Drexel Players Present Parts: A Speed-Through as part of Philadelphia Fringe Festival
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The Drexel Players return to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival from Sept. 6 – 14 with Parts: A Speed-Through, an immersive theater experience conceived, produced, written and performed entirely by Drexel University students and alumni. Parts: A Speed-Through takes an inside look at the relationships that young theater artists share as they produce a fictional theater show.
Performances will take place in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design’s new Black Box Theater in the URBN Center Annex (3401 Filbert St.). Show times are Friday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 8 at 2 p.m., Friday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Sept. 14 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $7 and will be available at the door or through fringearts.ticketleap.com.
The Drexel Players are a student-run organization that works in conjunction with Drexel University's Performing Arts Department to produce quality theatrical works and provide service for the community.
“We envisioned this piece to be a slightly skewed self-portrait of the Drexel Players,” says producer/co-director, James Haro, a recent graduate of the Entertainment and Arts Management program. The production team also includes Drexel Players President Mike Ambler, a senior in the LeBow College of Business; Vice-President John VanZelst, a junior in the College of Engineering; and Julie Mercik, a senior in the Westphal College.
The Drexel Players made their Philadelphia Fringe Festival debut last year with MONUMENT, a piece conceived by Drexel alum Laurel Hostak and directed by Cara Blouin. Hostak returns this year to co-direct the piece alongside Haro.
Parts: A Speed-Through marks the second time the Players have devised an original piece of theater. The Players also collaborated with The Riot Group in 2012 to create The Poet Laureate of Capitalism, directed by Whit MacLaughlin, through Drexel’s Mandell Professionals in Residence Program run by Nick Anselmo, theater program director and associate teaching professor in the Westphal College.
Sponsors for Parts: A Speed-Through include Flying Bulldog Productions, Drexel’s theater program, the Entertainment & Arts Management program and the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.
The Drexel Players produce three mainstage shows each year: a musical, a play and a professional show as part of the Mandell Professionals in Residence Project. Students participate in all aspects of theater performance and production, including acting, directing, design, costumes, lighting, sets, sound, publicity and box office. Auditions take place in the spring and the beginning of each fall term for incoming students.