Despite the challenges facing the world of theatre at the moment, the Piggery’s annual summer drama camp is still preparing for at least one week of activity this summer, albeit with a few more limitations than usual.
“We have to be very inventive,” said Piggery board member and camp organizer Mead Baldwin, explaining that there was some concern that failing to offer anything this year would make it that much harder to keep the program going in the future.
According to Baldwin, conversations about whether and how to run the camp have been ongoing for more than a month.
“We were struggling with what to do,” he said, sharing that the balancing act between finding a way to make the camp as safe as possible under pandemic conditions but also still a worthwhile experience for campers has been difficult.
In the end the camp, which is usually offered over two weeks, is only promising one for certain and that only for a small group of campers who have been before and know the ropes. Although Baldwin said that historically the camp has been a bit flexible with details like age limits and start times, this year’s camp will be firmer about the finer details, because it has to be.
“We’re talking about maybe seven or eight kids, so it will be easy to physically distance,” he said, “but we are going to have to be more careful.”
In this case being careful means things like providing campers with masks and gloves, enforcing strict handwashing, temperature checks upon arrival, and trying to keep activities out in the open as much as possible. It also means that the campers will never perform in front of an audience, instead recording a final performance that family members can watch on their own time.
