Savannah Champion plays Katharina in last year’s Shakespeare Festival production of “Taming of the Shrew.”For the past 14 years, Joyce McPherson has been making the works of Shakespeare more accessible to participants in her acting troupe for home-schoolers, as well as the entire community. And July 29-30, the public is invited to attend the troupe’s annual Shakespeare Festival performances free of charge.
McPherson said she initially started a weeklong Shakespeare Camp for high school-age home-schoolers in a space provided by Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. Over the years the camp has continued to grow, moving locations several times and opening participation to middle-schoolers as well.
“I wanted to make theater accessible to students who didn’t have a school theater,” she said, adding that many camp alums return as coaches once they finish high school. “I feel it’s not only educational, but also helps them build friendships through the process of creativity.”
Each year around Valentine’s Day, participants audition for roles in the Shakespeare plays selected by the previous year’s campers. Actors then have six months to independently learn their lines and make their costumes and props before the week of camp, during which they spend four hours a day rehearsing for their performances that weekend.
The festival is now held at the UTC Fine Arts Center, and McPherson said last year’s plays drew 600 spectators, many of them children, over the course of the weekend.
This year’s performances begin with “As You Like It” Friday, July 29 from 7-9 p.m., followed by a matinee of “Taming of the Shrew” the next day from 2-4 p.m. and concluding that night with “The Merchant of Venice” from 7-9.
McPherson said she modifies the plays from the original scripts to a more appropriate length for modern audiences, cutting out some of the longer speeches and repetition. She recently published the scripts in a book titled “Shakespeare Scriptorium,” now available through Amazon.com, for other student groups to use.
Shakespeare camp is open to home-schoolers ages 11-18, and she encourages those who may be interested in participating to attend a performance. The cost is $45 per camper, which covers the cost of renting the stage at UTC.
She said that through community support and fundraising she is able to keep the camp performances free for the community, as exposing people to the works of Shakespeare is an important part of the camp’s goal.
All of the performances are appropriate for children, said McPherson, though young children would probably most enjoy “As You Like It.”
The UTC Fine Arts Center is at 752 Vine St. For more information about the camp, email McPherson at mcpclan@epbfi.com.