Do What You Will: ASC Theatre Camp Talent Show

Karl Dickey and Liam Rowland 

             Once every session, the campers get a chance to showcase their diverse talents to their peers during an ASC Theatre Camp event called “What You Will .” As the name might suggest, the campers can perform whatever they feel personally accomplished at or want to do. What You Will is a break from our standard rehearsal schedule that allows the campers to perform a wide variety of pieces, some quirky, most hilarious, all engaging, to their fellow campers.

            While not every What You Will has MCs, Karl Dickey and Liam Rowland volunteered for the task as part of their talent. Clad in uniform dinner jackets and bowties, sporting sunglasses and fancy hats, this hysterical pair introduced each of the twenty-seven pieces put on during What You Will. Both Karl and Liam are talented musicians, so they frequently introduced their peers in song. For example, before Noël Grisanti and Maggie Doyle performed the famous unpinning scene from Shakespeare’s Othello, Liam and Karl threw out a couple jokes and performed the “Othello Rap” from the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). Our MCs flew by the seat of their pants, providing hilarious, often improvised, introductions for their peers.

Hugh Raup "hypnotizes" Counselors into Contortion

            As previously mentioned in this blog, our campers this session are a particularly musical bunch, but it has never been so apparent as at What You Will. Be it performing original songs, covering well known favorites, or mashing up popular songs to create something new, our campers wowed us with their  creative, instrumental, and vocal prowess. In addition to musical abilities, many campers revealed their varied dance abilities. While we saw some magnificent traditional pieces, such as Caroline Cromwell’s ballet, some were refreshingly less conventional. Cyler Winnie did a modern robot dance fluidly, while Elise Ammondson did her own soft shoe/ hard shoe mashup Irish jig take on “Cotton-eye Joe.” Some of our campers decided to doff conventional talents in favor of physical feats. Hugh Raup decided to amaze his fellow campers by doing a series of contortions that culminated in the “hypnotization” of four counselors for a group number.

Carmen Paddock Performs a Monologue

            Some of the scenes that were being performed were original pieces written by our very own campers. Elizabeth Williams, Annalise Kiser, and Rachel Poulter-Martinez each wrote different pieces. Annalise chose to read her own work aloud while Elizabeth and Rachel  had given scenes to their peers and asked them to perform staged readings of them. Both Rachel and Elizabeth acted as directors for their scenes, and took the time before the show to gather props to bring them to life. In performance, the pieces were thoughtful, dramatic, and dark, and they well harnessed the talents of their peers. It was lovely to see this facet of our campers’ talents on display. It was interesting to see the fruits of the directorial positions that some of the campers took.

            The strong group energy that resonates during each camp activity has been remarkable. During many of the different musical pieces, the audience members would often chime in by clapping, snapping, or even stomping to the beat. Always respectful of the onstage performer, they got involved only they were encouraged to, always adding to and not detracting from the piece. This sense of group camaraderie was particularly tangible during Hugh Raup’s performance of “Mariner’s Revenge” by The Decembrists. He sang it with no instrumental accompaniment, so, taking the lead of counselor Dan Stevens, the campers beat out a percussive line to add to the song.

What You Will has consistently been a lovely night where all of the members of camp get together to watch and support each other’s abilities. What You Will is voluntary, so everyone who performed wanted to showcase and share their accomplishments with the camp. It is a beautiful evening of support, humor, creativity, and appreciation, and it demonstrates what a large pool of talent our directors at their disposal to incorporate into our upcoming productions. Though What You Will was a private, camp-only event, our performances of Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI and Much Ado About Nothing as well as Beaumont and Fletcher's A King and No King premier on Sunday, August 5th for a free and open to the public one day event. Please join us to see more of what our talented campers can do!

 --Madeleine M. Oulevey

Alumni Camp's Macbeth

Although Session 1 ended on Sunday, the excitement of camp never pauses during summers at the ASC. This week, which falls in between Session 1 and Session 2 of ASC Theatre Camp, the ASC alumni camp is producing Macbeth. Campers who have aged out of both sessions have come together in a theatrical reunion under the direction of Matt Sincell. This weeklong frenzy is certainly intensive, as the twelve person cast rehearses around eight hours a day. After a move-in day, the alumni have only six days in which to memorize, block, and rehearse the entire play. Fortunately, these dedicated campers are so passionate about this play and about ASC Theatre Camp, that they are willing to suffer through these challenging conditions and commit themselves fully to this endeavor.

Watching the rehearsal process has been fascinating because the show is such an equal collaboration between actors and director. Matt is completely open to the campers’ visions and ideas for the show and many of them are incorporated throughout. Because this age group is eighteen and up, these actors are well equipped with the skills they gained attending ASC Theatre Camp, as well as general knowledge of theatrics.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is notorious for its eeriness and violence, elements which the alumni are taking by stride, sparing the audience no mercy. The play’s magic is brought to life not only in the three witches, but also in Macbeth; this production highlights his interest in the supernatural. With fight scenes choreographed by Matt Sincell and Ben Curns, this production will raise goose-bumps on the skins of whoever dares to attend.

The performance will be on Sunday, July 15th at 5:00 p.m. at the Blackfriars Playhouse. Admission is free.

Facebook Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/403953632975435/

--Emma Lo

Independence Day in Staunton

            Happy Independence Day week from the ASC Theatre Camp! After a full day of stage combat and music workshops, and pre-show and play rehearsals, we finally got the chance to celebrate American independence. We did so first by going to the flagpole located at the highest point of Mary Baldwin College. There, Mary Baldwin’s president and his wife greeted and welcomed us into their home for a special treat. Waiting for celebrants of the Fourth was a lovely ice cream sundae bar complete with three different flavors of ice cream, and every topping one could hope for. 
             By the time we had all received our ice cream (though some sneaked back for seconds) the sky was starting to darken, but it was lit up with a beautiful orange full moon. As we waited for the fireworks to begin, many decided to use the ice cream social to socialize with non-camp members. Though the blanket-spreading crowd consisted mostly of Staunton locals, some of our campers got to know some of the Heifitz  campers who are also staying in the area. While Gabriel Komisar discussed the cello with some, Blaire Sharman and Marianna Moynihan decided to display their art instead. In this way, many of the locals viewed our campers conduct a brief hand-to-hand stage combat demonstration. That’s not the only thing that ASC Theatre Camp members brought to the picnic. Daniel Cassler decided to fight against the odds and fly a kite on what was a fairly breezeless evening. With a great deal of effort, his kite flew for a little while, entertaining those present. Though the campers had spread out on the hill a bit, the promise of sparklers quickly reunited them. Anticipating the forthcoming fireworks, our campers helped to light up the night sky. Although many campers celebrated the Fourth differently during the ice cream social, it was the variety and creativity with which they did that made it so much fun to watch. It spoke to the different strengths, interests, and attitudes of our campers. ASC Theatre Camp brings together students from all over the country, with different backgrounds and day-to-day lives, together to celebrate their love and interest of Shakespeare. A quirky bunch, we celebrated in true, wide-ranging, zany fashion.

While the 4^th of July is a day of celebration nationwide, it also happens to coincide with the ASC Theatre Camp’s last week. During this last week, each of the three casts gets to attend a late night dress rehearsal of the other shows. So, after ice cream, fireworks, and less conventional activities, the campers trekked downhill and were privy to an exclusive performance of Gallathea at Blackfriars Playhouse. The Gallathea cast delighted us with song, dance, and hilarity for an hour before we headed back uphill to Mary Baldwin, ending our Independence Day at 12am sharp. 

-Madeleine M. Oulevey

Gallathea Rehearsals

Catherine Gilbert as Diana and Stone Stowers as Neptune

      We’ve reached week three here at the ASC Theatre Camp.  Campers, counselors, directors, and dramaturgs alike are rearing to go for our big performances on Sunday. By now everyone is off book, costumes are materializing, and actors are polishing up their delivery and blocking with the help of their directors and dramaturgs. Of the three plays that we are performing for session one, John Lyly’s Gallathea stands apart for two reasons: First, it is the only one of the three written by someone other than William Shakespeare. Second, it is entirely in prose. These differences should in no way discourage would-be viewers. As Lilly Carr, one of our campers, said: “Gallathea is ridiculous and funny; complete with cross-dressing that is Twelfth Night on steroids.”  Lyly’s Gallathea includes witty servants, supernatural intervention, and problematic love not unlike many Shakespearean comedic plots. Though the version that will appear on the Blackfriars stage has been cut down to meet the one-hour time limit, Lyly’s text and the performers are not short on humorous charm.   

Doing Text Work for a Scene

Chelsea Phillips, the director of Gallathea, has created an open, organized, and positive environment for the campers. Leila Silberstein spoke to this effect when she said: “I love the freedom that Chelsea gives us. She is always very energetic and positive.” This sentiment is one that many other performers in Chelsea’s cast repeated. At the start of each rehearsal, Chelsea typically informs the campers of what they will be working on and what they can expect during the day. After brief warm-ups hailed as “spontaneous and fun” by Caroline Link, the campers split up into their different subplots to work on their scenes. These divisions do not mean that the campers in one subplot are unaware of the progress and work that their peers in other groups have made. As Calliope George explained to me: “Rehearsals are made up of split-up and group work. We get a lot done while also interacting on a personal level with other members of our cast.” In short, Chelsea Phillips has given her actors the freedom to work and to develop their characters while also providing a structured and positive work environment.

Josie Kritter and Maren Ericsson

Each cast only has three weeks to work on their shows, so there isn’t much time to waste. Even so, Gallathea rehearsals are full of laughter and physical comedy. The characters that Lyly has created are a varied bunch. While some of our campers only play one role, many get to experience several roles through doubling (or even tripling). Lily Carr, for example, plays Robin and the alchemist. In doing so, she faces the challenge presented by clowning: “Playing a clown is a new experience for me. Everything is a lot bigger and expressive.” As the campers soon realized, each new role involves its own set of discoveries and challenges to work with. Since the plot of Gallathea calls for more than just clowns, there are many types of characters. For example, much of the plot revolves around the pesky problems posed by the involvement of deities in both life and love. As such, some of our campers have been faced with playing the parts of Roman gods. When I asked about her experience playing Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon, Catherine Gilbert said, “Diana has been a challenge. She is very headstrong and stubborn. Not at all like the more lovey characters I’ve had to play in the past.” Gallathea also features a set of lovers, played by Campbell Long and Calliope George. Gallathea and Phillida are similar characters. For this reason, Cam and Calliope emphasized that their “challenge lies in making our characters their own people. Our characters have essentially the same backstory and motives. We need to make it clear to the audience that they are vastly different… oh, and in love.”

Stone Stowers as Neptune and Marina Finelli as Venus

It has been an absolute delight to observe the rehearsals for Gallathea. Chelsea’s positive energy combined with the natural humor and creativity of the campers has yielded a production that is bound to delight. Already a wonderful show, Gallathea has doubtlessly been made better by what assistant director and counselor Francis Whitesell called “the deep abiding love that the cast has for each other.”  A great amount of effort, energy and hard work has gone into making Gallathea, and I hope that anyone who can will take advantage of the opportunity and come out to watch it Sunday, July 8^th at 2:45 at the Blackfriars Playhouse!  

-Madeleine M. Oulevey

Specificity and Cookie Voices: Vocal Work with Allison Glenzer

Alli’s Voice Workshop

On Monday, half of the campers attended a voice workshop taught by an American Shakespeare Center actor Allison Glenzer. Although some campers met Alli for the first time at the workshop, they have all seen her perform this season in The Merchant of Venice and The Lion in Winter. Her bio can be found here, on the ASC website. The other half of the camp will attend the same workshop next week.

In a mere two hours, Alli expanded the generic definition of voice enormously by showing what elements of the body and mind we use to produce a voice, and by helping the campers to explore the full scope and range of their voices. Alli began the workshop by having the campers check in with descriptive similes of their current mental and physical conditions. They were invited to compare themselves to the weather, breakfast foods, or cars. One camper said she felt “like a glass of still water” and another like “a lightly toasted piece of bread with butter and honey”. The purpose of this exercise was to encourage the campers to avoid using vague and meaningless words like “good” and “fine,” because the last thing an actor wants to convey is vagueness.

The campers moved on to a full exploration of their bodies in relation to their voices. Alli used the Linklater Progression, affectionately known as “Zoo Woah Shah” to help the campers link body parts to potential vocal tones. Starting low in the knees and then moving upwards through hips, chest, chin, nose, eyes, and forehead, Alli guided the campers in producing distinctive vocal colors. Having an extensive range of different voices gives an actor many avenues to express his or her gender, temperament, and context more clearly and specifically.

Alli not only provided the campers with the tools to improve their vocal acting, she also boosted their confidence in their abilities to use these tools. When asked, “Have you ever had trouble hearing a baby cry?” the campers laughed and shook their heads. “We are built to be heard,” Alli replied, proving that although society teaches us to quiet down and be polite, a large voice is something we inherently possess and thus something we can rediscover. The campers were compelled to find their “I WANT A COOKIE” voice, or the voice a toddler would use to demand something. After working with the campers on volume, Alli moved on to diction and precision, reviewing the differences between voiced and unvoiced consonants, like p vs. b, f vs. v, and s vs. z. She then challenged their dexterity with a handful of tongue-twisters. The room was soon filled with the quick-paced chanting of “I slit a sheet, I sheet I slit, upon a slitted sheet I sit”!

To culminate the workshop, the campers got a chance to apply what they had learned from Alli to the plays they’re currently working on. Each selected one memorized line of his/her character’s text, and then performed it as audibly and precisely as possible, making sure to aspirate the consonants. The campers proved they had learned well, shown by Alli’s jumps of excitement at one camper’s skillful execution of a tough line riddled with ‘f’s!

As a closing exercise, Alli asked the campers to reinforce something that they wanted to remember from the day’s session. One camper reinforced that thinking specifically will help you speak specifically. Another reinforced the value of doing vocal warm-ups every day. And the general consensus was that Alli’s thorough and enthusiastic instruction left us all wiser, louder, and really wanting cookies!

--Emma L.

History of the Book

            Much of what we do here at the ASC Theatre Camp has the campers up on their feet working with the text, but a certain portion of our efforts go to ensuring that the campers learn about the significance and history of the texts that they are working with. During the course of our three-week camp, we bring in lecturers that teach the campers about their different specialty areas. Sarah Enloe, our Director of Education at the ASC, introduced guest lecturer William Proctor Williams as being something of a “Scholar Adventurer."  Part of his career has involved “finding buried texts” and ensuring that they are properly preserved for future generations. One of his biggest finds was unearthing twenty-three dramatic manuscripts from the seventeenth century. While this is one of his largest successes, William Proctor Williams has been salvaging Early Modern texts from being discarded since grad school.

            If we had had more time than the two and a half hours that were set aside for this lecture, I am sure that we would have been treated to a full history of the written word. Williams was extremely thorough during his lecture, and he answered the campers' questions down to the most specific detail. Despite the time constraint, Williams’s lecture covered lots of ground. Williams began his lecture by explaining the evolution of the book, beginning with 3000 BCE and the use of the papyrus scroll. As he described the evolving forms of binding, he passed around a text with a cover made from vellum (calf-skin) on it. With the development of the printing press, he explained, Gutenberg combined the three major technologies of the day. One of these was the type of binding that was in use. Were it not for this shift, Williams said, we would all be vegetarians since the increase of demand for text would have caused veal to disappear altogether!

Williams’s lecture then transitioned from technological developments in printing to the working conditions that Jaggard, the manufacturer of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, would have worked in. The way we think Jaggard’s shop was run worked remained the standard from 1450-1750. His shop is thought to have contained three compositors, one compositor’s apprentice, two pressmen, two or three additional apprentices, a master printer, and a full or part time scribe. The average printer’s workday went from 5am-8pm, during which time they churned out somewhere between 900-1200 copies of a text per day. Ha, and the campers think we work them hard! Learning about the expected productivity of Jaggard’s shop seemed to make everyone a little more appreciative of our own work hours.

Williams ended the lecture explaining that part of working with Shakespeare’s text is learning about the historical conditions in which it was printed. This includes how the printed format that we now work with may have been adapted from the stage to the page.  Williams’s lecture was in-depth and informative. He was able to provide the campers with a vivid image of the history of the book in addition to answering questions that the campers had for him. All in all, it was an immersing and engaging lecture chalked full of information that will be useful to the campers as they work through their text for our upcoming productions!

-Madeleine M. Oulevey

Sonnets are about Love

In ASC Theatre Camp, the night before the last day, we have “Sonnet Night” where every camper and staff member reads a sonnet he or she has written to another member of the camp. It’s a night full of love, usually full of tears and happiness at all we’ve gone through together. Your sonnet partner is secret until the event itself, and people are encouraged to dress up as the person they are celebrating. It’s a pretty wonderful tradition, but it means that people need to be thinking about it early on in the camp. So here are some hints on sonnet writing for any of you interested in joining in on the love.

Some Tips for Sonnet Writing

What is a Sonnet?
A Shakespearean sonnet is a fourteen line poem, in iambic pentameter with three quatrains and a couplet.

Wait, iambic pentameter?
We’ve talked about this a bit in camp already, but just to refresh, iambic pentameter means that there are 10 (or occasionally 11) syllables in every line and that usually syllables 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 are emphasized. For example, “To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.” In this sentence, the emphasized words (or syllables) are also nice meaningful words, and the connecting words like “to” and “with” have less emphasis.

Three Quatrains and a what?
Quatrains and couplets are terms used in poetry indicating a rhyming pattern. A quatrain is a set of four lines with alternating rhyme (ABAB) and a couplet is just a pair of two lines which rhyme back to back. So the scheme for a (Shakespearean) sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG or three quatrains and a couplet. Here’s one of Shakespeare’s sonnets if you’d like to follow along:

As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;
So I for fear of trust, forget to say,
The perfect ceremony of love's rite,
And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might:
O let my looks be then the eloquence,
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.
O learn to read what silent love hath writ,
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

What if I can’t find any words that rhyme?
There are lots of rhyming dictionaries online, you can look for some rhymes there.

Anything else I should know?
If you’re stuck for how to organize your sonnet, Shakespeare often uses the first eight lines to ask a question or state one idea. The final six lines can then answer the question or express something different and the final couplet makes sense all by itself. You could even write your final couplet first.

Sonnets in this camp are about the community and learning and love we’ve all had together, so remember that as you write to your secret sonnet-er: sonnets are about love.

Lofton Lake Trip

Hello! This is Emma Lo writing. I'm a former camper who is along for the wild ride as an ASC Theatre Camp Intern this summer!

 After an exhilarating week of auditions, rehearsals, and workshops, the ASC Theater Campers put down their well-used scripts, piled into three white vans, and headed to Lofton Lake this past Sunday for a much deserved day off. Even so, some of the campers still found time between swimming, kayaking and s’mores-devouring to run through their lines and to practice show music.

The Lofton Lake trip occurs annually, thanks to our generous hosts, the Eckmans, a long-time camp family. Perfect for our unceasingly energetic campers, Lofton Lake boasts an array of things to do, with a lake bordered by a beach, more volleyball courts than people to play on them, trails that circumscribe the lake, and a campfire.

We were blessed with perfect weather for the field trip, and the campers spent most of their time in the water. Whether they were engaging in splash battles, trying to capsize the floating dock, or racing canoes, no one stayed dry for long. Back on land, ocarina and mandolin permeated the breeze, and bodies browned, or reddened, while the campers perused novels sub-sun.

The day unveiled many discoveries: one camper can perform outstanding backflips, another found a family of tiny frogs, and another proved that the bottom of the lake is difficult but not impossible to reach. We also discovered that some of the young actors double as skillful sand artists, conjuring mermaids and an octopus out of the shore. Unfortunately, there is currently no foreseeable way to incorporate these talents on the Blackfriars Playhouse stage… 

By mid-afternoon the official “Camp Grillmaster Tom” had prepared a meal of hot dogs, hamburgers, and barbeque for the hungry lot. It was around this time that Mr. Eckman’s pet dogs showed a heightened interest in our presence, as they attempted to taste a little of Tom’s handiwork too.

The change of setting from the camp’s Mary Baldwin campus helped the students gain some perspective. As one camper observed his peers singing together, discussing books and plays, and jamming on guitars, he noted how smart and talented this group of people is. Even outside of rehearsal space, the campers’ collective creativity and passion are evident. 

After a long day, the campers got back on the buses and reluctantly left the lovely Lofton Lake, sufficiently soggier and more refreshed than upon their arrival. But the next morning, wails erupted from the girls’ hallway in the dormitory as campers examined their sun-burned backs in the mirror. Along with warm memories, several also have physical souvenirs from their sun-filled day on Lofton Lake!

Moving Freely

            The workshops held at ASC Theatre Camp  aim to instill a wide variety of skills that are applicable to the performance and understanding of early modern text. Denice Mahler’s dance workshop got the campers working actively on their feet and interacting with the performance space and with each other.  Mahler implemented Anne Bogart’s “Viewpoints” method that provides a concrete way for discussing and acting on movement and gesture. The workshop challenged campers' comfort zones and implemented non-verbal communication, the result of which was a good, clean sweat for all involved.

            We were first charged with moving around the space. What was at first a simple task graduated in complexity, adding new challenges. First, we worked with different levels of speed. Sometimes half of the group worked at minimal speed while others raced about them. It was difficult to control one’s own motions while being aware of those of others, especially when the others were racing about them. The next challenge was moving in a certain pattern. We’d either move in a circular pattern or set to a grid. In doing so, the campers discovered new things about the space. During the group discussion, Marianna Moynihan said that being confined to walking on a grid made her realize the grid like pattern on the ceiling of the space, which she used to guide her movement. Many of the campers claimed that they reacted in a similar fashion: taking cues from the space to guide their action.

            At this point, Mahler added music to the mix. The music ranged from dubstep to smooth jazz to upbeat pop. The result was impressive. As Mahler fed us different directions for how to interact with the space, it became apparent that most of the campers lost any inhibitions about movement that they may have had. Keeping with the idea of making some motions bigger and interacting with the space, action was assigned to one body part, and we would explore out ability to translate it to another body part. The general consensus of the group was that we discovered and worked new muscles that we didn’t know we had!

            When working “freely,” patterns began to take shape. Mahler would gently suggest ways to move: using different levels, speeds, mimicking, etc. What was truly wonderful to see, however, was how relationships began to develop on their own. These exercises were non-verbal, but the campers took the initiative and acted out a variety of motions. Some created characters based on an exaggerated motion. Others worked with space, forming shapes around the scene created by another camper. Many mimicked the motion of another camper, and they were able to move around each others' empty space without verbal communication. The energy and emotion during this exercise was thrilling to witness. Each movement that the campers would go through very much retained their own personal character, but the fluidity of action and variation in movement was astonishing.

            After a brief and well-earned water break, we began a new group exercise. Walking in a circle, we were made to jump on the count of three. The goal of this exercise was to land at the same time and as soundlessly as possible. When we had completed this task, we were made to do it again without being prompted by Mahler’s counting. After a few unsuccessful attempts, we were able to all jump and land as a group at the same time without any verbal communication whatsoever.

            Our final exercise for the dance workshop was to create a series of five tableaus, or still images, to present to the group. We divided up into groups of four and picked a fairy tale that the group would then have to guess. These tableaus were silent and still with only actions to hint at what fairy tale it was to the audience. The viewpoints exercises that addressed shape came in handy here, since the campers had to become scenery as well as characters. In one group, we saw campers become a fire, a ship, and a crocodile in their series of images. Despite the fact that the workshop was tiring and intense, the general consensus was that the two hour long workshop flew by. 

Madeleine M. Oulevey

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Text and Silence

In camp the days are long and full, but the weeks are short. I’m back again to write about some of the joys of the end of our first week, but expect more posts quite soon. This post will give you a peek into Thursday and Friday morning of this past week, and it will also give you a chance to see some of the spectrum of work we accomplish in this camp; how we tell stories with our bodies and with our words onstage, and how closely those two things are connected.

Thursday morning, Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen, Co-founder and Director of Mission of the American Shakespeare Center, came to talk with all the campers. He began his lecture by getting to know the campers, asking who they are, where they’re from, remembering the past roles of the returning campers, and welcoming them to Staunton. His lecture focused on scansion and rhetoric, the nuts and bolts of Shakespeare’s text, so he taught about how exciting iambic pentameter can be if you take advantage of all the head starts Shakespeare gives you in the way he wrote his lines. With the students up out of their seats and into a row showing the syllables of a line of text, he had them stand or sit as they spoke the appropriate stressed or unstressed syllables. We started by examining some famous examples, “To be or not to be that is the question” or “tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” and then the campers started calling out lines of their own. Mari, playing Tybalt, suggested, “What art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?” and from that place we started to talk about Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting, and Cohen coached Jon and Aubrey through those lines. In the middle of a rowdy party, Romeo and Juliet make poetry together. In Shakespeare’s words, we can follow not only as the two young lovers hold each other’s hands and kiss but as they get into each other’s rhyme scheme, into each other’s quatrains and finally into each other’s lines.

Cohen also shared some ideas for perform rhyme, asking the campers who has a rhyme they’d like to share, and Madison, jumped in with “I'll do my best/To woo your lady: yet, a barful strife!/Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.” Instead of trying to mask the awkwardness of a sudden rhyme in lines which hadn’t rhymed until this point, Cohen gives the analogy of tossing up a baseball for yourself to hit. Throw your first rhyming word up so the audience can notice it, and send it home with the second rhyming word.

The last section of the lecture was on figures of speech and Shakespeare’s use of rhetoric. We delved into questions of what ways do different people talk? What does it mean for Kings to aggrandize themselves by using more words than necessary? What does it mean when characters chop words out of their sentences rather than speaking every word in full? What about characters that change the order of sentences? What does Yoda accomplish by saying the ends of his sentences before the beginnings?

When Cohen lectures, he always encourages the students to think more, look for more, find more in the performance of text. In Tom Dumontier’s workshop on neutral mask, the campers were expanding other boundaries in their imaginations, as Tom asked them again to see not what they could add, but what they could take away from their silent performances.

Working with masks can be very emotional business, as many of the campers noted in the times of reflection, “everyone wears masks, all the time, so sometimes wearing an actual mask can give you a lot of freedom. You can be anyone, or do anything and no one will judge.” This workshop is riveting to watch, as acting alone or in small groups, Tom led the campers through different exercises. Some exercises were very simple, (walk up, sit in the chair, walk back) and some were grand adventures involving fire and mountains and deserts and seas, all experiences from a base of neutrality. How would you behave neutrally if fire raged around you? If you were a robot? If you were a pregnant woman? Always the emphasis is learning from the inside out. What goes on inside you under the blank face? Where can you find stillness? How still can you be? For how long? How does that affect the people around you?

The last part of the workshop was set to music, many different types of music played immediately after each other, and every camper moved in a part of a large group improvisation. Some danced. Some crouched. Some claimed the sun as their own. Some played guitars in the slowest of slow motion. Some moved through yoga poses. Some faced each other and sized each other up. Some moved off of each other’s movements. Some stared off in perfect stillness gazing into the future and the past.

To me, it seemed that the scansion and rhetoric lecture and the neutral mask workshop were perfectly paired. They both focused on specificity, and making use of the tools available to you in performance, be that your own body and memory or Shakespeare’s craft of words. They stretched these young actors’ capabilities and challenged them to challenge themselves. Both classes equipped the students to be better actors, in speech and silence.

Double Dose of Music

We’re still in only our first week of the camps, and already all the campers have gone through two music workshops, with Greg Phelps and Jake Mahler respectively. These two actors work  for the American Shakespeare Center, and both help to organize and perform the music in the shows.

In Greg’s music workshops, he opens by asking, “Why is there music?” and gets the campers to share why they think people make music. Toni suggested that it seems like an imitation of nature, of birds singing, the rhythms of trees and water. “Music is to carry history, to help people remember through generations” said Allegra, another camper. Cam thought it could be to “express yourself” or “to communicate,” and we all agreed that people can be united or divided over music. For its use in theater, music is “infectious” and communicates “unspoken adjectives” which can present the emotional content of the scene or the play.

From this conversation about the philosophy of music, we turned to the elements of music, and discussed what makes up music, exploring questions such as if major or minor keys actually make a song sound sad or happy. Then we read through the text of all the songs in the plays we’re doing in this camp (there are quite a few) and made some discoveries about structure and form and how that might apply to a song, so that in the last section of the workshop we all made up a song together. For Greg’s first workshop we created “O Mistress Mine” from Twelfth Night. With Toni and Emily (one of our counselors) on guitar, Dan on uke, a trio of strings, and many voices singing, we put together a beautiful little song.

In Jake’s music workshop, the class started with a whole lot of questions. What do you think about when you hear the word “music?” When do you listen to music? Do you have a particular song that “you just need to listen to” when you’re feeling a particular way? When? Do you have specific memories associated with a particular song? Can you think of a spot in a movie that you “cannot imagine” without music? All of these questions yielded enthusiastic conversation and helped the campers think about this nebulous thing we call music which surrounds us and fills our lives, but which doesn’t usually engage all of our cognitive energy. Next, Jake showed three different movie clips, each using music quite differently, and he asked the campers what the music was telling us in each of these clips. In scary movies, it’s the music that makes our hair stand on end; in happy movies, the soundtrack is often the reason we know it’s a happy movie just from the opening credits; and in a romantic (or sad) movie, the music can spark our emotional responses in powerful ways.

In the rest of the workshop, we talked about the ways the ASC uses music, complete with performances from Jake and Dan, one of our counselors who just toured with Jake this past year. We made our own playlists of what songs we would do for Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night if we had the option, and then we talked about where songs live in popular culture and how that affects our understanding of them. What would it do to the play if a production used Katy Perry’s “Firework” as the tune and harmony for the fairies’ lullaby in A Midsummer Night’s Dream? We talked about different styles of music and what they each bring to text. Then all the campers were divided into four groups, and each of the groups created their own song using text from Twelfth Night in four assigned styles: Country, Blues, Gospel, and Alternative Indie Punk. The performances of these four little songs were so much fun for everyone. Jake made sure to mention that we should all be excellent audience members, supporting our fellow actors, and the campers really took it to heart, clapping and even singing along on occasion.

So that’s our news from some music workshops. If you’re interested to hear a little of the music we made up Greg’s second workshop here is a bit of the Mariner's song from Gallathea. Many thanks to Madeline for the file!

Rocks, shelves, and sands, and seas, farewell!

Fie! Who would dwell

In such a hell

As is a ship, which drunk does reel,

Taking salt healths from deck to keel.

Up were we swallowed in wet graves,

All soused in waves,

By Neptune's slaves.

What shall we do, being tossd to shore?

Milk some blind tavern, and there roar.

'Tis brave, my boys, to sail on land,

For being well manned,

We can cry "Stand!"

The trade of pursing ne'er shall fail

Until the hangman cries, "Strike sail"!.

Rove, then, no matter whither,

In fair or stormy weather.

And as we live, lets die together.

One hempen caper cuts a feather.

Say Hello to my Little Clown Friend

Hi, I’m Madeleine M. Oulevey, one of the camp interns for this summer. Working with the American Shakespeare Center and so many talented young adults is quickly shaping up to be the highlight of my summer. Camp has only just started up, but preparations for the three shows that ASCTC culminates in are very much underway. Our directors have cast the shows, the casts have gone through their first read-throughs, and the kids are heading off to meet with their directors for their first official rehearsal. 

 

Along with getting the opportunity to work with Shakespeare’s text and to perform it in Blackfriars Playhouse, campers also attend workshops in various fields. These workshops aim to teach the campers some techniques that help facilitate their understanding of the text and how to approach it in performance.  Symmonie Preston led one of the two workshops held this morning. Entitled “Say Hello to my Little Clown Friend”, the workshop allowed the campers to discover their alternate “clown selves” and to interact with everyday objects in a different way.  After donning a red clown nose, the campers transformed into friendly, inquisitive, newborn beings, curious of the world around them. Our new clowns interacted with common objects, such as chairs, as if they had never seen them before. They played around with them and acted out different scenarios as they learned about their new environment.

After making new friends with inanimate objects and learning about “the other red nosed people,” our clowns took off their noses and became their former selves. In groups of three or four, the campers read through truncated scenes of Shakespearean text, alternating who was the clown in the group. The campers soon discovered that when all involved are clowns, things can get pretty loud and hard to follow! With one clown to help guide the action, the result is not only entertaining and understandable, but can also highlight the solemnity of a soliloquy that might follow in the next scene.  

Shakespeare has literal clowns in his plays, but in some scenes we read, the clown in question was surprising. For example, we had three campers play a scene from Richard II. Herein, the Duchess of York, a dignified lady pleading for her son’s life, was the primary clown. The scene is serious, but the actor portraying the Duchess made the needs of the character more evident by incorporating clown-like aspects into his performance. The overall lesson being: clowns are sometimes located where you’d least expect them.

Watching the campers interact with their new world and implement what they had learned into their performance was both entertaining and hilarious. Each camper was able to apply his or her natural humor and turn complicated text into intelligible physical comedy. 

--Madeleine M. Oulevey

Auditions and Dramaturgy

Hello! This is Clara Giebel, back again for another summer of blogging about the ASC Theatre Camps. We’re only a couple days in, and already we have settled ourselves into Mary Baldwin College campus, climbed hundreds of stairs, laughed, smiled, made new friends, and caught up with friends from the past. Additionally, we have made it through auditions, casting, and our first read-through of the plays, all with much laughter and enthusiasm. 


I love auditions in this camp because they overflow with trust, love, and potential. Monday morning we opened with Symmonie Preston, our new Director of College Prep Programs,  leading the campers to give and receive their trust to each other. Standing in a circle, the campers and all the staff promised to each other, “If you fall I will catch you.” Rather than beginning with aggressiveness or vicious competition, we started with trust and went from there. The audition progressed from trust to love, as the counselors taught all the campers a musical round to the words of Hamlet’s poem,

Doubt thou the stars are fire,

Doubt thou the sun doth move,

Doubt truth to be a liar

But never doubt I love.

Once they’d learned the song, the campers broke into little groups of three or four, then each group performed the song with their own interpretation. One trio meowed their song instead of singing it. One trio impersonated Charlie’s Angels. One trio made their song into a story of rejected love. Other groups choreographed dance moves or broke into harmony. We heard the same song at least fifteen times, and I don’t think any of us watching had any opportunity to get bored. 

After the song, the campers did a series of movement centered performances based off of some lines of each of the three plays, and finally all the campers performed their ten lines of prepared text. It is such a privilege to be in a room surrounded by young people who are just brimming with enthusiasm for Shakespeare and his language. We are all flying on potential at this point in the camp, imagining the fantastic things that these young people will achieve, readying ourselves for the work ahead to make the ideas come true. 

Before I leave off for today, I wanted to answer some possible queries about the dramaturgy of this camp. The difficulty in explaining “dramaturgy” lies in the abundance of definitions. For an exuberant list of some possible answers to the question, “what is dramaturgy?” you can explore the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America (LMDA) website: http://www.lmda.org/what-dramaturgy-few-possibilities. Usually, a dramaturg assists a production by doing research so that the the actors and directors have a strong foundation in the text and context of the play. For our camps, the dramaturgs gloss (add in the footnotes for) our cut scripts, put together a binder full of pictures and historical backgrounds, provide some literary analysis of the plays, and attend the rehearsals to stay right in the middle of the action. 

That’s all for now, but please keep checking back for more throughout the week. Our regular schedule begins on Tuesday!