AE$OP: Interview with Drexel Players
Meet the Drexel Players, who decided for this year’s Neighborhood Fringe Festival show to tell an old tale with a mature and modern twist. It opens on September 5 and runs through September 14.
FringeArts: What inspired the show?
Drexel Players: AE$OP is not like previous productions we’ve done in that it is an adapted piece. This challenge to adapt is exactly what made us want to do this show. Over the past academic year, we were exposed to adapted work in a couple different capacities: we preformed Yasuhiko Shashi’s Godzilla in the fall and worked with Book-It Repertory Theatre in the winter to premier a reading of A Tale of Two Cities. Aesop’s fables are classical Greek stories, but they are very different from the Greek tragedies like Medea and Oedipus. Still, we felt a desire to bring these tales about cute little animals screwing each other over to life. We knew we wanted to make them modern and mature. In exploring the fables themselves, we saw pretty early on that the stories lent themselves to the corporate setting. We were also inspired by writers who have explored the office environment in their work, such as Elizabeth Meriwether (The Mistakes Madeline Made), Carly Churchill (Top Girls), and Mike Judge (Office Space). We’ve used these works to guide us as we develop this piece.
FringeArts: What have you gained from performing?
Drexel Players: This will be our third performance in the Fringe Festival and from our participation in the past, we’ve learned that theater isn’t easy! That’s not a complaint or a discouragement, just an honest realization. And yet somehow, we figure it out and put on super-fun and challenging shows. It’s that earned satisfaction that I think keeps us coming back to FringeArts.
FringeArts: Who are your role models?
Drexel Players: As a group, we have a number of different role models. The Drexel theater faculty (Nick Anselmo, Bill Fennelly, Mark Andrews, and Paul Jerue) has certainly shaped the way we approach theater. They have all provided us with diverse exposure to all manifestations and aspects of theater. At times, we find ourselves emulating their styles, but yet at others we may be emulating the styles of other theater professionals that we have met as a result of our faculty. They have inspired us to push the boundaries and create new and exciting theater.
Thank you, Drexel Players!
All 2014 Fringe Festival tickets are on sale online. Tickets to AE$OP are available here.
AE$OP
URBN Annex Black Box Theater
3401 Filbert Street
Wheelchair accessible
September 5 + 6 at 7pm
September 6 at 11pm
September 7 at 6pm
September 8 + 11 at 7pm
September 12 + 13 at 8pm
September 14 at 2pm
—Devan Sims