April 10, 2024
Kingsmen Shakespeare
Submitted by Andrea Robinson
Our daughter started attending the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival when she was around 5 years old. Galvanized by the free admission for all under age 18, we would gather for the pre-shows, enjoy a picnic and (much to her dismay) depart at intermission (bedtime) – she can still tell you today the plays for which she missed the second act. And it was love at first sight – Shakespeare beautifully performed, in Kingsmen Park with the croaking of the frogs in the background. She soon moved to the camps offered by Kingsmen – attending all that were offered and everyone a good and valuable experience with the added thrill of an end-of-camp performance. Next she added the Junior Apprentice program to her summer – starting her day in the morning for a full day of camps and then moving into Apprentice activities into the evening and performing improv and assisting with the festival (and staying for as many festival performances as possible) and having the experience of performing in full length mainstage productions of Shakespeare’s plays by the Junior Apprentices that were both challenging and rewarding – having access to learn as much as she wanted to know – from the history of the play, to how to deliver her best performance, to improvisational skills, to sets, setting and costuming and stage technology – she had the sense, and the experience, that anything that was of curiosity was available and open to her. The community that Kinsmen and CLU offered her gave her an education for life and a sense of belonging that she has carried with her – and she recently capped off her senior year at university by mounting a production of a play that she authored, putting to use all of the skills she accumulated over her summers at CLU. She would have never had the confidence or known what was possible without her Kingsman experience and we look forward to returning year after year and watching new generations have the same opportunity to grow and discover themselves in this wonderful community.