July 8, 2015

As part of their Cool Classics series this summer, Philly’s Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company (CCTC) will present the new original play RAGE OF ACHILLES, directed by Drexel adjunct Theatre professor Damon Bonetti. The show will take place in Westphal’s URBN Annex Black Box Theater in August and involves several Drexel students from across the University in its production, from stage management to lighting design. Exploring the season’s themes of revenge and redemption, RAGE combines comic, tragic, modern and classical elements into a worm’s eye view of one of the most important epics ever written: Homer’s ILIAD. Throughout the summer CCTC will also present free Shakespeare plays in parks across the city, including THE TEMPEST, directed by Drexel Theatre adjunct professor Allen Radway with a cast featuring Westphal Entertainment & Arts Management students Mari Ma and Joy Weir, as well as Josh Browns, Theatre adjunct professor.

RAGE was written by CCTC founding member Paul Parente and features Barrymore-Award winning actress, Charlotte Northeast. In the tenth year of war in the ILIAD, two Greek spies begin to lose control of the comfortable and profitable détente they’ve maintained with their Trojan counterpart. When the plague, a chorus of walking dead, an insecure herald and a rage-obsessed Achilles begin to crowd their comfortable no man’s land, the spies find deciding if they can justify murder for profit, or whether compassion and truth can ever find a place in a milieu dominated by destruction.

Drexel crew members include: alum Samantha Wend and current student Abby Toll, both Entertainment & Arts Management, Stage Managers; Carl Roa, Screenwriting & Playwriting student, Assistant Director/Dramaturg; Dom Chacon, Theatre adjunct professor, Lighting Designer; Danielle Kindt, Drexel alum, Box Office; Cindi Landmesser, Photography student, Wardrobe Mistress; Makiyah Elbert, Communications student, Production Intern; and Drexel alum Alex Cummiskey, Front of House Intern.

RAGE OF ACHILLES received a 2013 workshop reading with the Austin Shakespeare Festival and is the second of Parente’s plays that CCTC has produced. The theatre company is dedicated to the principle that theatre is a vital component of a civil society, presenting works from both the classic and contemporary canons.

RAGE OF ACHILLES opens Friday, August 7 at 8:00pm in the Black Box Theater (3401 Filbert Street), with a preview on August 6 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for students and seniors. Performances will take place at the following times:

Saturday, August 8 @ 8:00pm

Fridays & Saturdays @ 8:00pm

Wednesday, August 12 – Saturday, August 15 @ 8:00pm

Monday, August 17 @ 8:00pm (Industry Night)

Thursday, August 20 – Saturday, August 22 @ 8:00pm