Photo of the Day: The company works through ideas for staging 5.1 — the reunion of the characters at the end of the play. From left to right: Antonio (Alex), Sebastian (Ella), Ferdinand (Molly), Miranda (Sakura), Prospero 1 (Lucy), and Gonzalo (Lilly).

Today’s Date: July 19, 2022

Show Title: The Tempest

Director: Camp Company!

RDA Stage Manager: Daniel Skinner

RDA Dramaturg: Devlin Ford

Stage Management Intern: Mary Rose Valentine

Dramaturgy Intern: Mia Randers-Pehrson

What we did

We started off rehearsal today with the first of many morning meetings where the company planned out how they wanted to use their rehearsal time! First on the agenda was our daily check-in where everyone described their present state, usually through a metaphor of the weather. We then made our schedule for the day. After our meeting we dove right into table work where we analyzed the text. We started out with 1.1 (the opening tempest scene aboard the ship), 1.2 (Prospero and Miranda discussing their past), and 2.2 (Trinculo and Stephano meet Caliban for the first time). After a break we started to look at 5.1 in which everyone comes back together to close the play. 

After morning text work we broke for lunch followed by committee time! During the Ren Session, the Camp Company serves as their own director which means they also have to figure out the production side of the play. In order to do this, campers are divided up into Music, Choreography, Media, Props, and Costume committees (committee assignments below) where they meet with professionals from the ASC to plan out everything for the production.

Then we ate dinner! We then headed over to the Rose Terrace (an outdoor performance space) to start staging the play. We began at the top with 1.1, the shipwreck. This included blocking as well as the music committee talking the company through their ideas for the storm soundscape. We took a break and then blocked most of 5.1. 

Committee Assignments

Music

• Sakura
• Lucy
• Ella

Choreography

• Gabe
• Alex
• Lee

Media

• Maddie
• Lilah
• Lilly

Props

• Analise
• Molly
• Fen

Costumes

• Pax
• Isabella
• Poma

Quick and Quotable

• From the play: 

• • “I long / To heare the story of your life; which must / Take the eare strangely.” – Alonso (Analise)
  • “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” – Ferdinand (Molly)

• From the company: 

• • While listening to Ariel’s description of Gonzalo (Lilly): “Does that mean I get a beard?!!” – Lilly

Production Insights 

I love seeing the choices the campers are making! This morning during text work Miranda (Sakura) and the Prospero’s (Lucy and Maddie) had an epiphany moment while thinking about Miranda and Ariel’s (Lee) relationship and realized that Miranda might have a bit of a soft spot for Ariel (stay tuned to find out how that spark of an idea pans out). One challenge this cast is facing is how to make two actors playing Prospero the most readable (because spoiler alert Prospero is a huge part — in the uncut base text he has 30% of the lines!). All the ideas bouncing around are incredibly exciting. We also started staging today! The campers are bravely diving in during this tempestuous time (get it) and making bold and smart choices.