Rehoboth Beach
CAMP Rehoboth names new executive director
Kim Leisey, acclaimed official at UMBC, to begin role in July
CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBTQ community services center serving Rehoboth Beach and areas across Delaware, has announced it has hired Dr. Kim Leisey, a longtime high-level administrator at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, as its new executive director.
Leisey, who holds a Ph.D. in Human Development, has served for three decades in the field of student affairs and facilities management at UMBC leading up to her current position as Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, according to a statement released by CAMP Rehoboth.
“The appointment of Dr. Leisey, a Lewes resident since December 2020 and a Rehoboth Beach visitor since the early 1990s, marks the first time CAMP Rehoboth will be led by a cisgender lesbian in its 33-year history,” the statement says. “She will join the CAMP Rehoboth team on July 10, 2023,” it says.
“After conducting a comprehensive national search, the Board of Directors selected Kim because of her widely respected leadership in creating strong, healthy, and inclusive communities throughout her career,” said Wesley Combs, president of the CAMP Rehoboth Board of Directors and chair of the group’s executive director search committee.
“As a champion for all things that help humans to thrive during their lifespan, combined with extensive experience with human resources, facilities, health and safety, and operations at UMBC, Kim is the exact person to help strengthen the CAMP Rehoboth of today and into the future,” Combs said.
The need for a new CAMP Rehoboth executive director surfaced in May of 2022 when then executive director David Mariner resigned to start a new Delaware LGBTQ advocacy group called Sussex Pride. The CAMP Rehoboth board a short time later named Lisa Evans, a longtime administrator at nonprofit organizations in Baltimore, as CAMP Rehoboth’s interim executive director.
The May 11 statement announcing Leisey’s appointment as the new executive director says the search for the new director was conducted by Johnny Cooper of Cooper Coleman LLC, an LGBTQ-owned executive search firm that was selected after a Request for Proposal process that included five firms that applied.
Combs told the Washington Blade that Leisey continued in her role as Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs at University of Maryland Baltimore County after moving to Lewes, Del., in late 2020.
“I am honored to be working with the amazing team at CAMP Rehoboth Community Center,” she said in the statement announcing her appointment. “My leadership will honor the important and beautiful legacy of Steve Elkins and Murray Archibald,” said Leisey. “The foundation they have created is strong and powerful.”
She was referring to CAMP Rehoboth’s 1991 co-founders Steve Elkins and his then partner and later husband Murray Archibald. Elkins served as CAMP Rehoboth’s executive director from the time of its founding until he passed away in 2018.
“Together with the staff, the Board and community, CAMP Rehoboth will continue to offer advocacy, support and connections among our LGBTQ community and our friends and neighbors throughout Sussex County and Delaware at large,” Leisey said. “CAMP Rehoboth will continue to add to the vibrant communities at the beaches and beyond,” the newly named director said. “Together we will thrive. I can’t wait to meet everyone!”
The CAMP Rehoboth statement says the hiring of Leisey was the “latest milestone in CAMP Rehoboth’s multi-phased transition process that includes a three-year strategic plan being supported by MMP Associates.” MMP is a consulting firm operated by Michela Perrone, a nationally acclaimed strategic planning consultant affiliated with Georgetown University.
“Dr. Leisey will play a pivotal role in the completion and execution of CAMP Rehoboth’s new strategic plan,” Combs said.
Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth Beach’s Clear Space Theatre summer 2025 season preview
Main stage musicals include ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Rent’
The Clear Space Theatre Company summer season in Rehoboth Beach kicks off in a few short weeks. This year’s mainstage musicals include “Hairspray,” “Beautiful: the Carole King Musical,” and “Rent.”
“Hairspray” will run from June 24-Aug. 30, with “Beautiful” from June 27-Aug. 28 and “Rent” from July 2-Aug. 26. Clear Space is a repertory theater, meaning that a cast of rotating artists will appear in all of these musicals. Tickets can be purchased at clearspacetheatre.org.
Clear Space was founded in 2004 and is considered Delaware’s second-largest professional non-profit theater and the state’s most prolific producer of professional theater. The “clear space” name refers to a “focus on the process, knowledge, and humanity of arts performance: the idea that we find ourselves in what appears on the stage,” according to its website.
Joe Gfaller, managing director of Clear Space, said the theater has a responsibility to produce work for everyone in the region, which gives them the creative space to do more than just one thing.
“That’s what makes everything at Clear Space so joyful and inventive,” Gfaller told the Washington Blade. “We know that this community that we’re a part of includes all kinds of people, all backgrounds, all experiences, and it’s critical for us to present a variety of work that’s going to move each of those people.”
In addition to the three main stage musicals, Clear Space offers Saturday morning children’s theater productions and Sunday cabarets, which will feature Tony and Emmy nominated artists, a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star, and other popular entertainers this year.
“What we’re always looking to do as we create our full season, including the summer, is to produce work that’s going to delight and excite and engage the audiences that are here in Rehoboth Beach and coastal Delaware,” Gfaller said. “There’s always a mix of old and new, of plays and of musicals. There’s really something for everyone across our season for each year.”
Summer flex passes are available for purchase as well, which allows patrons to see three or more productions in the summer repertory season and save 15% off the price of single tickets. Passes can be used for the three main stage musicals and for cabaret shows.
Gfaller said the musical “Rent” “speaks to what musical theater is capable of doing” and is a piece that is “deeply grounded” in the experiences of the LGBTQ community.
“There’s always going to be a piece of that in the work that we do because we know that the community that we serve here in Rehoboth Beach and beyond has a lot of folks who are connected meaningfully to the queer community,” he said.
Another facet of the company, the Clear Space Arts Institute offers voice, dancing, and acting classes during the summer. This year, many are at capacity and a waitlist is being offered.
The Rebecca Luker Theatrical Partnership was developed within the last few years to honor the life and career of Luker, a Broadway star, after she passed away in 2020. The partnership aims to create professional leadership opportunities in the theater for individuals from underserved communities.
“Through the Rebecca Luker Theatrical Partnership, CSTC is paving a path forward to create a more inclusive space for future arts leaders of color while honoring the company’s mission and Ms. Luker’s commitment to racial justice,” a press release from Clear Space said.
Clear Space has been growing, according to Gfaller. Over the last 21 productions, 17 have sold out all performances. Though the theater seats just 170, it saw more than 24,000 attendees over the course of one year. Gfaller is excited that there’s been so much growing enthusiasm and wants patrons to feel joyful and connected to each other after watching the shows.
“We want people to fall in love with seeing great live theater … in an intimate space. You can see amazing things on Broadway, and you might need to bring your opera glasses to see what’s going on,” Gfaller said. “What’s wonderful at Clear Space is you are no more than three to six rows from the stage anywhere you sit in the theater, and there is something so much more magnetic and dynamic and inspirational about seeing theater in that context, because you feel that you’re there in the room with the artists, while the artists are making it happen. And there’s really nothing that compares to that.”
The city of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware will host a public ceremony to commemorate the beginning of Pride month.
The event includes a proclamation and flag-raising ceremony outside of city hall at 12 p.m. on Sunday, June 1. The LGBTQ Pride flag will be flown during the month of June.
Rehoboth Beach is known for being an LGBTQ-friendly resort town. The year-round population of about 1,500 residents swells in the summer months, reaching more than 25,000, according to Travel US News.
“Rehoboth Beach is home to a vibrant LGBTQ+ community, which greatly contributes to the social and economic vitality as well as the character of our city,” Mayor Stan Mills said in a press release. “The City of Rehoboth Beach strives to foster diversity among its residents and visitors and to be a welcoming community to all.”
Rehoboth Beach Pride is scheduled for July 16-20.
Rehoboth Beach
Ashley Biden to speak at Blade’s Summer Kickoff Party in Rehoboth Beach
May 16 event to honor Beau Biden, feature speech from Gov. Matt Meyer
The Washington Blade’s 18th annual Summer Kickoff Party is scheduled for today in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Ashley Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden, has joined the list of speakers, the Blade announced on Friday. She will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau Biden for his LGBTQ advocacy work as Delaware attorney general.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer has also joined the list of speakers.
The event, held at the Blue Moon (35 Rehoboth Ave.) from 5-7 p.m., is a fundraiser for the Blade Foundation’s Steve Elkins Memorial Fellowship in Journalism, which funds a summer position reporting on LGBTQ news in Delaware. This year’s recipient will be introduced at the event.
The event will also feature remarks from state Sen. Russ Huxtable, who recently introduced a state constitutional amendment to codify the right of same-sex couples to marry. CAMP Rehoboth Executive Director Kim Leisey and Blade editor Kevin Naff will also speak. The event is generously sponsored by Realtor Justin Noble, The Avenue Inn & Spa, and Blue Moon.
A suggested donation of $20 is partially tax deductible and includes drink tickets and light appetizers. Tickets are available in advance at bladefoundation.org/rehoboth or at the door.
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