April 23, 2020

The Department of Cinema & Television, in addition to finding novel ways to conduct production and film studies courses online, continues to promote opportunities to keep its community connected. On Wednesday nights at 8:30pm ET, the department hosts the Screenwriting Writers Room Virtual Hangout. Screenwriting & Playwriting Program Director Matt Kaufhold is in residence, discussing writing during COVID-19, how to break down stories, and how to fix all those pesky script problems. Students, faculty, and staff are also encouraged to connect through the Cinema & Television Virtual Basement: a place to share ideas, post upcoming virtual events, and connect about topics academic and social.

During Winter term, the students of Bruce Graham’s Page to Stage crafted a collection of short plays that were to be brought to life as a performance with actors from the Theatre program under the direction of Bill Fennelly in our annual New Works Festival. Like all live events, the New Works Festival was cancelled, but faculty have found a way to keep the creative spirit of performance alive while social distancing. Professor Fennelly marshaled the writers and actors to create a zoom-based reading and recording of all the new plays. This new exploration of theater in a virtual medium serves as the first performance of these student-written plays, recorded over a two-day period in April. The virtual plays will be available on the Theatre program’s YouTube Channel.

The Drexel Cinematheque film screening series, now in its second year, is curated by Film & Television faculty Gerry Hooper, Alison Standefer, and David Deneen along with Post Facilities Manager Nick Natalicchio and Administrative & Communications Coordinator, Rachel Casey. Every Thursday during Spring term, students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend the screenings virtually with Netflix. This term, to hopefully lighten everyone’s moods,it’s all about comedies. Faculty will provide an intro and viewers will provide the chat commentary. Popcorn optional. Visit the Cinema & Television hub for the film schedule.