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

Midsummer Day Camp - Tuesday

Our second day has started! We began with physical warm ups on the Blackfriars stage. Our campers had a guest teaching artist this morning - ASC actor Allison Glenzer. She lead our aspiring actors in a vocal exercise workshop. Campers warmed up their voices and wiggled their bodies with Linklater technique exercises, and stretched their faces and mouth.  Campers learned good projection techniques so audience members in the back of the theater can hear them.

After vocal exercises, campers walked back to the Mary Baldwin campus for MacBeth rehearsal.  Campers split up into their casts and continued to learn their lines and block their scenes.  By now, campers are familiar with the different parts of a stage and stage directions (including the difference between right and stage right).  Some of our campers even learned basic stage combat! 

Next was music class, taught by Jeanette.  Our campers prepared their singing voices with scales and tongue twisters.  After singing warm ups, campers learned the choruses of the popular songs “We Are Young” and “I Set Fire to the Rain”.  Jeanette also taught campers about rhythm with tambourines and drums, and acting through song.  Campers sang loud and lovely!

- Liz Perash

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

Romeo and Juliet Rehearsal

As an observer of Romeo and Juliet rehearsal, I entered through the walls of Verona into a world of wooden daggers, tennis shoes, and first kisses. Putting on Shakespeare’s most famous play is no easy feat, as the tale of Romeo and his “three-hours wife” has enjoyed (or endured) countless retellings in countless varieties. But under the direction of Sara Holdren, the ASC Theatre Camp is tackling Romeo and Juliet with a vivaciousness you will find nowhere else. One of the most significant rehearsals I’ve sat in on was the cast’s first run-through. In the words of the director, “This is the first time you guys get to put the whole thing together. Keep your energy up. Keep your focus up”. Sara encouraged the actors on this intimidating day, when all of the lines, entrances, and blocking have to be at the front of each actor’s mind in order to make the run-through efficacious.

Run-throughs always begin with a fight call, where the actors lace up their sneakers and briefly practice all the show’s fight scenes at a slower tempo than they will use in the actual performance. This way, the actors won’t be going into these scenes cold during the run-through, which could result in confusion and possible injury. Stage combat in its essence is ironic because it’s the exact opposite of fighting. The fight partners work hard together, sharing weight and doing as much as they can to support each other in this mimic of a fight. Fight call is both an opportunity to practice the physical progression of the fight and also the accompanying vocals and expressions. One camper watching the fight call scenes praised Tybalt’s “troll face” that intimidated the entire room. Sara encouraged the actors to experiment with their pain noises and to imagine a realistic reaction to a sudden cut to the hamstring.

After fight call, the cast formed a circle to warm-up physically and vocally. It’s important that the campers’ bodies are fit to perform an active hour’s worth of brawls, dancing, and dying. Likewise, the shouting matches and the language in this play call for an extensive warm-up of the voice as well. The cast practiced lip-trills to loosen the lips, sirens to use the full vocal range, and overdone diction to ease the delivery of lines. The last warm-up is always an energy warm-up, as it’s crucial to build up enough energy to last through an hour of performing. Starting low to the ground and in quiet voices, the cast began to chant, “Ooh I feel so good, like I knew I would!” As they repeated this line again and again, the campers became increasingly loud and wacky until they were shouting and jumping into the air ecstatically. With a huge burst of energetic expression, the cast was now ready to tackle the play.

One of Romeo and Juliet’s biggest challenges is the “transition from a world that’s full of humor to that great tragedy” that Sara identifies as one of this cast’s biggest successes. This was profoundly evident from watching the run-through and the reactions of the cast further underscored that importance, when they served as audience members for the scenes they were not in. Almost Mercutio’s bitter death speech brought almost half the cast to tears. During the big fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, the cast watching divided and cheered them on, chanting “Mercutio! Tybalt! No, Mercutio! No, Tybalt!” In the middle of the Juliet and Romeo’s first encounter, Sara suddenly called out, “I’m so sorry, but this is where the first kiss is. You guys better get used to doing this!” The entire room blushed as the pair “let lips do like hands do.” From tears to heated shouts, gasps of surprise to reddened cheeks, this cast has the ability to affect and move each other through an entire range of emotions that Romeo and Juliet calls for, as a romantic tragedy.

While watching the rehearsal process, it’s easy to imagine you are with these characters inside the church’s tomb, until a hilarious mishap pulls you straight back to 2012. As Juliet awoke from her poisonous sleep, she accidently elbowed her dead husband, prompting an “Ow!” from the miraculously and momentarily arisen Romeo. It’s fun, light-hearted moments like this that alleviate the serious and hard-working tone that runs through rehearsal.

Rehearsal ends with notes, a reflective time when the director and assistant directors share comments, suggestions, and changes they’ve noted throughout the run-through. The campers write down their notes in their script margins and will try to incorporate them in the next run-through. While Sara found places in every scene that needed adjusting, she stressed that they had had an outstanding first run-through, and are well on their way to a polished product.

When asked to describe the cast, Sara was eager to praise this talented group, saying that they are “really brave and really willing to throw themselves as deep into the play as it calls for. They’re a great group, they’re funny, hard-working, very brave, open honest with each other, good listeners. They’re a group with a really good energy, with a nice feeling of ensemble”. Sara’s favorite part of rehearsals so far has been “the energy and the commitment level of the kids because I’ve seen versions of this play done by adults where the energy levels haven’t gone as far as the play asks for emotionally”. And it shows, as Sara and the cast do a wonderful job of using the youth of these actors to make Romeo and Juliet a thoroughly convincing tale of young love.

The performance of ASC Theatre Camp’s Romeo and Juliet, along with Twelfth Night and Gallathea, will be on 11:30 Sunday, July 8th at the Blackfriars Playhouse. Admission is free.

--Emma Lo