Door Shakespeare Taking Registrations For Camp Will

Door Shakespeare is taking registrations for the youth summer theatre program, Camp Will, running July 13-17, July 27-31, and August 10-14 from 10 a.m. to noon. All sessions are held online through video conferencing, and taught by professional actors from Door Shakespeare's company. Camp Will is for students who are 9 through 17 years old.

Tuition is $125 for the first student in the family and $100 for each additional student in the same family. The tuition discount is also available for campers registering for multiple sessions. On a budget? Camp Will does not turn anyone away. To apply for a scholarship, call 920.854.7111.

Campers may register online by going to www.doorshakespeare.com, by phone: 920.854.7111, or by mail: download a registration form and mail it to: PO Box 351, Baileys Harbor, WI.

Door Shakespeare has been hosting a summer theatre program for youth for 20 years now with the continuing goal of nurturing a young person's ability to voice their opinions, communicate their thoughts, and, ultimately, discover their creativity through ensemble work and the poetry of Shakespeare.

Longtime Company member and Camp Will Teaching Artist, Scott McKenna Campbell is looking forward to exploring everything a virtual platform can bring to the program. "The smallest campers will not try to steal my bandana this year! Or will they...? We're looking forward to working together as Camp Will teachers and leadership to develop a Zoom-specific curriculum to maximize the summer together."

Although Door Shakespeare is entering new territory here, virtual Camp Will will be quite similar to the Garden's format, with a couple adjustments.

Each day begins with theater and improvisation games, followed by a workshop that focuses on a specific acting skill. "The virtual platform allows us to work on specialized techniques unique to a video classroom," shares Camp Will Director Elyse Edelman. New topics for this year include: clowning, juggling, voice and dialect work, camera angles, and commercial technique. "Video coursework calls for a subtlety that we don't necessarily focus on when working on stage," explains Edelman.

After the daily workshop, groups go into "breakout rooms" with professional actors and directors to rehearse scenes. Breakout rooms are video conferencing sessions that split off from the main session. Dividing into separate ensembles allows younger students to work independently with their director to approach Shakespeare's scenes through rhythm, playful language exercises, and Story Drama. Older students will "breakout" with their director to work more intensely on vocal and physical techniques that enrich the meaning of Shakespeare's text.

Additional activities for virtual Camp Will include Q & A sessions with professional directors, designers, and actors, and the Camp Will Talent Show. Edelman got the idea for the talent show by hearing many of her campers mentioning how their spring plays and musicals were cancelled this past spring. "Wouldn't it be great for the students to be able to share their work?" And the Camp Will Talent Show was born.

Camp Will culminates with students sharing their work by staging scenes and monologues directed by professional actors. Scenes will be filmed and edited in order to be shared with family and friends. Videos will also be presented as a Greenshare event before Door Shakespeare's upcoming virtual productions.

​The name Greenshare was adapted for Camp Will by Elyse Edelman and comes from Greenshow, the term for the traditional pre-show performance.

Managing Director Amy Ensign relates, "Camp Will is a safe space for youth to explore creativity together. Rather than preparing for a performance (a daunting task given one week of rehearsals), we present our work as a sharing of what we learned in the week." If a teaching moment presents itself, the director will step forward and give guidance, providing family, friends, and Door Shakespeare audience members with an insight into the learning process.

A week before each session begins, campers receive a Camp Will Kit, containing scripts, props, support materials, snacks, and a Door Shakespeare t-shirt. Campers will have a little gift to open each day of the session. Some items will be used during the day's workshop - others will be a little something to enjoy as a memory of working together.

Campers are encouraged to join an optional orientation session the weekend before camp in order to get to know the teaching artists as well as become familiar with the virtual platform.

Camp Will counselors are made up of professional teaching artists and actors from the Door Shakespeare company: Elyse Edelman, Scott McKenna Campbell, and Jarrod Lanwinski. Longtime Camp Will camper and Milwaukee-based actor Selma Rivera joins the team as a Teaching Apprentice.

Elyse Edelman has been a member of the Door Shakespeare company for six years. Wisconsin theater credits include multiple productions with First Stage, Forward Theater Company, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, Renaissance Theaterworks, American Players Theatre, In Tandem Theatre, and Milwaukee Repertory Theater. Other regional acting credits include The Guthrie, Park Square Theatre, People's Centre Theatre (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Utah Shakespeare Festival (Cedar City), Chicago Children's Theatre, The Accidents (Chicago), Riverside Theatre in the Park (Iowa City).

As well as developing curriculum for a number of professional theaters in the state, Elyse brings a wealth of experience teaching on a virtual platform from Milwaukee's First Stage theatre and the JCC. "I just love teaching theatre. The students and families that I've gotten to know are a big reason I love teaching at Camp Will year after year. I love tracking the growth of every student and welcoming new young people into our company."

Scott McKenna Campbell returns to Door Shakespeare for a fourth season teaching with Camp Will. Previous roles onstage with Door Shakespeare include Feste (Twelfth Night), Verges (Much Ado About Nothing) and Justice Shallow (The Merry Wives of Windsor). Regional credits include Shakespeare in Delaware Park, the Maryland Shakespeare Company on tour, and seven seasons with the Ohio Shakespeare Festival.

Scott has written full lyrics and score for four original musicals produced regionally and has composed music for companies including the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting.

He holds an MLitt in Shakespeare and Performance from Mary Baldwin University. He is a PhD candidate, Mellon Fellow, and Judson Award Winner in Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies at UW-Madison, where he teaches and assists the courses: Why Shakespeare? and Introduction to Dramatic Literature.

Jarrod Langwinski is an actor based out of Kenosha, Wisconsin who has worked in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Door County as a part of Door Shakespeare's 2019 season. He was also a Teaching Artist for the 2019 Camp Will program. "I teach theatre because I know what it is like to be on the other side of it and how important the right teacher can be to an artist's growth. Being trained on the guidelines of 'a critical mind and a generous heart,' I believe that I have some of the tools beneficial to both providing a stable and relatable learning format as well as one that can be entertaining."

Jarrod has also served as a Teaching Assistant for Basic Acting at UW-Parkside.

He is excited for the challenges and opportunities that online teaching brings. "The virtual platform will allow us to reach farther than we ever have before and bring in students who haven't had an opportunity to work with Camp Will yet or aren't able to come to Door County in the summer."

Selma Rivera has been a Camp Will student for the past four years and is thrilled to get to work on the teaching team as Camp Will's first Teaching Apprentice! A three-year member of Milwaukee's First Stage Young Company, Selma was most recently seen as Meg in A Wrinkle In Time. Selma is a sophomore at Pius XI High School and on The Milwaukee Rep's Teen Council. "For me, Camp Will has always been a place of joy, growth, and learning. I love getting to share a space with all of the amazing teachers and students at Camp Will and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to be a Teaching Apprentice this summer!"

To learn more about Door Shakespeare and Camp Will, visit doorshakespeare.com or call 920.854. 7111.

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