5,500 lines to memorize in
80 hours of rehearsal to mount
4 productions (and a showcase) over
3 unforgettable weeks (and an xxw) for
1 super summer
Campers should read all of the plays before arriving for orientation.
Each show page contains a general (and flippant) description of the play, bolstered by a note straight from each director. The show pages in this section include full-length online editions of the four shows comprising the special ASCTC 2020 Super Session. (The scripts that we use at camp will be cut to a one-hour performance length.)
A father cruel and a stepdame false,
A foolish suitor to a wedded lady
That hath her husband banished. —Imogen
The King of Britain is in a pickle. His daughter, Imogen, has eloped with Posthumus Leonatus, the sweet son of a dead courtier, instead of her stepbrother Cloten (as the Queen wished her to do). Worse than that, she’s not even sorry. Posthumus is banished for his impertinence and Imogen sent to her room indefinitely. Cloten tries to woo her while Posthumus encounters suspicions abroad that make him turn a violent eye towards home. Meanwhile, the Romans are coming to collect their overdue taxes and the Gods are meddling with a shepherd and his two sons — who may be more than they appear to be. Cross-dressing, headless bodies, and Gods descending on Eagles follow.
Cymbeline
by William Shakespeare
Directed by: Emily Macleod
Assistant Directors: TBD
Dramaturg: TBD
Stage Manager:TBD
Click to read the full text
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
It seems to me most strange that men should fear,
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come. —Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar is so popular that the people – including military juggernaut and popular party-boy Mark Antony – want to crown him as their King. Cassius, Brutus, and a number of other Roman senators don’t think crowning a King is the best way to preserve Rome’s democracy – no matter how great that King may be. They conspire to put a stop to it, come hell or high treason. Struggles and stabbing follow as the characters grapple with the timeless questions we still ask today: what makes a good leader, and how best to go about choosing one? Is personal evil for the greater good ever justified? When should you stick to your principles, and when are you obligated to abandon them? And which is deadlier: words or swords?
Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
Directed by: Jack Read
Assistant Directors: TBD
Dramaturg: TBD
Stage Manager: TBD
Click to read the full text
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. –Lord
Helena is a smart cookie. Her father was a famous doctor before he died, and she learned enough from him during his lifetime to offer her medical services to the ailing King. In recompense, he offers her the choice of any eligible bachelor in the kingdom. Helena knows exactly who to choose: Bertram, son to the Countess Rosillion, who raised Helena after her father’s death. Bertram is… less than thrilled with Helena’s choice. He marries her, as ordered, and then immediately abandons his wife and ships out with the troops. Helena, determined to make the boy hers and refusing to heed any advice of the “he’s just not that into you…” variety, hatches a plan that takes her through the Alps and into another woman’s bed. Tricks aplenty ensue, but don’t worry — all’s well that ends well, right?
All’s Well that Ends Well
by William Shakespeare
Director: Lauren Carlton
Assistant Directors: TBD
Dramaturg: TBD
STAGE MANAGER: TBD
Click to read the full text
If all my royal kindred
Lay in my way unto this marriage,
I’d make them my low footsteps; and even now,
Even in this hate, as men in some great battles,
By apprehending danger, have achieved
Almost impossible actions (I have heard soldiers say so)
So I, through frights, and threatenings, will assay
This dangerous venture. –The Duchess
The Duchess, a widow, is in love with Antonio. Who cares if he’s just a steward? Certainly neither Ferdinand nor the Cardinal, the Duchess’s brothers, have any problem with the idea of their sister re-marrying somebody way below their social status! Or, wait, yes they do. They forbid the Duchess from marrying Antonio (or, indeed, anyone else) but she marries him in secret and has a bunch of children by him anyway. Secrets of such magnitude can’t stay secret for long, and as the night follows the day so death and destruction follow the Duchess in Webster’s wild Jacobean horror story — along with double-dealing villains, poisoned Bibles, and a dash of lycanthropy for good measure.
The Duchess of Malfi
by John Webster