Young Company Theatre Camp
Young Company Theatre Camp
Shakespeare in the Shenandoah Valley
Staunton, Virginia, is a vibrant, beautiful, culturally-rich college community in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Students will get to know the town and the area during their three week residence. All classes, lectures, workshops, and rehearsals take place at Stuart Hall, approximately 6 blocks from the Blackfriars Playhouse. Stuart Hall's status as a nationally recognized visual and performing arts institution means that it offers ideal facilities for YCTC. For more information visit their website: www.stuart-hall.staunton.va.us.
Personnel
American Shakespeare Center Staff:
Ralph Alan Cohen: Executive Director and Co-Founder of the American Shakespeare Center. Dr. Cohen taught for 30 years at James Madison University, where he founded the Studies Abroad Program and won Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Award in 1987. He is currently Professor of Shakespeare and Renassaince Drama in Performance at Mary Baldwin College, where he teaches in the M.Litt/MFA program. Since 1988, he has directed twenty plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries for the American Shakespeare Center. Dr. Cohen holds honorary degrees from Georgetown University and Saint Lawrence University for his work with students at the American Shakespeare Center. He has guest-edited Shakespeare Quarterly issues on teaching Shakespeare and is author of the forthcoming book Shakesfear and How to Cure It.
Colleen Kelly: Director of Education and Research at the American Shakespeare Center. Colleen also teaches in the M.Litt/MFA Shakespeare Program at Mary Baldwin College. She has taught at the University of San Diego/Old Globe Theatres, the University of Virginia and served as head of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's MFA/Professional Actor Training Program. Colleen holds BS and MA degrees from Eastern Michigan University and an MFA from Ohio University.
Doreen Bechtol: YCTC Director. IN PREVIOUS SEASONS WITH ASC: Moth in Love's Labour's Lost, Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, Mme de Rosemonde and Emilie in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Margaret in Richard III, Margaret in Much Ado about Nothing, Marianne in Tartuffe, Goneril in King Lear. OTHER THEATRES: Viola in Twelfth Night (Cape Fear Regional Theatre, North Carolina); Vivie in Mrs. Warren's Profession, Ensemble in Something Wanting (LiveArts, Charlottesville); Mrs. X in The Stronger (HERE Theater, NYC); Ensemble in The Disability Project (Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida). OTHER CREDITS: Director of Suicide in B Flat (HERE Theater, NYC). EDUCATION: Western Michigan University.
Counselors: Counselors are selected from the ranks of former YCTC campers, members from the Staunton educational community and MLitt/MFA students in Shakespeare at Mary Baldwin College. They are the assistant directors, coaches, chaperones, guardians, dorm leaders, and the daily guides for the campers at Stuart Hall and the Blackfriars Playhouse.
The Artistic Staff: Highly qualified and incredibly creative Shakespeare scholars and practitioners come from all across the United States to join us for the summer. They are joined by current and former American Shakespeare Center actors and directors.