By Maddy Longwell
Staff Writer
The start of the new semester comes with a fresh start to student activities. This week, many of the Colleges of the Fenway (COF) performing arts organizations began to announce start dates for its programs.
Simmons students, as members of the six-college consortium, are able to participate alongside student from Emmanuel College, Wheelock College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, MCPHS University, and Massachusetts College of Art and Design in dance, theater, chorus, or orchestra groups.
The COF Theater Project kicked off its semester on Tuesday, Sept. 13 with the first rehearsal. The organization met in Tower Auditorium at MassArt. The Project is open to anyone with interest in theater, regardless of experience, and no audition for participation is necessary. Each semester culminates in a performance, which has in the past included work from Beckett and Shakespeare.
On Monday, Sept. 12, the COF Dance Project announced registration for fall classes was open online. The Dance Project is now in its 11th year and includes styles a wide range of dance styles: ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, tap, jazz, afro-contemporary and latin dance. Rehearsals will begin the week of Sunday, Sept. 18, and there will be a performance at the end of each semester.
Now in its 12th year, the COF Chorus starts its own rehearsals on Monday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Emmanuel College. This semester the COF chorus performance will be titled “E Pluribus Unum: A Celebration of Diversity.”
On the musical side, COF groups include both an orchestra and jazz band. The orchestra meets on Thursday evenings in Alumnae Hall at the Simmons Residence Campus. Orchestra auditions will be held on Thursday, Sep. 15, and Thursday, Sept. 26.
COF Jazz band, now in its ninth year, meets under the direction of Ray Fahrner. No audition is necessary to join the jazz band, which meets every Thursday in Alumnae Hall at Simmons.
More information on all of these organizations can be found on the COF website: www.colleges-fenway.org.
