What: Eyecons of Christopher Peterson
When: Saturday, Aug. 29
Where: Schwartz Center for the Arts, Dover, Del.
The Schwartz Center for the Arts in Dover, Del., is holding its primary fundraising event for the year on Saturday, Aug. 29. Female impersonator Christopher Peterson will be performing his most famous piece of work, Eyecons of Christopher Peterson.
Schwartz Center for the Arts Director of Operations Tara Pastuszek says this is a theatrical experience the community will not want to miss.
“Eyecons is a full blown theatrical, live theater performance,” Pastuszek said.
Peterson is extremely well-known. The performer just got back from Canada and has held shows in multiple states, including Florida and Nevada. Although Peterson has traveled the U.S. to do these shows, he has also performed locally in at the Sands Hotel in Rehoboth Beach.
Pastuszek says that there have been multiple fundraisers in the past, but this is a new one for the center. The establishment has paired with a fundraising committee called Love the Arts, located in Philadelphia.
Christopher Peterson and Eyecons
Christopher Peterson is a man that quite often wears dresses. However, he wants the public to know that he is “not just a man in a dress.” Known as North America’s foremost female impersonator, he is compared to legends like Jim Bailey.
His most renown performance, Eyecons, has been touring for more than a decade. It features Peterson as a dozen or more famous women. Throughout his one-man show, he creates a dozen or more of the world’s most astonishing ladies right before the eyes and ears of the audience.
Peterson discovered a love for the theater early in life and began developing his female characters while he worked on his theatrical career. He has appeared on BCTV and Global Television, and has also been featured on Fashion Television, and The Shirley Show. In addition, he has co-hosted The Dini Petty Show with Dini Petty, whom he has also impersonated.
Most of Peterson’s attention in the last 10 years has been on fine-tuning Eyecons.
Christopher Peterson’s Career
2010 – Reprise Bette Davis in Bitchslapat Waterfront Playhouse, Key West, Fla.
2010 – Divas!, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., Lisner Auditorium, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
2010 – Hooray for Hollywood, Rehoboth Beach Theatre of the Arts, Rehoboth Beach, Del.
2009 – Las Vegas or Bust, debut at Rehoboth Beach Theatre of the Arts, Rehoboth Beach, Del.
2009 – Bette Davis in Bitchslap at Waterfront Playhouse, Key West, Fla.
2008 – Divas!, Heartland Men’s Chorus, Folly Theater, Kansas City, Mo.
2007 – An Evening at La Cage, Northern Quest Casino, Spokane, Wash.
2006 – Grand Marshall & Main Stage Host, Pride Celebration, Washington, D.C.
2004 – Appeared as Catherine Zeta Jones from Chicago, Stage for AIDS, National Arts Center, Ottawa, Canada
2003 – Soloist with Key West Pops Orchestra, Vincent Zito conducting, Tennessee Williams Theatre, Key West
2003 – Nancy Reagan & Judy Garland in Howard Crabtree’s Whoop-Dee-Doo, produced by The Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center Founders Society, performed at Waterfront Playhouse, Key West
2003 – Zaza from La Cage Aux Folles, Tribute to Jerry Herman, Annenberg Theater, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, Calif.
2002 – Miss Pickering/Liza Minnelli, My Own Private Oshawa, CTV Canada (also writer of additional material)
2001 – Deep Voiced Lucy, Rat Race, with Cuba Gooding Jr.
2000 – Eyecons nominated for Desert Star Award for Best Overall Production of a Musical Revue by the Desert Theatre League, Palm Springs, Calif.
1999 – Eyecons tour, eastern Canada
1998 – Himself, We’re Funny That Way (documentary of the 1997 festival)
1997 – We’re Funny That Way, Canada’s International Queer Comedy Festival, Toronto, the first gay and lesbian comedy festival in Canada
1997 – Eyecons nominated for Dora Awards for Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Performance by a Male
1996 – Eyecons premiers, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, Canada
1995 – Shannon in Brad Fraser’s Poor Super Man, Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Canada and Canadian Stage in Toronto, Canada, won Dora Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Play.
1995 – Dancer, The Wharf Rat,Showtime, with Lou Diamond Phillips and Judge Reinhold
1994-96 – Toured Canada with The Imposters
1994 – Natasha Navratilova in Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing, Canadian Stage, Toronto, Canada
1993-96 – Guys in Disguise, Edmonton International Fringe Festival, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1993 – Brad/Marilyn, Season 1, Episode 14, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (Original air date May 17)
Schwartz Center for the Arts
Built in 1904 and known as The Dover Opera House, George M. Schwartz expanded the establishment into a movie theater in 1923 and called it The Capital Theater.
After falling on hard times, the theater closed its doors in 1982, but later reopened its doors in October 2001, after tremendous fundraising efforts.
Now known as the Schwartz Center for the Arts, the establishment “exists to enhance the quality of life for everyone by providing a home for the performing arts, educational activities and entertainment.”
The center is involved in a partnership with Delaware State University and Wesley College with hopes of providing opportunities for artistic growth, encouraging and educating children, youth and adults in varied theater arts field experiences and fostering an appreciation and understanding of the performing arts, among many other goals.
The theater provides theatrical entertainment throughout the year in Dover, Del.
