Daniel Droppa, a recent graduate of Glenelg Country School, had never acted before this past school year, when he decided to audition for the spring musical at the school.

He ended up landing a role as one of the villains -- a wolf -- in the musical "Aesop's Foibles," which was written by his teachers and based on the stories from ancient Greece known as Aesop's Fables.

Now that role is taking him to Scotland.

Droppa is one of 35 Glenelg Country School students, from soon-to-be sophomores to recent graduates, who will head to Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

"It's really cool," Droppa said of going to the festival. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

Presented each year in August, the festival is the largest arts festival in the world, according to the festival's official Web site, www.edfringe.com.

This year's event, which will run Aug. 3-25, will feature 31,320 performances of 2,088 shows in 247 venues. Nearly 19,000 performers from 46 countries are expected to perform at this year's festival, according to the site.

The Glenelg show was selected to perform in Edinburgh as part of the American High School Theatre Festival group, which selects U.S. high schools to perform at the festival based on the schools' most recent bodies of work, awards and recommendations.

'Foibles' a year in the making

The students will perform "Aesop's Foibles," which they workshopped this spring as the school musical.

The musical comedy, which is about the muse, Thalia, seeking to find her calling by helping the slave, Aesop, to gain his freedom through the telling of his stories, was written by Glenelg teachers Carole Lehan and Tom French.

The musical will make its world premiere at the Fringe Festival in the 360-seat Church Hill Theatre, in Edinburgh, Lehan said. The students, who will leave for Scotland Aug. 9 and return to Maryland Aug. 22, will give four performances during the festival.

The show has been a year in the making, said Lehan, a drama teacher at the school who wrote the script for "Aesop's Foibles." Students auditioned for the show in September 2007 and rewrites were ongoing during the latest round of rehearsals last week, she added.

When the school was asked to apply for a spot in this year's Fringe Festival, Lehan believed their chances of being accepted were slim, she said.

"I thought, 'That would be very cool to do it, but what are the chances?' " she added.

French, a music teacher at the school who wrote the music and lyrics for the show, said that the right combination of elements -- such as the songs, plot and student performers -- came together for the group and made their trip to the festival a reality.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how the show is received by an international house," French said. "... You always worry when you write a comedy -- are they going to laugh?"

Collin Lyons, a recent graduate of Glenelg, plays the lead role of Aesop. Lyons, 18, of Glenelg, said he's excited to be part of the Fringe Festival experience.

"You never get to go overseas and perform a one-of-a-kind piece like this," he said.

The students will stage preview performances of "Aesop's Foibles" before they leave for Scotland Thursday, July 31 (7 p.m.), Friday, Aug. 1 (7 p.m.), Saturday, Aug. 2 (2 and 7 p.m.) and Sunday, Aug. 3 (2 p.m.).

Tickets to the performances, which will be held in the Mulitz Theater on the Glenelg Country School campus, are $10. All proceeds will support the students at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

For more information or to reserve tickets, e-mail show@glenelg.org or call Lee Seraydarian at 410-531-7338.

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