Camp Shakespeare: Day 6

Today was not as wonderful as the days before. This is not to say that it wasn't informative and beneficial; but it didn't sparkle like the rest. There was a bit too much sitting in the afternoon. And it's sticky hot. Ew.
Some highlights:
We learned about cutting text - how long to aim for, prioritizing the lines, why cutting is good, etc. An interesting thought: Take out far more than you feel is necessary. That way, you can reward your actors by giving them additional lines. If, however, you discover during rehearsal;s that you need to cut, your actors will feel like they did something wrong.

We talked about the significance of language - specifically, we're trying to name our feelings (as opposed to just saying "Good" or "Interesting".) We also looked at researching every single word in a Shakespearean text with your students.

With Sandy Mack, who gave a wonderful lesson, we studied a passage from "Anthony and Cleopatra". It was a great modeling exercise for doing close textual readings with your student, and I found the passage we used to be just a glorious piece of poetry - especially the last image. (You can link to the speech here)

Tonight was quite fun, too. Yesterday, as I was doing laundry, I found a room with a locked door in the basement of our dorm. Upon peeking inside, I saw an air conditioner lodged in the window. So, after dinner tonight, Kim and Sharon and I tried to pick the lock to the door to get to the air conditioner. Alas, we failed. But we had fun hanging out down there on the stairwell. Later, a group of about 12 of us met in the parlor and played "Encore". It was a terrific game - highly competitive, with a diversity of genres of songs. And, hurrah, several people besides just me sang showtunes! Next time, we'll play one of the board games my brother was kind enough to mail to me. Everyone is excited to try out both "Apples to Apples" and "Shakespeare: The Bard Game" (and doesn't that statement alone prove our inherent geekiness as a group?). Speaking of packages, I received several today, including a bathrobe (thanks, parents!) and a very hard-to-find recording of the musical we picked for next year. And, just in case I have any eager students reading my blog, no, I won't be telling you what it is here. You'll just have to wait until the Hello Assembly! (Ha ha!) :)