program.<\/p>\n
That money comes from four new leadership gifts, including a grant from the Rosenthal Family Foundation. Summer Stage alum and \u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d television star Monica Horan Rosenthal is providing the lead grant, joining Upper Darby native Tina Fey, the Upper Darby Arts and Education Foundation, and the Broughton Foundation Trust, as major donors in launching what was called an independent Summer Stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe words of support by Upper Darby School District and township officials are nice, but they aren\u2019t consistent with our discussions or their own actions,\u201d said Terry Tracy, president of the foundation board. \u00a0\u201cIf they really want to show the community that they value Summer Stage, all they need to do is agree to some simple basic requests that will enable the program to grow and flourish for years to come, such as providing access to the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center and allowing for the program to operate independent of government to maximize fundraising efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
School district officials agree use of facilities in the high school\u2019s performing arts wing must be sorted out but they noted they worked to provide live performances this past summer in the midst of the pandemic and have every intention of figuring out a plan to grant a use of facilities request for this summer and anticipates continuing to do so in the future.<\/p>\n
Rongione said the township has fully funded Summer Stage in the past two budgets and has not questioned its funding.<\/p>\n
As for personnel, McGarry said they are using newer technologies which streamline use of facilities but they have still have personnel on the school district side working on recreational opportunities.\u00a0 Rongione noted recreational activities during this year, when the pandemic has curtailed many such activities, should not be taken out of context or exploited.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe township has a robust commitment to recreational programming,\u201c said Rongione \u201cWe just launched four new outdoor programs. Mayor(Barbarann)\u00a0 Keffer is committed to continuing to build recreational programming and staff in partnership with the school district.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGarry said there are no plans to limit Summer Stage to district children only.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not at all the message\u2026 we would like to see as many Upper Darby kids participating in the arts and theater program in their home community but we are not in any way saying we are not supportive of outside communities participating in Summer Stage \u2013 that\u2019s happened since the beginning,\u201d McGarry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe program has always been a beacon for Upper Darby, it\u2019s always attracted people from the region,\u201d Rongione said. \u201dThat\u2019s a great thing for the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy bottom line is who you really trust to run the Performing Arts Center, to run Summer Stage,\u201d Dietzler said on Monday. \u201cThe district is dismantling the Performing Arts Center \u2026 they\u2019ve blocked our staff from working with the township on Summer Stage. The township on its part has reduced its recreation department.\u201d<\/p>\n
Township and school district officials said a private foundation could have an expanded role, but that would require genuine oversight, transparency, and partnership with Upper Darby Township and the Upper Darby School District.<\/p>\n
Dietzler and members of the foundation are calling on supporters to speak at Tuesday\u2019s evening school board meeting and at the upcoming township council meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of Upper Darby\u2019s renowned summer theater program, Summer Stage, was brought into open conflict Saturday when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,241,182,139,28,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-142956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}