On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 2:01 PM, Bruce Meyer <Bruce.Meyer@utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:

lemme just say that 1979 had some genuinely horrific moments - that was the summer of the failed experiment in switching roles in the middle of the summer.
I believe that EVERY summer had/has major/minor traumas, struggles with lines, people who "just do not get it", conflict (internal and external), gnashing of teeth, high anxiety, internal palace intrigue and sometimes ugly politics. It just depends on your viewpoint. Based on discussions with Bekah, the camp program goes through much of the same. That is the beauty of the experience - everyone has their own: some magical, some middling, some just faded away - some of us had very special companions on the journey some or all of the time, and some did not.
That is what can be special about the reunion week - it is a journey of its own where we get to go along with some of our favorite companions and to get (if we are lucky) some new companions on the way....

>>> Clay Stromberger <cstromberger@mail.utexas.edu> 7/29/2010 12:58 PM >>>

What thuh...?

I was Doc's assistant that summer!

In the great imaginary competition that was going on a while back on these airwaves for Best Summer Ever, I thought about claiming a special category of award for this summer: Worst Summer Ever. None of you, I believe, can claim that title -- so there!

I mean that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but perhaps not. Lots of intense stories from that summer. Not a lot of photos of happy students at play, arms around each other as they walk back to the dorm. Dark moments. Lines not learned. Rampant insecurities and fears. Fire ant bites and stickers in bare feet. Picnic table collapses and goblets thrown in anger. A Benedick and Beatrice who couldn't stand each other, and didn't seem to care too much for their words at times either. Struggles for oxygen. But at some point in the subsequent years I realized that this experience was just as rich in its own ways as any of the glorious ones. Just a different kind of learning; and Mark clearly testifies to that. Sometimes falling on your face teaches you more than reaching the moon (or so Edgar keeps telling me).

Doc never gave up on any of us, not even on the Convict Guy (too long a story, you'll have to ask me one night on the porch), and wrote one of his most beautiful and poetic "program notes" in the midst of all the our gnashing and fumbling. I learned a lot then (and in '84 too, another tough summer) about one of the things he was always trying to get across to us: there is no "magic" just waiting to do all the work for you once you step into the Barn. Just hard work, and sometimes real suffering.

Mark really really struggled that summer, to the very end, and then his wife left him when he came back. A double-whammy life-changer, and it's wonderful to see this, especially this summer. I will track him down to say hey. Thanks Robert.

cs

On Jul 29, 2010, at 12:20 PM, Robert Jackson wrote:

> Am I the last one to see this?
>
> Winedale is #24 (..."a very problematic experience")
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/07/22/theater/20100723-summertheatercamp-slideshow-24.html
> _______________________________________________
> Weeklong-l mailing list
> Weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org
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Clayton Stromberger
Outreach Coordinator, UT Shakespeare at Winedale
College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin
www.shakespeare-winedale.org
cell: 512-228-1055, cell #2 (backup): 512-363-6864
UT Sh. at W. office: 512-471-4726

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