Bay Area Shakespeare Camp (SFShakes)

Hello, 

I am writing to recommend a unique camp experience for children and teens. The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival has been offering excellent camps throughout the Bay Area for years. My daughter attended her first 2-week session in Berkeley when she was 7 and now 8 years later, she’s signed up for one of the teen camps having never missed a year.

What makes SFShakes camps great is the combination of kid focus and fun with a structure and direction that allows them to pull off a play of Shakespeare’s in 2 weeks. It’s mind boggling what SFShakes get the kids to achieve. I’ve seen experienced Shakespearean actors take direction from children because they know it when they hear a good idea, this is to say that kids are treated with respect and given the opportunity and support to reach the material they are working on. The kind and experienced staff (all professional actors) take pains to help the children understand the meaning and context of the plays but always bring in the fun that kids need.

Along the way my daughter has made lasting friendships, learned the responsibility of committing to a group project (Learn your lines! There are no solo performances!), and developed the confidence that comes from tackling something truly challenging.  She’s also learned that people in a time long ago and far from here were a lot like us and were concerned with love, death, joy, and fear (often with silliness along the way). It’s made her a deeper, more empathetic person. This is the SFShakespeare Festival camps website http://www.sfshakes.org/programs/bay-area-shakespeare-camps

-Emma 5/1/20

In 2014, after reading King Lear during an English class, my son became interested in exploring Shakespeare further, and so decided to join an SF Shakes camp. He had no previous knowledge of theater arts. Hooked from day one, our son has now been participating in SF Shakes camps at least twice a year for almost six years. While every class has been a little different as instructors and plays change, the one constant is the excellence and commitment of the teachers and those behind the scenes. All students are equally involved, with gender roles being shared, and often the "star" roles being shared by several students. Activities and topics range from stage combat to analyzing the metrical pattern of a line of verse.

There is no better example of the staff's commitment to students than during the COVID-19 outbreak this Spring. When it became evident that in-person classes were no longer tenable, the SF Shakes team scrambled, missing only a single class, and transitioned to an all on-line program. While on-line theater is certainly not the same as working together in the same room, it was still an excellent experience, culminating in a surprisingly sophisticated live Zoom performance.

During the last six years, SF Shakes has been a pillar of my son's growth, helping him expand his creativity, increasing his understanding of human nature, honing his leadership skills, and offering him volunteer opportunities. As an added bonus, our son's enthusiasm for the Bard has spilled over into the rest of the family, and we are all richer for it. I give the SF Shakes programs the highest recommendation.