Shakespeare camp offers youths engaging lessons
Program teaches plays' meanings, acting skills
By Kyveli Diener, CORRESPONDENT
SAN MATEO For the Bay Area youths who ask themselves to be or not to be, there will be an opportunity to question whether'tis nobler for the mind to suffer endless video games or spend the summer performing Shakespearean theater. The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has been hosting summer Shakespeare camps since 1993, in which 7- to 18-year-olds learn the meaning of Shakespeare's words, hone their acting skills and stage a performance for their friends and family at the end of each session. Four sessions will be held from June through August in San Mateo, Palo Alto and Burlingame, and the camps are already enrolled to half of their capacity, Shakespeare Festival marketing director John Western said. "We already have kids (who are) signed up for two sessions, which is not unusual, but it's rare," Western said, adding that about two-thirds of the students who sign up are returning actors. Although curriculum is changed slightly each summer to accommodate returning campers, the camp focuses on three important areas of theater. The first, Discovering Shakespeare, educates the children about the intricate meanings behind Shakespeare's words, as well as giving them background information on Elizabethan life. In Voice and Movement, the kids learn how to project their voices, and gain a base in acting through theater games and improvisation practice. Finally, they have the opportunity to design their costumes, build their sets, and create their props for the final performance during the production and design portion of the camp.Rebecca Ennals, who is entering her sixth year as camp director, said the children make costumes out of recycled fabric from a San Francisco upholstery factory, decorate poster paper or shower curtains for the backdrop and make props such as swords out of cardboard and aluminum foil. "It's a very low-key, kind of do-it-yourself scale," Ennals said. "It's supposed to be a fun and learning experience, so we don't expect the shows to be fully professional productions." Ennals also said that "it does astonish me what they can achieve in two weeks with less rehearsal than any children's theater production I've ever been a part of." She specifically mentioned two sisters from San Mateo who went from quiet, shy girls to vociferous, over-the-top comedians after three sessions of Shakespeare Camp. Cathy Brenman, the mother of these theatrical butterflies Andi and Parisa Kabiri, 11 and 10, respectively said the girls were excited to attend the camp when it was announced after a free Shakespeare in the Park performance in San Mateo's Central Park last year. Because the girls attend year-round schools, the April and October intersession camps fit their schedules better than the summer camps, but Brenman said she hopes to enroll the girls in the Palo Alto camp. She said the camp has given her daughters confidence in areas outside of acting. "I had no idea they stuck to the original Shakespearean English. I thought it would be a watered-down kiddy version," she said. "It's a perfect example that if you have high expectations of kids they will rise to them. (My girls) really understand how special it is, and I get that sense from all the kids." Brenman said she was happy to see the camp enrollment double during the month's spring intersession, which ended April 11. As a full-time working mom, she said she has sent her daughters to "every camp in San Mateo," and that this is both their favorite and her favorite. "It's the teachers, it's all about the teachers," she said. "Andi and Parisa have had six different teachers, each one as talented and enthusiastic and inspiring as the next." Western said that this summer, the 7- to 8-year-olds will be performing a collection of scenes following the theme of Shakespeare's faraway lands, 9- to 10-year-olds will perform the comedy "Twelfth Night," 11- to 12-year-olds will perform "Winter's Tale," and 12- to 18-year-olds will perform "Pericles" or "Cymbeline," depending on the size of the group. All sessions take place on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Two sessions will be held at the Odyssey School in San Mateo for 7- to 13-year-olds, the first June 16-27 and the second July 21 to August 1. A session for 12- to 18-year-olds will be held at Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto July 7-18. The final session will be held at the Recreation Center on Burlingame Ave. for 7- to 13-year-olds August 4-15. Each camp session costs $420, and aftercare is available for 7- to 13-year-olds for an additional $135. First-come, first-served registrations can be made by phone at 415-558-0888 or at http://www.sfshakes.org.### Anyone who has seen the Burlingame Shakespeare Camps performance at the end of two weeks of theatre camp will be amazed what the kids can do with the King's/Queen's English!
- Written by Fiona
Comments