By Stacey Federoff

Wearing white coveralls while standing in front of plastic-covered shelves on each wall of the props department in the Purnell Center for the Arts, Arden Zemler Wu placed a capsule filled with fake blood into their mouth, then snapped it with their teeth so the gooey mixture oozed past their lips.

“It tastes like chocolate,” they said.

Zemler Wu, a senior at Prisma High School from Boston, took part in the design and production option of the Pre-College Program in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama this summer that included trips to the props warehouse, creating molded props, and ways to use prop blood.

About a half-dozen high school students took part in the workshop led by props manager Todd Kulik and senior arts technician Kristin Ward, joined by teaching assistants Sydney de Haan and Carolyn Burback, both juniors majoring in drama.

Jake Isenberg, a senior at the Galloway School in Atlanta, said during the six-week program he was able to try out different types of design and production techniques that he hadn’t before including sound, projections, costumes and props.

“You’re really in the weeds. It definitely tells you if you want to do this in school or not and prepares you for Carnegie Mellon,” he said. “Most of the classes and teachers are at the top of their game in their fields and it’s a tough, exciting program.”