Weekend and Monday workshop

On Friday evening, the campers went to their first show at the Blackfriars Playhouse, the opening night of The Tempest. Everyone was dressed for the occasion, and it was great fun to see the campers all cleaned up. After a week of yoga pants, running shorts and T-shirts, here they were, sporting ties and hats, heels, summer dresses, scarves, and suspenders. Their enthusiasm infected the whole playhouse. Sometimes this energy showed itself in silent rapt attention, sometimes in applause after a particularly impressive scene, and at intermission their energy broke into dancing to the actors’ music as they waited in line for the snack cart. I had hoped to go with the campers to The Importance of Being Earnest the following evening, but the house, including standing room, was completely sold out, so I had to take it on good report that everyone had a good time.

The weekends at ASCTC feature a lot of much-appreciated time out of doors. During the weekdays, the campers are free to spend time outside during their siesta after lunch, either on the Stuart Hall grounds or walking in pairs around downtown Staunton. Sometimes in rehearsal a few campers will head outside with an assistant director, working on another scene or running lines while the director works on a different scene, but otherwise most of the workshops, lectures, and rehearsals are held indoors. On Saturday, however, all the campers went to Gypsy Hill Park for a picnic lunch, and on Sunday, everyone headed to Lake Lofton for a day of cookouts and sunshine and swimming -- exactly what they needed after a week full of working their minds.

Monday morning opened with other pair of workshops, one in Voice with Allison Glenzer and another in Alexander Technique with Jeremiah Davis and his teacher, Daria Okugawa. She describes Alexander Technique as an endless study, like learning to play a musical instrument, but says that even a few pointers in a 2-hour workshop will give you enough to start thinking and working. Much of the morning was spend simply identifying areas of stress and tension in our bodies and in our lives and realizing that awareness of these areas will allow us to change our habits, so we can expend less energy on simple actions like walking or sitting or standing and be more focused on whatever task we are hoping to perform.

This was my first experience with any sort of Alexander workshop, and though I usually sit and take notes on the workshops, Jeremiah encouraged me to join in, saying that I’d learn a great deal more by doing it, rather than by just looking at the campers work. The most amazing thing for me was watching the way that the campers' bodies changed just by having Okugawa shift their head or shoulders so that their spine was erect and not curved or slumped to one side. Suddenly the teenagers I had become used to seeing as slumped, tired, or lacking physical confident turned into beings of statuesque beauty and elegance. Every inch of their bodies became suddenly engaged and alive in a matter of seconds. The rest of the campers were gasping at the change, which wasn’t necessarily one they could hold onto, as all of them had build some pretty strong habits. At least now they knew what they were capable of, had had a glimpse of it, and they can take that shimmer into the way they carry themselves in the world.