One of my personal favorite things about Camp is introducing a room full of whipsmart young adults to my boss’s boss, the co-founder and Director of Mission of the American Shakespeare Center and the founder of the Mary Baldwin University Shakespeare & Performance graduate program, Dr. Ralph Alan Cohen — – or, as Sarah Enloe likes to call him, “the southern Baptist preacher of Shakespeare.”

When students ask me about my experience in graduate school, I always start by telling them that in the first year of the S&P program, you get Ralph’d. And you get Ralph’d hard. Getting Ralph’d is an over-the-top affirmation of loving “that thing you love” — in our case, Shakespeare. Imagine: the man who built the Blackfriars Playhouse sitting (standing and jumping in excitement is probably more like it, if we’re being accurate) with you as you discover together just how much feeling Shakespeare could cram into 5 little words.

I wish I could give the campers three years of Ralphing, but alas, three hours will have to do. Here’s just a taste of that Ralph sampling:

Ralph and Jesse

Take a voyage on the high seas of Middleton & Fletcher's verse.

Come see the fruits of this labor when the campers perform on Sunday, July 9.