January 19, 2014

Philadelphia’s unconventional Swim Pony Performing Arts company and The Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP) want to take you on a very different tour of Drexel’s campus – one that fuses Drexel landmarks with very personal (and sometimes awkward) anecdotes of student life. “Welcome to Campus,” part of our Theatre program’s first New Works Festival, is a immersive, genre-defying theatrical experience loaded with laughs and a few surprises.

Swim Pony director Adrienne Mackey is committed to the creation of unique live performances that are joyful and defy tradition with an ensemble of multidisciplinary artists who live and work in Philadelphia. The group’s 2010 production, “SURVIVE!” established their unique style that’s part performance, part art installation, coupled with a journey through a maze, and a chance for the audience to choose-their-own-adventure. “SURVIVE!” had audiences wandering through 20,000 square feet of performance space, guided by a narrator. “Welcome to Campus” takes audiences from the URBN Annex Black Box Theater to a culmination in the Mandell Theater, with a script based on original stories written by the student actors in the play.

“The actors will be telling stories about their lives at Drexel along the tour, and the audience will sometimes notice that these scenes are being acted out in the scenery around them,” explains Mackey. “The idea evolves from theatre games, or activities during theatre exercises and rehearsal, where actors and actresses create roles for their own characters. I don’t want to ruin the surprises we have planned by getting too much into detail about the show. All I can say is that ‘Welcome to Campus’ is going to be a lot of fun. Wear comfortable shoes and bring an umbrella, just in case.”

“Welcome to Campus” is made possible in part through a grant from the Samuel P. Mandell Foundation. Performances are planned for groups of approximately 15 audience members, so tickets will be very limited. Some performances are already sold out. 

To purchase tickets, visit: http://welcometocampus.brownpapertickets.com/ 

Showtimes:
Wednesday, Feb. 19th at 7:00 PM
Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 PM (8:30 PM sold out)
Friday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, Feb. 22 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 PM
Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:00 PM and 8:30 PM
Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, March. 1 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, March. 2 at 7:00 PM

For more information, click here to visit the event's Facebook page, or call 847-309-1266