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College Theater Co-op Gives Students Real-World Experience

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Students of a Philadelphia University interested in theater and theater management are getting real world experience as they work side-by-side with performing arts professionals.

A piano player performs while six cast members of "Dublin by Lamplight" portray 40 different characters in a fast pace tale about the about the launch of the Irish national theater in the early 1900s. Four of the actors are Drexel University students. The other two are profession actors from Inis Nua Theater Company in Philadelphia, where Tom Reing is the Artistic Director.

"Their movement is very extreme," Reing said. "It's a mixture of Commedia dell' Arte form of theater where the performer when they speak, speak directly out to the audience, but is also a mixture of story teller theater where they are speaking about themselves in third person."

The show is part of a performing arts co-operative at Drexel called the Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP).

"When you work with professionals you rise to the level of them," said Nick Anselmo, the program's director. "So they are working really hard, they are being treated as professionals and they are doing everything they can to be as good as everyone else."

Overall, about 300 students are involved in all aspects of the production. That includes lighting, sound, sets, social media and the business side of things.

"Most of our students are not theater majors," Anselmo explained. "They may not be wanting to go into this for a living. What I try to do and what Drexel tries to do is give them a real experience and say this is what it means to be a theater professional."

"Dublin by Lamplight" runs through Sunday at Drexel's Mandell Theater.

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