Student-produced Play Showcased in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, a First for CCP

In spring 2025, students in Community College of Philadelphia’s Theater program presented their original play,” Miz Prophet Tells All”—born out of a class prompt to create puppet figures and set design elements for an imaginary production based on the Cassandra myth. The play was so widely well-received that the department encouraged students and their faculty leaders to submit the work for entry into the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. This week, those same students will be performing an updated version of the show as part of Fringe Fest, the first time CCP has ever been included in the renowned, city-wide event. The show is again being directed by CCP Theater instructor, Dave Ebersole, the show’s original director.

“So, the play started from exercises and projects in English 141, which is Intro to Technical Theater,” said Jonathan Pappas, the assistant professor of English who worked most closely with the students on this show. “We wanted to build some cool, exciting puppets in this case. And in order to professionalize it...we started thinking, ‘well, what kind of play would need these large stage elements?’” From there, Pappas pulled in students from Scriptwriting and Acting classes to dream up something that could incorporate these incredible prop designs. The project then began to morph into its own form outside the classroom. “In between my design class and the acting class [there was] this three-hour gap and they wrote a script over a full semester,” Pappas said.

Professor Pappas articulated how rare it is in the theater world for a production to start from a place of technical design, rather than a narrative storyline or script. “I think the most difficult part about getting started was definitely the fact that it came from a technical angle,” said Thaddeus Bey, one of the main writers of the show. “So, it's like, okay, you have this box, and you have to figure out how to work inside the box and make it your own idea.” For months, three dedicated students—Thaddeus Bey, Yerancey Acevedo and Justin Hart—worked together between classes to develop a solid narrative that could stand on its own. And so, “Miz Prophet Tells All” came to be.

Being accepted into the Fringe Festival gave an opportunity for this group of students to make additional tweaks to enhance their original production. The students came back together to rewrite the script, and they even added a whole new scene. The cast came back together too—even those who graduated earlier this year. Without giving too many spoilers, Leena Tran, one of the show’s set designers, stage manager and onstage puppeteer, explained the process of building a 22-foot snake prop that will take five people to operate on stage. Leena has spent the last two months working on this snake, which is mostly made of recycled materials that would otherwise be trash.

Like everyone involved in the production, Thaddeus was thrilled to learn that they’d been accepted into the Fringe Festival. “I think that's probably the coolest part about the Fringe, [that] it gives us a really cool second swing at it,” he said. “With the Fringe, we get to show that we can take it even further, which is really nice.” Being a professional festival, the Fringe show offers the opportunity for these students and recent graduates to have a high-level, professional theater experience, something they can take with them wherever they go next.

For Leena, being part of the Fringe Festival is proof that she can do this work creatively and for herself. “I think it, to me, it means a lot because I can really prove to myself that I can work on this project and build something myself. I originally went into tech theater because I love working with people, and it's amazing to see so many people work together to create this show,” said Leena, who graduated from CCP in May and is using her Theater training to work professionally for local theatre companies as a set designer and stage-manager. She also worked on another show in this year’s Fringe Festival called Carnival of Feelings.

Pappas is excited to see students getting this opportunity to showcase their creativity and share the show with a larger audience. This is the first time that CCP has been part of the Fringe Festival and is likely the first time an entirely student-produced and run show will be featured in the festival. “I'm thrilled that a bigger audience will see what they've made, and [see] that it is a community, and it's the product of so much storytelling and artistry,” Pappas said.

The key to a good theater production is the community and the collaboration that brings people from many places and backgrounds to create one beautiful, cohesive performance. “Miz Prophet Tells All’s” inclusion in the Fringe Festival is a reminder of the strength of community and collaboration. Students and recent grads taking time out of their busy schedules to create another run of this show and take it to the next level is a testament of their dedication and belief in themselves and each other.

The show will run Sept. 23 through 26 with a 6 p.m. start time each night. You can purchase tickets online through the Fringe Festival.