For Campers, For Parents, Theatre Camp

Written by

Eli Dietrich

THEN FALL, CAESAR

Today’s Date: 6/30/23

Show Title: JULIUS CAESAR

Director: Natasia Reinhardt

Staff Crew: Assistant Directors: Cole Metz and Liv Meredith. Dramaturg: Eli Dietrich. Stage Manager: Lillian Malone.

 

What we did

Today was a movement-heavy day. We blocked Caesar’s death entirely, including some fantastic physical tableaus (as seen in the photo of the day). Today was extremely productive, with all acts one and two fully blocked. The RDA assistant directors and intern staff split into groups and ran many different scenes. Among these was Caesar (Marcos) entertaining the conspirators at his house. 

We blocked 2.2b, which has Caesar (Marcos) and Calphurnia (Carson). Calphurnia tries to convince Caesar (in 2.2b) not to leave for the senate until the wiley Decius (Pax) shows up and ruins it all by praying on Caesar’s hubris.

2.1d was blocked, which has Caius Ligarius (James) and Brutus (Isabella P.) discussing Caesar’s death. 2.1d was funny because James has made the decision to play into the “old man” aesthetic with Ligarius. This makes 2.1d a scene that almost acts as a kind of comedic relief. 

3.1a was also blocked, which includes many of the conspirators confronting Mark Antony (JD) about which side the senator will be on. 

Lastly, we finally ran 3.3, which is the mob of Plebians (Desi, Carson, Hudson, Isabel V) chasing poor Cinna the Poet (Hattie) off the stage.

 

Quick and Quotable

  • From the play We worked a lot on 3.1a, and the text work that came up was super interesting. We played with the idea of whether JD’s Mark Antony is hiding his love for Caesar or not. 
  • From the director Natasia worked on Caesar’s death and Cinna the Poet’s death today. The fights are really coming together. Cinna (the Poet) may even be carried offstage (you’ll have to wait and find out). 
  • From the cast The cast did an amazing job with self-regulation. While Natasia ran fights and the RDAs ran other scenes, the left-over campers were extremely conscious about using that time for running lines and talking quietly in non-bothersome spaces. 

 

Production Insights 

WE ARE HALFWAY DONE BLOCKING!!!! Today was so exciting. The death of Caesar, especially, was an amazing sight to see. If parents and friends reading today think that the photo of the day is cool, they should have been there at rehearsal. Caesar’s death made chills go down my spine as the actors rehearsed today, and this was especially impressive on day one of blocking the scene. Actors came up to me after rehearsal, and I think that the general air of the rehearsal space has been forever changed. It is always fun to see the actors begin to realize what has been just in the staff’s mind for so long. 

Eli Dietrich

Eli is the dramaturgy mentor for Julius Caesar. In his senior year of college at UNC-Chapel Hill, Eli's studies have been focused solely on early modern European drama, and he is going to graduate next spring with a major in English and two minors in early modern history and drama. His goal is to eventually become an English professor and spread the period's wonders to all. It is exciting to be working on this show, and he hopes that those who keep up to date with this wonderful blog will enjoy the connection and core experiences being made at rehearsal. It is the job of every actor in this show to find themselves within the lines of Shakespeare, and the hope is that parents and friends reading along will also end up being touched by the lines and ideas which Julius Caesar brings up.