Session 1 Camper Interviews

Muslima Musawwir

Muslima is a first-time camper from Richmond, Virginia. Next year, she will be attending Shenandoah University.

What role do you play? Olivia in Twelfth Night


How are you similar to your character? Dissimilar?
We’re not similar in all of the people that she’s lost; she lost her father and brother, and she’s numb emotionally throughout the majority of the play. We are similar because in order for her to be so numb, she must have loved her family, and I have a lot of love for my family. Also she takes control of everything, and I’ll say this – I’m the leader! And she’s fascinated with the whole idea of love, the whole thought of love in general, and I am too.

How did you find out about ASC Theatre Camp/why did you choose to spend your summer here?
I came to see Much Ado about Nothing, and I got one of the flyers, and I was interested--I wanted to do it! Last summer I did training with Shakespeare also, but I didn’t get a lot out of it. So I wanted to get more training since I’m going to college this year.

How does ASC Theatre Camp compare to other productions you’ve been in?
For me, you get more out of ASC Theatre Camp because you actually get the workshops. It’s not just the plays, you get masterclasses and pre-show, and then you get to see actors doing professional shows. We’re learning from people who have been doing Shakespeare for years.

What it your favorite part of rehearsal?
My favorite part of rehearsal is when -- every day we all get in a circle before we start practice, and we check-in: you can either do an action or emotion, and you can see how everyone is doing. Then we set goals for what we want to do throughout rehearsal; it’s like setting a standard of things you want to get done.


Favorite workshop/masterclass?
I would say Mask (with Tom DuMontier) and Devising (with Sara Holdren), because both were about letting yourself go and freeing your thoughts and reacting to something without actually thinking about it.


How would you describe the Session 1 group?
Extreme, adorable, excited, and innocent and…demons!


If you could give one piece advice to the camp before the performances on Sunday, what would it be?
To just breathe, enjoy yourself and everything else will work out!

Jon Freesen 

Also a first time camper, Jon of Staunton, VA will be working on his own film next year, a modern-day adaptation of A Christmas Carol called Humbug.

What role do you play? Romeo in Romeo and Juliet


How are you similar to your character? Dissimilar?
I’ve always been, for as long as I can remember, hopelessly romantic. I’ve been a romantic since I was very, very young, so I can relate to him in that sense. I feel like I would enjoy all of the same activities as Romeo. He’s not too much into sports, he doesn’t carry a sword with him, I kinda like to think he’s a musician, he probably writes shitty poetry which I can relate to.

How did you find out about ASC Theatre Camp/why did you choose to spend your summer here?
I found out about it either through going to see shows or through my sister. I wanted to do it last year, but it was either finish my Eagle Scout projector do this.Tthe deadline for Eagle Scout was at 18th birthday, so I decided to not do this instead. This is my first and last summer here.
How does ASC Theatre Camp compare to other productions you’ve been in?


I grew up in a very artsy family. My first play was at five, when I was in The Magician’s Nephew; after that I did a lot of stuff with ShenanArts, and my sister has directed a few plays that I’ve been in with her. Most of them have been great experiences. For a while I chose to take a break to do other things, may have been two years ago. I do love it.
People know what they’re doing with this. The people leading really know what they’re doing and are very passionate, and they know what it’s about. A lot of people in theater don’t know what they’re doing, and it’s frustrating being in productions where they don’t understand what they’re doing and don’t care about it. This is my first Shakespeare show.

What have been your favorite parts of camp?
There’s always that moment when it’s late in the rehearsals, and you realize that everything’s coming together with Romeo and Juliet and with the pre-show, and you just see it all and realize this is going to work! It’s really kind of extraordinary. The Blackfriars Playhouse stage is hallowed ground. From time to time when someone mentions, “we’re going to be performing this on the Blackfriars Playhous stage,” it’s almost surreal. Some serious geniuses and masterminds have worked on the stage where we are. It’s an honor, but it’s intimidating.

Favorite workshop/masterclass?
Probably either Dance (with Denise Mahler), which surprised me because I am not a dancer, and maybe Voice(with Alli Glenzer). A lot of the stuff I’d heard before, but the workshops helped me understand it better.

How would you describe the Session 1 group?
They’re pretty goofy, but I get a sense that all of them, even some of them that were “sent” by their parents, they’re still serious about it and are starting to feel the passion. Just about everybody’s pretty friendly.

If you could give one piece advice to the camp for the performances on Sunday, what would it be?
Just enjoy it! Have fun in what you’re doing and love every minute of what you’re doing, love it and also try to live it. Don’t just say lines, be what you’re saying, live what you’re saying.

--Emma Lo

Interview with Hugh, Emma, and Finn

Finn had mentioned in a lecture that morning that he had never been to a Shakespeare play before this past weekend, so I asked him at lunch if he would be up for an interview, and as it turned out, I got Emma and Hugh as well. Hugh is a veteran of this camp, but Emma had also never seen a Shakespeare play, and they were both eager to talk.

Me: So Hugh, you’ve been to lots of shows at Blackfriars, right?

Hugh: I’ve been going to the Blackfriars for I don’t know, maybe two or three? Three years.

Me: And what have you seen? What is the best show you’ve seen?

Hugh: [...] My top three would definitely be Tempest, because the crossdressing scene and the Shakespeare rap just blew my mind. But then the other two before that would have to be Titus Andronicus. Just because it was so well done.

Me: What made it well done? What did you like about Titus?

Hugh: Sarah Fallon. And the tasteful use of blood. Not over-blooded, not under-blooded, but just the right amount of blood. And I don’t know, good acting. And there was another one. [...] Taming of the Shrew. Favorite play ever. Loved Petruchio. Ben Curns. Love Ben Curns. So awesome.

Me: [...] So what about you guys? Never been to a Shakespeare play?

Emma: I’d never been to a Shakespeare play before.

Me: […] So what brought you to this camp?

Emma: Well, for the experience! 'Cause it’s completely different from what I’ve been trained to do.

Hugh: What have you been trained to do?

Emma: Always face the audience, never turn your back on the audience, and now, you’ve got audience all the way around you. It’s really, really different from what I’ve learned. Being able to see it all and with the lights on. I’d never even heard of that. [...] The Tempest was the first Shakespeare Play I’d ever seen, and it just absolutely blew my mind, so fantastic. My favorite line of Shakespeare is, “We are such things as dreams are made on,” and it had totally slipped my mind that that was the play it was from, so when he said that line, I totally had a spaz attack in the middle of the audience. It was hilarious.

Hugh: Me and Cam, we were just dying. […] I had heard the “We are such stuff as dreams are made on” speech like so much. I never had to say it, but I have it pretty well memorized because they say it at the end of every day at the [Virginia] Renaissance Faire, which is an awesome closing speech. And I was like “that’s The Tempest!” And I was just making Cam die, because I was just leaning over and whispering the lines. Prospero would say a line and I’d be like “next line.” I’d whisper the line, and then he’d say it, and then I would say a line, and then he would say it, and she was, like, so confused by me, like, “Why do you know what he’s saying!?”

Me: Finn, you’d never seen a Shakespeare play either,

Finn: And it was so drastically different from my views of Shakespeare.

Hugh: Well, this is not normal Shakespeare.

Emma: Yeah, that’s true.

Me: What were you expecting?

Finn: For one thing, I didn’t expect to understand it or follow the plot at all. I thought, “It’s going to be words I don’t know, spoken way too fast.” Because I’ve read Shakespeare, but I’ve always had to read it, to read each line, six or seven times. And I thought I’m not going to be able to do that, and it’s just going to be really fast talking, and not even, or hardly even English, and I’m not going to know it. And then I went there, and for a moment I was totally terrified, and then not only was it understandable, like really comprehensible, it was also surprisingly relatable, it didn’t seem that ancient at all.

Hugh: That’s why we still do Shakespeare.

Finn: It seemed really connected to modern life in a way I didn’t think was actually possible.

Emma: What I absolutely loved about this was that when we went to see the plays, we knew the actors. It makes it so much better, just really, really cool.

Hugh: Ariel, the music guy [Greg Phelps].

Finn: We wrote a song with Ariel!

Emma: And Miriam [Donald] played Miranda.

Me: And you had voice with Alli [Allison Glenzer]?

Emma: Just yesterday.

Hugh: I haven’t yet, I’m looking forward to it.

Emma: Yeah, it’s pretty awesome, she taught me how to vacuum my lungs. Oh. Mygod. It was just amazing.

Me: How do you vacuum your lungs?

Emma: You breathe all of your breath out, and when you think there’s no breath left in you, you keep breathing out. And then you put your hand over your mouth and then your nose, and then you hold it for a very, very long time until you can’t hold it anymore and then you breathe in and you can feel it, and it’s just awesome.

Me: So, it’s to help you breathe deeper?

Emma: It’s to open your lungs, kind of vacuum out everything.

Me: cool.

Emma: I never heard of doing anything like that, and the second she said we’re going to vacuum out your lungs, I was like, "ohmygod I’m so excited!"

[everyone laughs]

Finn: That would not have been my original response.

Hugh: I would not have been excited.

Emma: I just love making a better environment for singing.

[lunch was pretty much finished by this time, and all the campers were dispersing, so Finn summed it up for us]

Finn: So the moral of my story is I was pleasantly surprised.