Student directors discuss the productions and their processes
October 2025 – Drew University’s Theatre & Dance Department will present three days of plays directed by Drew students in their opening event of the semester.
The plays will be performed as part of the Debut Set, which will run October 16-18. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on October 16, October 17, and October 18, with a 2 p.m. matinee on the 18th.
The students directing the works helped break down the respective productions:
The Proposal by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Casey Cornwell C’27
The play: The Proposal is a comedic play written in 1889 by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. The play follows Lomov, a hypochondriac gentleman in his attempt to ask his neighbor, Natalya, for her hand in marriage. Natalya’s father, Chubukov, is welcoming to Lomov and encourages the union. Lomov panics and refuses to go forth with the proposal, launching himself and Natalya into an outrageous argument over land ownership and who owns the better dog. Lomov’s panic causes him to faint, and Chubukov takes charge, getting the two to agree to marry one another.
From Cornwell: Though the play takes place in a wealthy, upper-class home in pre-Soviet Russia, the actors will speak and move in a modern way. Their attitudes and demeanors will not be dissimilar to someone you’d meet today. Much of the play’s humor will come from the irony generated by modern acting mixed with old language and setting.
The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
Directed by Caroline Danner C’26
The play: The thump of a heartbeat. The creak of a door. The Tell-Tale Heart is a chilling adaptation of one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most iconic tales. It follows “the young” as they spiral into madness, clinging desperately to the illusion of sanity even as their thoughts betray them. What begins as a calculated plan to murder “the old” quickly unravels into a haunting descent into guilt and delusion. The “shudders” are not merely sounds but the voices echoing through the young’s fractured mind, blurring the boundary between reality and imagination.
From Danner: Through my experience collaborating with the Tectonic Theatre Company during my New York Semester on Theatre, I am using moment work to shape this adaptation into one that leaves the audience not only unsettled but also reflective, forcing them to confront the fragile line between reason and madness. I aim to bring the audience into the claustrophobic world of “the young”, where every heartbeat and every whisper becomes inescapable.
Like a Jet-Fueled Mariposa by The Alebrije Writers Collective
Directed by Lexi DeRonde C’26
The play: Like A Jet-Fueled Mariposa is a visionary play by the Alebrije Collective that tells the story of two undocumented sisters, fifty years into the future, building a spaceship to escape an administration that demands service in exchange for citizenship. Though set in the future, this story speaks urgently to our present.
From DeRonde: When I think of this play, I think of my mother—a woman of quiet strength and relentless determination, who taught herself English by memorizing a dictionary. The woman who gave me my desire to learn. I think of my Abuelita, whose love of poetry and art shaped my heart and imagination. I think of my Tías, who live the true meaning of sisterhood every day; in laughter, in sacrifice, in love. This story is real. This story is now.
