Seriously, Get Thee To the Funnery 

GREENSBORO – For 27 years, the Get Thee to the Funnery summer camp has served as a home for any and all interested and willing to participate in the longstanding tradition of performing Shakespeare. Established in 1998 by former Craftsbury Academy music teacher Andrea Brightenbach and Peter Gould, the camp began after teachers felt there just wasn’t enough room in the schedule to teach Shakespeare during the school year. 

“So we said, fine. We’ll start a camp instead,” began Gould. “And that’s how the camp started, but little did we know it would go on for 27 more years and still counting.” 

Get Thee to the Funnery’s longevity is no simple feat. Gould spends the bulk of his year preparing for the camp, “But it’s a full time experience for everybody. The kids, it grows so beyond those two weeks that they spend together. They stay in touch all year long, they think about it all year long. They count the days until it starts again. The effect of some of the exercises that we do, the activities that we do, they stay with you forever. It’s a life camp,” he said. 

Campers and staff members wholeheartedly agree. Camper Rachel Mullin shared her experience, “I’ve been going here for about five, six years now. The people are always just so welcoming and kind to everybody, regardless of if it’s your first year or you’ve been here for ages. The environment you are in is just one full of creativity and one that is full of taking chances and trying new things and there’s no judgment.” 

Mullins is from Maryland, spending summers and winters in Greensboro with her grandparents, who introduced her and her older sister to the camp. Mullins first year at the camp coincided with the pandemic, meaning participants used the Zoom application to connect remotely. Like many, she found it somewhat difficult to connect over an online platform. “But the next year, when I decided I would give it a try in person, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made because I just found people who are amazing and I’m so happy to come back,” Mullins reflected. 

Jacob Elliot, a second-year camper, cited two reasons for his return; “I have to say the extremely friendly environment, and probably my mom.” Elliott most looked forward to the various group activities available. “Funnery has a ton of super fun games,” he said. 

Last year, Elliott wasn’t able to participate during week two because he had Covid-19. “But I still got a role, and still got to do the play, and I just love how flexible the Funnery is, and how some characters you can really have fun with,” he concluded. 

Sophie Lyon initially began as a Funnery participant back in 2013, and is now a member of the staff. “I’m 26 and this is my thirteenth year,” he said. Similarly, first year staffer Neo Walsh participated in the camp for seven years, and now is happy to be a member of the camp staff. 

“It’s a really special place, for a lot of really special kids. I’m dyslexic, as is Dory. I know we have a bunch of campers with learning differences, some who really excel at school, but might struggle socially, or some who might really struggle in school. Just the way we teach things here, I feel like we’re able to include everyone no matter what,” Lyon said. 

Current camper Agnes Derrenginger gave her experience thus far a glowing review. “The methods are really unique, down to the pattern of daily activities. Like meditation, it gives a lot to the environment because everyone gets a chance to find themselves before going back out onto stage … I’ve seen a lot of kids just like go, go go, to the next activity, so I’ve really appreciated that. I don’t have much of a theater background, I came here because it was Shakespeare, and I had done a Shakespeare play before and had kind of gotten hooked. But in that play, I hadn’t had much opportunity to grow because it was just a short class … This camp has really helped me to grow in a lot of ways, not just memorizing lines and acting, but developing a character voice. The main part, I’d say, is self confidence too.” 

Longtime camper Winnie Emerick agreed. “Especially because we split roles, you can be a first year camper and still get the lead, because you can have a certain chunk. So it really depends on your comfort zone, so there’s so many opportunities for everybody.” 

Get Thee to the Funnery campers and participants begin their day at 9 a.m., greeting each other with a hug. A warm welcome to the day’s activities, according to Gould the campers then begin their particular brand of proprietary yoga followed by breath and voice exercises. For the first two days of camp, they sit in a circle and read through the play in its entirety. Gould and staff then get together to make casting choices. Familiar audiences know Funnery roles are often shared. “The reason we share roles is that it’s a very short camp. We don’t want to give any kid in the world all those lines in a short time.” 

The campers then spend some time breaking up into small scenes, for things like blocking. However, this is only temporary. Group activities are an important feature at Get Thee to the Funnery. “because it’s really a life camp, because the group really fall in love with each other, they really want to be with each other, we don’t want to break up into small scenes rehearsing every day all day long, we need to come up with all sorts of activities that make the whole group stay all together too.

Get Thee to the Funnery has seen a number of host locations, its current physical home being the Highland Center for the Arts, in Greensboro. “We’ve been at Craftsbury Academy, on the old gym floor. We’ve been at Heartbeet, we’re here under the tent on the lawn at the HCA. It’s definitely a Northeast Kingdom program. Local kids or kids who come up in the summers with grandma and grandpa. I always find a few people from far away that I really think should come to this camp, and arrange lodgings and home-stays for them,” Gould said. This above-and-beyond attitude extends to the entire Funnery family. Most participants are at least on a one-third scholarship, some on full scholarships. “We’ve never held an audition, and we’ve never turned anyone away for lack of funds,” said Gould. 

“It’s very important for us to keep the camp affordable, for campers whose families can’t afford it,” agreed Lyon. Get Thee to the Funnery is dependent on the generosity of community donors, and arts funding, to continue its operations for which Gould expressed his gratitude, “We’re very grateful to the donors that allow us to help with funds: Concept2 in Morrisville, the Multimedia Foundation, and we are an official camp of the Vermont Humanities Council.”