Session 2 Auditions: Beatboxing and Knock-Knock Jokes

On the very first day of camp, auditions occur, the event that determines how the campers will be focusing their energies for the next three weeks. This exciting procedure took place in the black box, under the guidance of the counselors and the directors for this session, Daniel Kennedy (Much Ado about Nothing), Jeremy West (Henry VI Part 1), and Riley Steiner (A King and No King).
The counselors began auditions by teaching the campers a song. The song used the text of first verse from Shakespeare’s Cuckoo’s Song set to an Ingrid Michaelson melody.

When daisies pied and violets blue
And lady-smocks all silver-white
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight

After using a call and response technique and once the campers had the song memorized, the counselors led everyone in a round. The campers then divided into groups of three and made the song their own by choreographing dance moves, overlapping voices, and using acrobatics. Several groups funkified the song with beatboxing and rap. This was a way for the auditionees to show their music skills, abilities to work with others, and spontaneous creativity.

Next, the campers divided into three large groups of twelve to create a series of tableaux. Each group had a set of lines from one of the plays to act out. For each line, the group would form a different stage picture, using contrasting levels, stances, and facial expressions to enhance the text. The groups also had special rules that they had to incorporate into their tableaux. For example, on a certain line, everyone has to faint. On another, everyone is surprised except for one individual, and there must be a passionate relationship. As campers called out ideas for these stage pictures, the counselors reminded them to “Yes, and” each other, meaning to stay positive about others’ choices and to build on those choices.

Before Session 2 began, the campers were to select and prepare a ten line monologue from one of the three plays. In performing a monologue, the camper gets to showcase his or her individual talent. The campers took turns performing their pieces to the directors and their fellow campers. It was wonderful to see how supportive these campers already are of each other, even though they are technically in competition with one another during the auditions. At the end of each monologue there was an explosion of clapping and cheers for the auditioning camper.

Auditions are tough, which makes Day 1 arguably the most stressful and nerve-wracking day of the session. The directors recognized this and tried to reassure the campers throughout the auditions, telling them not to hold anything back and to have fun. Daniel Kennedy provided a final stress-reliever to culminate auditions by asking the campers to share a joke with everyone. Tension began to leave the room as campers ecstatically ran to the front of the room, eager to make their peers laugh. The audition process is now over and the shows are cast, but the talent, energy, and excitement the campers displayed at auditions are here to stay. Whether in the dorm, in rehearsal, or at workshops, these campers of ASC Theatre Camp Session 2 are full of life and a passion for theater!

--Emma Lo

Midsummer Day Camp: Monday

My exciting Midsummer Day Camp experience began at 10 AM on Monday morning in Hunt Hall West. The campers were in a large circle on a mat, individually delivering lines from Macbeth that the camp directors had prompted. I learned that this is the camp’s way of “auditioning” the campers—by seeing how big of a choice they could make with the recital of a given line. The first prompt I watched was “My lord, his throat is cut, that I did for him,” which is delivered by Murderer 1 at the beginning of the famous ghostly banquet scene. One by one each camper played the line as “evilly” as possible, as requested by Camp Director Adrian. The young actors brought an imaginative assortment of villainous cackles, murderous hand gestures, and—the crème de la crème—evil British accents to the mat. Clearly this camp’s production of Macbeth will not lack enthusiasm and creativity.

            After a few more rounds of this recital game—which also included a melodramatic plea of Lady Macduff’s, a spell cast by one of the witches, and an enraged challenge to battle from the daring Young Siward—the campers had a brief introductory music lesson with Jeanette. They learned the song “We Are Young” by Fun while practicing projection, articulation, and singing without those pesky diphthongs.

            This musical interlude made way to a deliciously morbid lesson with Sarah Enloe, ASC’s Director of Education. The campers made their way downstairs to Hunt Gallery in their smocks, where they learned about the different types of fake blood used for the stage. Many questions must be answered, Sarah explained, before a type of fake blood can be chosen for a specific moment in an ASC production. For instance, how old is the blood? Has it scabbed over, or been freshly spilt? How does the blood move onstage? Most importantly, how thick is it? Does it need to be washable so costumes will not be ruined? And where does the blood come from? All of these questions, she informed the campers, need to be answered through inferences in Shakespeare’s text.

Sarah and the campers then looked at several moments that refer to blood in Macbeth, and determined together what kind of blood would be preferable for each moment. Some references are purely symbolic or rhetorical, such as in Macbeth’s first soliloquy: “But in these Cases/ We still have judgment here, that we but teach/ Bloody Instructions…” (II.7.481-83). Others, however, required the campers to answer Sarah’s important questions in order to determine which fake blood would be best.

            Sarah then split the large group into pairs, and each pair was given a different moment in the text that calls for fake blood onstage. The pair then made the blood—using an assortment of ingredients such as peanut butter, starch, and red food coloring—that fit the excerpt they received. After applying their fake blood to their hands and arms, each pair explained to the rest of the group which moment in the play they were assigned, what kind of blood they chose to make, and whether or not their execution fit their initial ideas. Sarah’s workshop was a creatively engaging experience for the campers. If anyone had come to camp doubting that Shakespeare could be fun, they did not keep those doubts after this bloody mess. 


-Lee Ann Hoover, Education and Dramaturgy Intern

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!

Session Two Begins

Camp begins with passion and determination. From the first introductions in the late afternoon on Sunday, these campers show their eagerness to be a part of something larger than themselves. We all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves, said where we were from and why we came to this camp, or if we were returning, what brought us back. One camper said he kept coming back because each new session, each new lecture or workshop was “a quest in excellence.” Another said, “I am here because I absolutely love to learn, I absolutely love Shakespeare, and I absolutely love people pursuing their passion.”

Many campers are interested in not only performing language but in forming it, with an abundance of writers in the camp, one voicing herself, “I do poetry, or it does me.” One camper came because she is “attracted to the humanity of Shakespeare’s characters.” Many want to learn “the craft of performing,” and how best to express themselves.

Among the fleet, we have campers experienced in swing dance, tap dance, Irish dance, clogging, waltzing, modern, jazz and ballet, contra dance, square dance and belly dance, to say nothing of lacrosse, wrestling, fencing, soccer, ice-skating, gymnastics, rollerblading, hula hooping, and pogo-stick-jumping. One camper mentioned she didn’t do much, "only" juggling. When Emily, our fire-breathing-and-juggling counselor mentioned her latest item on her list of skills was blacksmithing, one of the campers called out, “Oh! Me too!” This group seems not only to profess an outstanding number of skills, but also an overwhelming aptitude and eagerness to learn. Even those regretting their lack of skills in a certain area don’t close off their options, saying not “I don’t play any instruments” but “I don’t play any instruments... yet.”

Doreen Bechtol, the camp co-director, mentioned that when we think about putting up plays in only three weeks, with so many other lectures and workshops and plans and ideas and activities, it seems impossible. But she went on to say that that shouldn’t worry us, because doing what’s impossible is what we are all about.

Sunday evening, the whole camp trouped over to the Blackfriars Playhouse to take a tour of the building and to get a feel for the space of the playhouse. When they began exploring the space, filling it with their presence, their voices, we learned that these campers bring much more than a long list of special skills. They bring an ability to listen, to give each other focus, and to share and take the stage in turn. Even the few lines they spoke were a teaser for yesterday morning's auditions where we saw even more of their generosity in performance.

The auditions in ASCTC always hold an active place in my heart, as in them I see so much potential. Auditions are a blend of workshop activities and the traditional recitation of 10 lines of text. Beginning with running up, taking the space in turn, and sharing their names once again, the campers then learned a short round sung to them by the counselors. Once they learned the music, they broke into groups of three (or in one case, five) and schemed up and rehearsed their own performance of that song. These performances are riveting: some musically striking, some with clever staging or strong character choices, some performed in dance.
After all these short performances, the counselors break the campers into three large groups and give them ten lines of text from one of the three plays they'll be performing: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Troilus and Cressida, or Christopher Marlowe’s Dido Queen of Carthage. The groups then tell the story of these plays entirely without words, guided by the ten lines of text to create stunning stage pictures and beautiful movement work. I won’t spill too many of the secrets, as many of the images and gestures will be used in the final performances as they develop. The motto of the day remains, “Less talk, more monkey!” as the campers figure out their performance pieces with fewer words and more physical trial and error by working together.

Listening in to the directors, I could hear them asking each other, “In love with anyone yet?” “Um, yes, all of them.” “Give me any twelve of them and I’ll be happy.” And although I am uncertain how they can choose among such strong young actors, the plays are full of so many wonderful characters that I know they cannot help but choose well.

First Couple Days of Camp

Dear parents, friends, interested readers, all,

I am writing from the library at Stuart Hall, and while everyone else is hard at work in rehearsal, I thought I would post a first update on the camp and what the last day and a half has held.

For me, the auditions at ASCTC are as exciting as the final performances. Monday morning, these campers come full of potential and energy and dive right into the excitement and the joy of working. Doreen begins with exercises to help get some jitters out, and to remind the campers of the importance of timing and focus, of beginnings and endings, and the place of stillness onstage. All of which skills they put straight to use after learning to sing a round composed by some of the counselors and then divide into groups of three and make their own performances out of that song. Highlights of this section included a camper making up a guitar part to accompany his group, some use of mime, storytelling, unison movement and beatboxing, all of which gives the directors not only a good sense of the special skills of the campers but also shows teamwork, energy, stage presence and creativity.

The next section of the auditions is another sort of devised performance but in much larger groups. In three groups the campers tell the stories of the plays of this session without words, but aided by ten carefully chosen lines from the plays, and a list of required actions. These performances can be so beautiful they take away one’s breath, as Shakespeare’s images become physicalized, and these young people present stars burning in their spheres, the pain of isolation, the delight of young love and the sorrow of endings. Perhaps most impressive was the ten seconds of stillness as all the villagers gathered around the maddened Jailer’s Daughter, who was staring into the distance, “dreaming of another, better world.”

By the time the audition gets to the much anticipated 10 lines of prepared text, the campers were so enthusiastic and so eager to applaud each other’s success that we had to stop them to avoid spilling over into lunch.

The other particularly exciting part of Monday is the tour of Blackfriars Playhouse. After a brief of dense introduction to the whole of the building, including costume shop, trap door, backstage, balcony and then onto the main deal, which is again lead by Doreen, who gets all the kids onstage, all waking up the space and fills them full of questions.

How can you frame yourself in the architecture of this particular stage?
How can you give or command power onstage?
Everything is full of straight lines and angles except for the discovery space, the little curtained entrance right in the middle. How can you use that fluidity?
How can you hide onstage? What makes you take up more than usual?
What about your own voice in the space?
How much sound can you make?
How soft can you be and still be totally clear? It isn’t any easier than being loud, and takes all sorts of energy and focus.

The campers all got a chance onstage to feel themselves in that space, but also were right there in the theater watching their fellow campers, and learning just as much from watching others work, as working themselves. We looked at geometric figures and how, like painters, we can use shapes and lines to create focus and beauty onstage. As Doreen says, “make it art. Don’t make a ‘sort of’ line, make a line!”

Right before dinner the cast lists were posted and that evening the directors ran a “Paraphrase Extravaganza” teaching scansion and meter, rhetoric and how to paraphrase so the campers can begin really digging their teeth into the text.

This morning, Jeremy Febig lectured “On Shakespeares and Centers” which introduced Shakespeare and a smattering of history surrounding the man, as well as the ASC and some of the founding goals of the company. Covering conceptions of Shakespeare as unfamiliar, commonplace, mandatory, unimaginative, fixed up or intimidating, Febig explored some causes of these understandings of Shakespeare and what places like the ASC change these understandings. When produced with skill and imagination, using the staging conditions for which the plays were written, Shakespeare is seen for what he really is, relevant to his own day and ours, in conversation with our world, and with the world in which he wrote the plays. The campers engaged the material and asked lots of questions, shared many ideas of how Shakespeare is and could be taught. One camper said she hadn’t had a bad time learning Shakespeare in her English classes at School, but that it was difficult because they never read anything out loud. In her words, “it’s easier to act Shakespeare than to read it.”