By Mike Finney

DOVER — A visit to Shanita and Curtis Powell’s new establishment promises a smashing good time — both physically and emotionally.

The graduates of Delaware State University opened The Smash House at 4123 N. Dupont Highway on July 1.

The business offers “rage rooms” and an event space for private parties, plus a networking spot for workplace events.

So, what exactly is a rage room?

“Total destruction is what happens in the rage room, where people can break glass,” said Ms. Powell, a Philadelphia native. “Sometimes, they use the rage room as batting cages, and they’ll take the glass bottles, and they’ll throw them. They’ll use them for golfing. They’ll use them to play tennis. … And, when they fall, and they break, there’s excitement.”

Space at The Smash House is interchangeable, she continued.

“Either it’s two (rage room) areas, or it can open up to be one area for a large party, and then, it’s an event space, where the rage area can come down — it’s collapsible. Then, they can just rent out the entire building.

“Our walls glow in the dark. Our floors glow in the dark. So, they can have a little party in here.”

So far, the rage room function has attracted the most attention. But visitors’ safety is always top of mind, with helmets and faceguards supplied.

“We make sure that they rage safely in their little Smash House uniforms,” Ms. Powell said, adding that the room can be therapeutic for those coping with stress and other emotional issues.

The facility can also supplement court-appointed anger management classes.

“For grief, we had a couple who came in, and they said that they can’t afford therapy, so this is the next best solution for them,” Ms. Powell said. “We actually have physical doctors who recommend some of their patients to come in here.

“Sometimes, they’ll say, ‘Oh, I have this knot that’s been accumulating here, and it’s been going on for some time, and it’s stress-induced.’ People get stress-induced migraines, stress-induced knots, and one person said their doctor told them to come visit a stress room — and that’s another name for a rage room.”

There are no rules when it comes to the rage room, the owners say. Safety is paramount, but if a participant wants to scream and break things, that is encouraged.

Mr. Powell, a native of Washington, D.C., is a health teacher at Everett Meredith Middle School in Middletown.

“I teach about mental health to my students, and when I talk about treating mental health, the only two solutions are therapy and medication,” he said. “My wife came to me with this idea, and I heard about it, and we just talked about it several times, and it just made sense.

“This could be another option for mental health, and mental health is huge, especially now where we talk about 90% of the people who commit suicide start off with a mental health issue. So, this is needed. We want to offer different ways to treat mental health.”

Ms. Powell said she didn’t think twice about opening the site in the capital city.

“Why not Dover?” she said. “Delaware doesn’t have a lot for entertainment space, and also, Dover has a high homeless population, and where there’s homelessness that means there’s mental illness, and there’s a need for some kind of solution to address that. A rage room is one form of solution, in addition to therapy.”

While The Smash House offers discounts to first responders, teachers and students at Delaware State University, Delaware Technical Community College’s Dover campus and Wilmington University, the rage room packages range in price from $40 for a one- or two-person 20-minute experience up to $200 for an Executive Group Smash Session (a four- to six-person, one-hour session).

“We are also an event space, so people can rent this out for a private party, but then, we also see ourselves as a networking space, as well, for workplace solutions. So, if there’s team-bonding or team-building activities that need to happen, we can help to facilitate those,” Ms. Powell said.

So far, the Powells and their five children, ages 4-22, have found a home away from home at The Smash House.

“We have been busy every week since we’ve opened our doors,” Ms. Powell said. “The Dover community and surrounding communities have been very kind (to) us. We’re open seven days a week by appointment.”

However, the couple did stress that, if an individual feels the need to come in immediately, they will try their best to accommodate them.

“Because we do want to keep space for those who want to use this for those more cathartic purposes, we are appointment-based, in case they need that private moment where they want to yell and rage and scream,” Ms. Powell said. “We never know what the emotions of our clients are going to be at that time.”

As far as the items destroyed in the rage room, they are mostly garnered through donations, with Mr. Powell saying his busiest day of the week for rounding up materials is trash day.

The Smash House can be reached at 302-233-8361 or info@smashhousede.com.

Staff writer Mike Finney can be reached at 302-741-8230 or mfinney@iniusa.org.
Follow @MikeFinneyDSN on X.