Without further ado, here are the steps we used to put on our Shakespeare Camp. You will notice that we used email for communication, but printed letters and materials could be used as well.
1. We recruited members for our troupe. This can be done in a variety of ways. We began with a group of girls that were already meeting for a mother-daughter book club. We sent out an email explaining the idea to those who were interested. They in turn forwarded it to other friends with similar interests.
2. We sent out Camp Registration with a Cover Letter by email to those who were interested. We also attached the audition pieces. We charged $45 per family to cover auditorium rental, set construction materials, make-up, program copying, and paper goods for the reception. We also required all parents to sign that they would test the students to make sure that half the lines were memorized by a certain date, and the rest of the lines by two weeks before the camp.
3. We held auditions and asked four coaches and other mothers to evaluate the auditions using the Audition Evaluation Form. Auditions were not required to participate, but it made the difference for those who wanted larger roles. Actors were judged on overall acting ability, ability to project their voices, ability to memorize, and maturity. We found that it was important to factor in maturity along with the other acting skills. For this reason, over the years we developed the idea of a Junior Troupe who were eligible for the smaller parts. After auditions the coaches met to assign the roles. We let the students know before auditions that there was a good chance they would get roles that they had not even requested. We would use their audition pieces to better understand their abilities. The coaches met immediately after auditions to assign roles and notified the cast by email the same day. (We decided that announcing the casting in a group setting was too stressful for those who did not get their first choice of role.) Our first year we did not use auditions. Instead we told the students that they could email their choices and we would assign roles based on who asked for them first. Since our group was small, the students who wanted large roles got them and those who wanted small roles were happy with their roles. In subsequent years, however, our cast grew so large that auditions were needed.
4. We sent out reminders to the students and parents to work on memorization. We made a goal for half the lines to be memorized by a certain date. Often this reminder galvanized students to begin memorizing! We also reminded students to prepare their costumes before camp.
5. If there was interest, committees met during the months before camp. Our Set Committee set up the stage. Our Costume Committee standardized the costumes and helped with sewing or putting together costumes for some of the participants.
6. Usually one mother coordinated those who were musically inclined. Our goal was for every student to have a chance to shine, so we found places for our musicians to perform in the play. Sometimes there were songs to be sung. Sometimes the script called for a dance. Sometimes there was music to begin or end the play.
7. We usually asked for a volunteer to design the artwork for the program. Camp dues covered the cost of copying programs.
8. We often had parents volunteer for various tasks: We had 1-3 mothers to help with coaching, 1-2 mothers to help with set, 1 mother to supervise make-up, 2 moms to volunteer to babysit the children of coaches, and 2 mothers to plan the reception after the play. We had students who documented the camp with photographs and video, but this could be done by a parent as well.
9. We conducted camp in one week! We met for four hours each day (from 10 am to 2 pm). The first two days were devoted to workshops of individual scenes and blocking. We divided the troupe so that each coach worked with a cluster of actors. The next two days we did workshops in the morning and ran through the entire play in the afternoon. The fifth day we performed the play in the evening. It was important to have at least one coach who could keep the rehearsals moving.
10. Celebration! We had a reception after the performance for our guests and planned a real cast party for two weeks later. This gave us an opportunity to share photographs and reminisce about our week of living a Shakespeare play from the inside out.