After college graduation, Delate moved to New York City and spent his first few years adapting, both professionally and personally, to the novelty and pace of the city. Delate's first professional acting work (and his very special association with the New York Shakespeare Festival) began in 1981, when he was cast in both of the plays performed in Central Park that summer - Henry IV, Part I and The Tempest. Other plays followed (including Joseph Papp's Hamlet with Diane Venora), and in 1984-1985, ...