Today’s Date: July 7th, 2025

Show Title: Richard III

Director: Austen Bell

Staff Crew: D. Scarlett Darling and Sara Bateman (RDAs), Alexa Palena and Allison Monfalcone (Production Interns)

What we did……………………………………………………………………………..

Our first rehearsal began with a round of introductions before we jumped right into our first read-through. We read through the entirety of our camp cut of Richard III. We had a lot of giggles and fun revelations throughout this read-through. After we completed the show, we took a brief five-minute break to clean up. We finished rehearsal with a fun family tree activity. The campers were tasked with finding their character’s immediate family members in the room and grouping up with them. After they completed this task, they had to find their extended family members. This challenged the campers to decipher the difficult (but not impossible) heritage in this play. After the activity, Austen led a “button” to rehearsal which required the group to circle up and attempt to clap at the exact same time. 

Quick and Quotable…………………………………………………………………

• From the play: “The day is ours;” -Richmond (5.5)

• From the director: “I am completely normal about this play…. Can you tell?” -Austen Bell

• From the cast: “I don’t know why anyone could possibly dislike Richard!” -many campers (with obviously no sarcasm)

Production Insights…………………………………………………………………

As a fellow actor I am quite familiar with the ups and downs of casting announcements. Emotions tend to be big on days quite as packed as this one and our campers did an admirable job of keeping spirits, support, and love for each other high. It was so wonderful to watch the absolute joy of the kids when they entered their first rehearsal.