Greenbelt Recreation’s Summer Connect camp programs are up and running, including Camp Encore, which is typically a four-week camp where teens aged 12 to 17 put on a Shakespeare production. This year, while many things have had to change in the transition to an online format, the camp is still a great success, with the first session complete and the second session in progress, both with full enrollment. It has been affectionately renamed Camp Zoomcore, as the entire camp day takes place through Zoom. Each session is three weeks long, capped at 15 campers, and consists of three full days and two half days each week, led by staff members Kate Magill Robinson, Mark Robinson, Aeryn Goldstein and Elizabeth Gardner.
Every day begins with warmups and improv games with the full group of campers. One advantage of the online format is the Zoom chat feature, so while a few campers are performing a scene, everyone else can participate by typing jokes and encouraging words into the chat, adding a whole new dimension to the improv experience. The campers are then split into groups and attend music, movement, stage combat and acting classes led by the various staff. These classes teach artistic skills through fun activities, allowing the campers to try new things in innovative ways online. For example, in Goldstein’s music classes, campers are introduced to songwriting as they create electronic beats, use various household items to make music and work on writing song lyrics.
The afternoons are then primarily spent in rehearsals, culminating in recording Fun, Fearless and Fierce: Shakespeare’s Females and the Fellas They Fascinate, an hour-long show that consists of scenes from various Shakespeare plays, including some songs and dances. Every camper gets the opportunity to portray an iconic Shakespeare character in scenes from As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and more. While they do not get to perform on stage as usual, they still have a final performance video as a record and memento of their work this summer.
Though this camp summer is certainly different from the norm, both campers and staff are making the best of it and having a great time. Director Kate Magill Robinson found that socializing with other campers was essential to the camp experience and designed the online camp structure with that in mind. “For many of them, Camp Encore has been a family of sorts – a safe space for them to be themselves and, for teenagers that’s critical at this point in their lives,” Magill Robinson said. “In many ways giving them (safely social distanced) social opportunities was as important (if not more so) than the artistic value of the show itself. It’s not the same, but I think we did our best and I’m really proud of the relationships they’ve created and how they have brought the new campers into the family as well.” The open-mindedness of the campers, parents and staff has ensured that while it is different, the Summer Connect camp programs are still a huge success.
