stephenwinbaum
Communications Coordinator
/ Moderator
Oct 15, 2007, 12:11 PM
Post #1 of 1
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Summer Camp Drama 101
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Drama is a reflection of life played out by actors with motives according to a plot or storyline. It's a condensation of 'reality' with corresponding feelings of suspense, empathy, and the forever question: "how will it end"?
Drama, on average, is a two-hour affair, and then a quick return home.
But 'real life' possesses little resemblance to the expediency of dramatic fare, be it movies or theater. We identify with dramatic characters and their needs to redeem themselves within the context of a popular presentation, but life is never so simple. Life and all the relationships that we share with our family, and friends, plays out over weeks, months, and years.
Summer camp drama can be a one-week, one-month, two-month movie or play.
The story line begins with Scene One: summer campers arrive on the first day of camp. In a summer camp movie, there is action that precedes the first scene. Campers arrive from their unique families and school years. This preceding action is often called 'background' and merges into the friendship and bonding between campers and counselors.
It's understood that drama begins in the middle of the action, in media res, and that the beginning originates in the past.
Parents and children have searched for summer camps, or have decided to return to their old favorites. Fees have been paid; counselors have been interviewed, hired and trained. Owners and directors have been busy maintaining the grounds, enrolling campers through camp fairs and the internet. These actions set the scene because they precede the summer camp drama.
The action of a camp term is played out in stages: beginning, middle, and end.
Beginning – Campers and staff meet and get acquainted. Old friends renew their camaraderie and invite newcomers into the dynamic of the cabin group. Kids from across the camp forge a common bond through activities like camp fires, singalongs, and camp-wide activities.
Middle – More fun through scheduled activities, shared meals in the dining hall, emails from parents, canoe trips and hikes deep into nature, rousing plays in the entertainment hall, arts and crafts, and the deepening of summer friendships.
End - the final scene. Campers and staff bid farewell and return homewards.
It's implied that the lives of campers will continue past the summer, into the school year, and then return to another drama and a new summer.
Stephen Winbaum is the Communications Coordinator of MySummerCamps.com
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(This post was edited by stephenwinbaum on Jan 17, 2009, 3:02 PM)
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