Drink With Me

Camp Shakespeare: Day 1

Hello my friends! It's just after 11pm here, and I thought I would debrief myself a little so I can hopefully sleep better tonight than I did last night. There was a lot of tossing, but everyone here seemed tired today, so I think we're all adjusting to the new enviroment.

This morning began at the lovely athletic facilities (see photo) with a group check in, then a class on movement. I enoyed stepping back into the role of the acting student. Something I noticed was that I was revertiing to the personality I had as a student. I was much quieter then, and more of a follower. It's interesting to go back to those qualities again.

It's odd that it's only been one day, too. We've done so much and have developed as a group so much that it seems like it's been a lot more than 24 hours since we all met. The different personalities are coming out, we're finding sub-groups and friends, and we're learning so much. This morning gave me some marvelous ideas for my acting classes, particularly in how to create those necessary baby steps between "Welcome to Drama" and "Perform your monologue". The faculty are great so far - really welcoming and quite excellent at putting us at ease while asking us to take risks. Taking risks here is good for me, I think, since I haven't done that in a class setting for a while. And if I get a little nervous with some of the things we're asked to do, I have to imagine how nervous my students probably get. You're prone to forget about those nerves when you're the one creating the situation.

After lunch, we had a group discussion about "why we are here", which mainly concerned Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Following that, we had part 1 of a lecture from Frank Hildy, concerning the reconstruction of the Globe Theater. It was fascinating to hear from such a specialized scholar. My education in theater history has come from 1) books, and 2) a marvelous class by Marilyn Schraine. But here's a man who has dedicated his career to not just "theater history", but to ONE theater. Amazing. And interesting, too.

As professional as we all are, the group preference is to "go find alcohol" in the evenings. Last night we happened upon kareoke night at the closest bar, and participated enthusiatically. And no, it was not all showtunes. Thank goodness. Tonight we went to two different bars, mostly because the group did not like the atmosphere of the first bar. The second wasn't too much better, but we decided that we would have to be the atmosphere. I'm actually using that "we" rather liberally, since I am one of the quieter members of the group so far. They don't seem to mind, though, as we do have a nice dynamic. The others have been thankfully moderate in their drinking, and are absolutely cool with my pineapple juice (which, they pointed out, looks like a "real" drink anyway). In fact, I was deemed the "designated walker" for the group. Any of you who have driven with me will enjoy that joke, since the title apparently means I am the one in charge of leading the group back to the dorms. I warned them all that I have a talent for getting lost, but they just laughed. That was, of course, after the first bar of the night. :) But hey, I got them all back without any cretaive detours tonight, so thus far I have filled my roll well. I reassured them that if we did get lost, I would just lead them to a nice-looking house and tell them that was the dorm, so one way or another, they'd feel like they're home.

It was a comprehensive first day, really. Tomorrow we have a half-day of classes, and an evening performance of "Hamlet". TTFN!