Twelve young actors will be “retreating” to the Fayette countryside this week to participate in The University of Texas Camp Shakespeare, exploring the journeys and encounters that the characters in Shakespeare’s As You Like It undergo in the forest of Arden as they seek refuge from the harshness of the courtly life.

According to Jim (Doc) Ayres, Director of Camp Shakespeare and founder of Shakespeare at Winedale, those play experiences will hopefully open up for the kids and audiences a brave new world of love and life and filial relationships, replete with marvelous transformations, songs, fools, melancholy and sanguine sorts, a pining shepherd, very bad love poems, and four sets of lovers eventually coupled, with all conflicts resolved by a woman (originally played by a boy) who plays a boy who plays a man who plays a woman: Rosalind – the most talented woman in Shakespeare.

All of this with a wrestling match, a hateful Duke, two delightful pages singing, with references to Eden, the prodigal son story, and the god Hymen tossed in for good measure. “There is something for everyone here,” says Ayres, “This is, after all, As You Like It.”

The second session of Camp Shakespeare students take the stage this July with performances of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The first performance will take place at the Crystal Theatre in Gonzales, Texas on July 9th at 3:30pm; tickets are free. Henkel Hall in Round Top, Texas will host the students’ second performance on July 10th at 7:00pm and the third performance will take place at the Shakespeare at Winedale Theatre Barn at the Winedale Historical Complex in Round Top, Texas on July 11th at 1:00pm. General admission tickets for the Round Top and Winedale performances are $10 or free for children 12 and under. Proceeds of ticket sales and gifts will be donated to the University for improving the cooling, lighting, and seating in the Theatre Barn.

For reservations or more information, please contact Jim Ayres by emailing jayres@cvctx.com or calling (979) 249-7125.