“Into the Woods without regret, the choice is made, the task is set. Into the Woods, but not forgetting why I’m on the journey. Into the Woods to get my wish, I don’t care how, the time is now.”
When Anna first approached me about leading the new Ramah Bamah musical theatre specialty track, I knew immediately that this program would thrive at Ramah Darom. As a former Darom camper (Gesher ’14!) and counselor (Gesher ’17!), a person who found his love for performing at Camp, and now a professional director, actor, and Theatre Ph.D. student at the University of Kansas specializing in the intersections between Judaism and performance, it felt bashert that this opportunity came to me when it did. I have long felt passionate about the connections between Jewishness and theatre, and this was my chance to share those passions with Jewish youth at Ramah.
“You’ve changed. You’re daring. You’re different in the woods. More sure. More sharing. You’re getting us through the woods.”
The rush of putting a show together in ten days was all I dreamed of and more. We had thirteen amazing campers signed up to perform, plus two more who assisted us as backstage crew. We integrated ourselves into the entire Ramah environment: I’m proud to say that the lead of our show was a camper supported by the Tikvah Support Program, we collaborated with Rosh Drama, Sharona Rubinstein and tzevet drama who we shared the stage, and members of Camp from Rosh Sport to Gesher campers to Tikvah counselors played crucial roles in putting our show on its feet.
By the time we were at Camp and rehearsing, Adam and I agreed that it felt important for us to communicate that theatre acting is, simply, storytelling. We wanted to teach the campers how to be good storytellers, a deeply Jewish value that appears most vividly in our religious tradition during Pesach, where every year we are obligated to tell the story of escape from Egypt as if we ourselves are experiencing it. On the first day of rehearsals, I taught the campers the 4 key ingredients to being a good storyteller on stage: 1) Move on stage with purpose; 2) Plant your feet and stand upright when speaking; 3) Project loudly so you’re heard by everyone; and 4) Enunciate so that everyone can clearly understand you. We practiced these 4 skills in an activity where each camper took a turn walking with purpose to the center of the room, planting their feet, and loudly and clearly speaking the words: “I have something to say!” We repeated this activity again as a warm-up before our final show. We tried to instill the belief in our Ramah Bamah campers that they have stories to share and things worth saying: as Jews, artists, and especially as Jewish artists.
“And I know things now, many valuable things, that I hadn’t known before… Isn’t it nice to know a lot!… And a little bit not….”
“Though it’s fearful, though it’s deep, though it’s dark, and though you may lose the path… Into the woods and through the fear, you have to take the journey”
As I reflect on the last two weeks, I go back to the story that we, Ramah Bamah, told to the rest of Camp. At its core, Into the Woods is a story about people who wish deeply for something, who feel an urgent need to pursue something, and who take the brave act of stepping outside their doors and into the unknown of “the woods” in order to chase those dreams. Along the way, they learn valuable (often difficult) lessons, make many mistakes, and gain meaningful experiences that they otherwise would not have known had they not taken the courageous act of jumping outside their comfort zones.
This is precisely what the cast and crew of Ramah Bamah did this summer. It takes incredible courage and vulnerability to step onstage as an actor, to plant your feet in front of hundreds of expectant eyes and take the stage with a presence equivalent to crying out: “Watch me! I have something to say!” It took courage for us to begin this program, the first of its kind at a Ramah summer camp, not yet knowing what we didn’t know. But I can confidently share that our ensemble learned many valuable lessons along the way: about the program, our Jewishness, our role as artists and storytellers, our standing as members of the Ramah camping organization and the conservative Jewish movement as a whole, and, finally, as humans navigating a world full of unknowns and contradictions, an idea Into the Woods so skillfully explores.
Learn more about Ramah Darom’s 2-week Musical Theater program. Registration for Ramah Bamah Kayitz (Summer) 2024 opens to new families on September 1.