September 22, 2015

The Department of Performing Arts has organized an ambitious lineup of music, theater and dance performances for the upcoming year.  The Theatre program will stage a puppetry-infused production of Watership Down as well as the most entertaining musical Little Shop of Horrors. The Music program will present dozens of concerts from our diverse ensembles, with such standouts as a concert and master class with Matthew Gallagher, the Philly Pops’ trumpeter, and the Gospel Choir’s 38^th Anniversary Concert. Our two student dance companies will perform original works by noted guest choreographers Lindsay Browning, Clyde Evans, and Ellen Shaness Kemp. It’s impossible to not be impressed by the very high level of talent and passion of Drexel students who are drawn to the performing arts from all of the University’s Colleges and Schools. Read on for more highlights, or click to view the full year’s schedule.

During the fall term the Concert Band will have its consortium premiere of Where the Good Sounds Live with guest composer Alvin Singleton (ASCAP), and the University Orchestra, now in its third year, will present International Roots featuring guest Philly Pops trumpeter Matthew Gallagher. These performances are in addition to a veritable cornucopia of musical styles and compositions that will be presented by our multiple ensembles.

The Drexel Co-Op Theatre’s production of Watership Down is part of the Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP), which brings a noted professional company to campus to work onstage and behind-the-scenes with our students. This year’s company-in-residence is Simpatico Theater Project, an award-winning Philadelphia company that received nine Barrymore Award nominations last year. In the spring we’ll present the very entertaining Little Shop of Horrors, in which a down-and-out skid row floral assistant becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a craving for fresh blood.

We’ll host a lecture on modern dance with scholar Wendy Perron, a former dancer with Trisha Brown whose historical work from the Judson Church era is the focus of a Philadelphia-wide project this fall, of which Drexel is a part; as well as the much-anticipated annual concerts by our two student dance companies, FreshDance and Dance Ensemble. We hope to see you at these events and more throughout the year!

Students interested in participating in the performing arts can email performingarts@drexel.edu.