Coming Soon to a Playhouse Near You: ASC Theatre Camp Pre-show!

A unique trademark of the American Shakespeare Center that contributes to their commitment to authenticity is their retention of the early modern association of music with playgoing . At the ASC, actors perform music in the half-hour before the show begins, to welcome audiences and to entertain them as they settle in to the Blackfriars Playhouse. The ASC Theatre Camp has adopted and adapted this tradition and will be performing a pre-show for the ASC’s The Lion In Winter on Friday, July 6th and The Merchant of Venice on Saturday, July 7th. They’ll also be performing the pre-show before their own shows on Sunday, July 8th. Symmonie Preston, the ASC's new Director of College Prep Programming, directs this year's pre-show.

ASC Theatre Camp pre-shows have varied in the past, sometimes taking on a specific theme or a single concept. This year, Symmonie’s vision for the pre-show is that it serves as a teaser for the three shows: Twelfth Night, Gallathea, and Romeo and Juliet. Most audiences will not be familiar with John Lyly’s Gallathea, and the pre-show will give the camp a chance to present some of Gallathea’s main plot points as well as the more familiar themes of Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet, hoping to entice the audience with hilarity and preposterousness of the play.

Gallathea’s source of conflict for its characters is the monster Agar, who comes once a year to devour the fairest virgin sacrifice, threatening to destroy the land if the citizens fail to provide the maiden. Though he never actually appears in the play, the pre-show realizes Agar using eleven campers and Symmonie’s movement choreography. In progression, the campers fly on stage from various entrances, forming the monster out of many devilish birds. The whirlwind of capes and masks that swarms around the virgin sacrifice has a chilling effect. Another group of campers has created a soundscape for this scene that involves a haunting melody with saxophone and the triangle. Together, the movement and music bring the creepy Agar to life.

The monster scene is one of many in the pre-show, which includes scenes from all three plays. Excerpts from Twelfth Night outline Viola’s predicament and introduce most of the play’s characters. Likewise, the audience gets to witness Sampson’s and Abram ’s fight and a peek into Romeo and Juliet’s cursed lovers’ lives. All ASC Theatre Camp shows run for 60 minutes only, necessitating significant cuts to each script. Luckily, the pre-show gives us the chance to restore some of these cut scenes. Peter’s big scene in Romeo and Juliet had to be cut from the play for Sunday’s performance, but is a part of the pre-show. Campers with more minor roles in their plays are featured prominently in the pre-show so that everyone has an opportunity to lead the stage while at ASC Theatre Camp. For example, Mercutio does not deliver his famous Queen Mab speech for the pre-show; instead, several different campers share the speech, giving them a stab at this famous speech. These campers used diction guidance from the Ralph Cohen workshop they attended to tell a collaborative version of Queen Mab’s tale.

In fact, the pre-show not only gives the audience a preview of the three plays, but also a look inside many different workshops and master classes that the campers attended, as certain elements from these events are part of the pre-show tapestry. At Chris Johnston’s music workshop, the campers helped to write a song called, “Lady, Lay” that involves singing, a troupe of guitarists, and complicated hand-claps. “Lady, Lay” features in the pre-show, along with several other songs that the campers arranged.

The ASC Theatre camp pre-show may precede the main performances, but it is an entire show of its own, making an outstanding start to an afternoon of theatrical wonder on Sunday. Join us at 7:00 on Friday and Saturday night and 11:30 on Sunday morning to see ASC Theatre Camp’s pre-show!

--Emma Lo