we are about thirty-five campers aged 12 to 19, from Vermont and a dozen other places. and the coolest staff of collaborating artists—here they are:
PETER GOULD is our founder. He has directed more than sixty youth theatre productions. He's also a young adult novelist whose latest novel, WRITE NAKED, published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, won the 2009 National Green Earth Book Award for its ecological content. Peter directs at the New England Youth Theatre; he's a teacher of theatre for social change at the School for International Training, and Visiting Professor of meditation at Brandeis University. Peter also founded our Chelsea, Vermont, sister camp. He keeps "Get Thee to the Funnery" alive all year long, prepares the script and the concept, and is always ready to explain Shakespeare's metaphors and most outrageous jokes. "I'm not making this up," Peter says. "It's right here in the text!"
SETH SOULSTEIN has worked at the Funnery for fourteen years! He and Peter did Spanish, physical comedy, and boxing together at Brandeis University. Seth was co-founder of Late Night Players with Aaron. They toured universities with their own style of irreverent sketch comedy for seven years. Seth just earned his Masters in Theatre for Social Change at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and is on his way to Cornell to get to work on his PhD. Seth is a cool computer guy who designs our performance program and the intricate scene rehearsal grid that makes those performances possible.
KAILIE LARKIN, from Jericho, Vermont, has done Shakespeare with Peter since she was fifteen. She also directs the Chelsea Funnery, our mid-state (younger) sister camp. She has played Claudio, Lady Macbeth, Prospero, and King Lear. A recent intern at Double Edge Theatre, Kailie lives in Brooklyn, where she is a poet, a playwright, a grad student in therapeutic theatre at CCNY, and a sometime-performing member of the Royal Frog Ballet. Kailie and Peter do artist-in-residencies together in northern Vermont.
AARON KAGAN co-founded the Late-Night Players, the acclaimed nationally-touring sketch comedy group, with fellow Funnery staffer Seth. Aaron is a food blogger and columnist for the Boston Globe, a master of movement, official staff chef, teacher of Akkido, textual fact-checker & interpreter, director of large fight scenes, peacemaker, and transmitter of serenity.
CLAIRE GREENE is a veteran of the first Craftsbury Funnery EVER! In addition to returning to the Funnery after a long hiatus to teach in 2009, she assisted Peter for two years in Shakespeare classes at Vermont's flagship high school enrichment program, the Governor's Institute on the Arts. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Education from Goddard College. You can find her buried deep within the woods of Northeastern Vermont thinking about the ways in which we can incorporate social and emotional learning into our schools. She also runs a group for girls (disguised as a book club) out of Hardwick's own Galaxy Bookshop. Claire is the camp's videographer and lives for her tête-à-têtes with campers, and is happy to help them work through anything, from a soliloquy to an existential crisis.
GABRIEL SEPULVEDA is an up and coming theatre director from Santiago, Chile. "Up and coming" means he comes up every summer from way down there to way up here! —to observe and volunteer at the Funnery. He is glad to share his vast experience of Commedia Dell'Arte, Shakespeare in Spanish, Keith-Johnstone-style improvisation, intense character work, Latin American youth theatre styles, and capoeira. Peter and Gabo met in Santiago through their mutual interest in the life and music of the famous Chilean singer-songwriter Víctor Jara. Gabriel's newest play was the hit of the 2011 Santiago summer theatre season. Gabriel knows every song ever written by the Beatles, and is adding Italian romantic songs to his irresistible repertoire.
AUDREY KIELY is excited to start her fourth year working at the Funnery. Along with the Craftsbury Funnery, Audrey works at the Brattleboro Junior Funnery at NEYT, and co-directs " Funnery Too," the junior Shakespeare camp in Craftsbury. She's about to graduate from Wesleyan University where she studies Theatre and Psychology. Audrey just returned from aJunior year abroad in England, where she was lucky enough to see two shows at the Globe performed by two incredible companies. Audrey directs music at the Funnery, and specialises in getting all of our campers to find and use their beautiful natural voices. Audrey also loves her mum and dad very much.
Jonny Flood studies secondary English education at Boston University. He was born and raised in the woods and swamps of Woodbury, Vermont. He participates in Funneries all over the state, from Barre to Brattleboro to Craftsbury. He has been performing Shakespeare at the Funnery since he was a wee lad of twelve. Jonny loves music and theater and maple creemees. He also loves thinking about education and education reform. He loves working with kids of all ages.
ANDREW MARCHEV has done numerous productions with Peter, including his masterful channeling of Groucho in the New England Youth Theatre's 2007 production of the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera." Andrew's specialties are improv, salsa (and ballroom) dancing, and conversing easily with people twice his age--or half his age. Andrew is studying at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.
DUCKY hails from Castleton, Vermont. He has worked for eight years both at the Governor's Institute on the Arts, and at "Get Thee to the Funnery" camp.
As the METAPHOR DUCK, he quacks to alert campers and audience alike to Shakespearean language that needs more than passing notice. In his super-hero disguise, the "DUCK OF DOOM" is the number-one disciplinarian at the Funnery. Ducky unfortunately missed the entire 2008 season after he was locked in a suitcase after Peter's production of Twelfth Night at the New England Youth Theatre.
As the METAPHOR DUCK, he quacks to alert campers and audience alike to Shakespearean language that needs more than passing notice. In his super-hero disguise, the "DUCK OF DOOM" is the number-one disciplinarian at the Funnery. Ducky unfortunately missed the entire 2008 season after he was locked in a suitcase after Peter's production of Twelfth Night at the New England Youth Theatre.
~We also owe a lot to the folks who have supported us, like the Vermont Community Foundation,
Concept 2, the Merchants Bank of Vermont, the Cabot Cheese Cooperative, The Hardwick Gazette,
Craftsbury Academy, Sterling College, and lots of faithful anonymous friends who love their Shakespeare.
Concept 2, the Merchants Bank of Vermont, the Cabot Cheese Cooperative, The Hardwick Gazette,
Craftsbury Academy, Sterling College, and lots of faithful anonymous friends who love their Shakespeare.
