 "Photo: Buddy Burkhalter")
 "Photo: Buddy Burkhalter")
Sixteen international and American collegians are spending their summer in Round Top, Texas, on UT's Winedale complex.
Their day begins at 6 a.m., when they decide which team sport to play before breakfast.
Most of the items on the group's daily agenda seem fairly mundane.
Prepare breakfast. Check. Do chores. Check. Rehearse Shakespeare plays in a 100-year-old hay barn adorned with a logo depicting a cowboyed-up version of the playwright donning a bandana and western hat. Check.
They've all signed up for the Shakespeare at Winedale experience, a summer English course in which the class lives, for nine weeks on Winedale grounds, where they work for 15 to 18 hours a day and learn Shakespeare through immersion and performance.
The students receive six hours of credit upon completion of their residence at Winedale.
Although the course is set up somewhat like a summer camp, the experience is anything but campy, said Plan II senior Peyton Smith.
"It's so much more than summer camp. It's a transformative experience," she said. "There's a certain amount of camp activity being planned, but there's also the sustained social dynamic with so many people so close together all the time doing a specific thing that's academic, social and physical all at once. It's pretty much unlike anything I've ever done."
Most Winedalers say the physical toll is pretty grueling but that it's worth it because they ultimately cultivate a deeper appreciation and understanding of Shakespeare's work.
Smith offers visual testimony to the physical challenge Winedale entails. She hobbles with a crutch beneath each armpit after falling into an armadillo hole and twisting her ankle while rehearsing.
"You really do go from sun-up to sundown," she said. "You get sweatier and sorer than you've ever been."
Yet, Smith said the body isn't the only thing the course challenges. It also challenges the psyche and brain.
"It's physically demanding but also emotionally and intellectually," she said. "It's not just one thing. It's not just your brain. It's every part of you all at once in this extremely unique environment."
On Saturday the program hosted its annual gala, A Midsummer Night at Winedale, where the troupe put on excerpted performances of three Shakespeare plays - "Romeo and Juliet," "Antony and Cleopatra" and "The Merchant of Venice" - and raised funds for the organization.
The students performed the famous balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet." Kate Attwell, a native of South Africa who attends the University of Bristol in the UK, played the part of Juliet.
"It's really excellent to have different cultural perspectives on Shakespeare," Smith said.
"Antony and Cleopatra" is the main event for them this year, as the troupe does not often perform the play, said English senior Bryan Gonzales.
Bradley Wright, another English senior, said the program has a cult following of literature lovers and added that Owen Wilson is a Winedale alumnus despite not having completed the course.
He said he heard about Shakespeare at Winedale through friends who raved about their experience there.
"Everyone said it was worth every moment," he said. "Honestly, it's been that. We've grown so much. It's a very enriching experience."
Go to www.shakespeare-winedale.org for more information.
Be the first to comment on this article!