By John Monaghan
This summer members of Wayne State University’s Hilberry graduate theater program has decided to stage shows of its own. The Drastic Theater Company plans to mount three plays in the Elizabeth Theatre space above downtown Detroit’s Park Bar, starting this Sunday with a double feature of “Red Light Winter” and an original production, “Hurts So Good.” “When we first arrived last August, a group of us latched onto each other and pretty much became instant best friends,” says Joshua Blake Rippy, a 24-year-old Hilberry performer and producing artistic director of the new company. In October, the students began kicking around ideas for a theater company they could start in the summer. “Each one of us loves to do classical repertory theater. That’s why we joined the Hilberry,” says Rippy.
