Your Opportunity: The Performing Arts at Drexel

Have you danced since you were four years old? Have you played the trumpet since you were in 4th grade? Do you feel like you were always singing in the school or church choir when you were growing up? Just because you are going to college, it doesn't mean that you have to give that up. At Drexel, any student can be involved in performing arts, no matter what your major is. There is even a performing arts scholarship that you can audition for in the spring of your senior year of high school.

I remember when I was a student at Drexel, I had a friend named Jim who was a Business and Engineering major. One day, when I was on my way to the student newspaper, I saw him carrying his bassoon. When I questioned what he was doing, he explained that he had auditioned for a performing arts scholarship the year before and now he was part of the Pep Band. The Pep Band performs at all of the home basketball games, so if you play an instrument and you like college basketball, the Pep Band could be a fun student organization for you.

If you are a dancer, Drexel has both the Drexel Dance Ensemble, a stage performance group, and the Drexel Dance Team, which performs at the home basketball games and is run through the spirit groups in the Athletics Department. In fact, there has been such an increased interest in the Dance Ensemble that an additional dance group was created just for first-year students, called FreshDance.

At Drexel, any student can be involved in performing arts, no matter what your major is.

If theater is your interest, either on stage or behind the scenes, the Drexel Players or the Co-Op Theatre Company might be something for you to explore. There are also theater classes offered that anyone can take. Also, anyone can try out for roles in the wide variety of plays that are both small scale and performed in our URBN Center Black Box Theater or larger-sized productions that are held in the Mandell Theater in the Creese Student Center. Performances range from national productions to shows written by local playwrights like Bruce Graham, who is part of the Drexel faculty, and even Drexel's own playwriting and screenwriting undergraduate students.

If you prefer to be behind the scenes, students can get involved with our production groups too. I even just learned that all of the costumes for our theater productions and dance ensemble are designed and made by Drexel's fashion design students.

Though outside of our Performing Arts Department, we have student organizations for our men's a capella group, 8 to the Bar and women's a capella group, the TrebleMakers. You may see and hear them perform at one of our admissions events on campus when they are not rushing off to a competition around the region. If you are not a performer and would just prefer to be a spectator, like me, for little to no cost you can attend one of the events hosted by our more than 16 performing arts groups on campus.

No matter what your major is or where your interests lie, you can participate in the performing arts at Drexel. With such a broad array of opportunities, Drexel empowers you to follow your passions and take hold of your creative dreams.