I have had the great pleasure of working several seasons with this company and have always had a wonderful experience. The director is very kind, intelligent, and artistic. He possesses a wealth of knowledge, always has interesting visions for his shows, and is completely dedicated to ensuring that every actor is happy and comfortable throughout the process. The performance space is beautiful — it is filled with grass, surrounded by trees and stones, and offers a stunning view of Camden Harbor. Camden itself is a picturesque seaside village with much to enjoy in your free time. This is a small company, so it is a good fit for someone who enjoys engaging in teamwork even beyond the camaraderie of a performance; you will have the opportunity to be involved with the whole process of putting on an outdoor show, including light advertising and setting up/striking the set. If you love performing, possess a friendly, hardworking attitude, and enjoy working outside with creative people, you will feel at home here. I am so grateful to have worked with this company and could not recommend it enough!

Such a good time!

I had a great time in Camden. The experience on the whole was very restorative for me, and I have recommended it to other performer friends since. The rehearsal period: The director is good about knowing what he wants and being specific. He also brought in his wife, who is a very accomplished mask and physical theatre artist, for a workshop on physical theatre. I enjoyed the learning opportunity there. Rehearsals were organized well and I always felt time was well used. Stephen (the AD) is good in a theatrical crisis, too - we had a few snafus in the process and he worked efficiently to solve them. Bowdoinham, the town the company rehearses in, is very small, but my experience was that the people are extremely nice. The rehearsal space is right up the street from the river, and you can go jump in on breaks. My host family in Bowdoinham was also very kind. It's a small town, but they are very excited about the arts and love supporting the festival. It's sort of in the middle of nowhere, but it was honestly nice to get away for awhile. Just be prepared to schedule your grocery shopping carefully - the nearest Hannaford is a little bit of a drive. Brunswick is nearby, too, which is definitely worth visiting. The performance period: The show itself was a blast for me. I played a five-character ensemble track, and I had a great time. You bond with your cast mates across the month-long run really nicely. I am still in contact with my cast mates and made some really cool connections. One of the best highlights of the experience for me was the location. Camden is in midcoast Maine, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Like, stupid beautiful. I am from a landlocked state, so being on the ocean every day was incredible. Camden has a bunch of super cute stuff to do and places to eat - the Main Street is right on the water and has some of the best food I've eaten in my life (shoutout Buttermilk Kitchen and Long Grain Thai). The schedule after the rehearsals have ended is also awesome - our call time wasn't until 4 everyday, and we had Mondays off, which left us with the whole morning and first half of the afternoon to experience Maine and hang out with the rest of the cast. It was incredible. My housing was walkable to the performance space, since I didn't have a car. Stephen is smart about where he puts people if they don't have their own transportation, which was really helpful. I think our smallest audience was around 30, and our biggest was 100. You can see and hear every audience member, which I think is lots of fun. Your backstage is literally the ocean. It's awesome. *If you're not from the East Coast, prepare yourself for the general lack of AC. Just something to note.* All in all I'd recommend this experience to anyone hoping to improve their craft, especially with Shakespeare. It was an experience I look back on fondly!

I had an absolutely wonderful time working with Camden Shakespeare Festival. The performance space was STUNNING. The audiences were consistently full, which was great for a comedy! The team was a joy to work with form the actors, to the director Stephen, and all the folks he brought in to teach us and work with us. 10/10 would do again. We had a very blessed summer and got to perform outside for almost all of our shows, but the rain space is also lovely. Camden itself was a very sweet town. Actors were expected to help set up and strike the set, and it was honestly such a fun cast bonding moment. The cast ran young, 18-late twenties, but everyone was very kind and welcoming. The housing was lovely, provided by friends of the festival, and everyone was kind and so generous. Cast was asked to hang up some posters in town, it took maybe 20 minutes. The show itself was super playful and fun, the director was wonderfully encouraging, the rehearsals were thoughtful and efficient. A great team, a great time!

Camden Shakespeare was a really marvelous experience on my part. Obviously, some of the perks you can see right from the start: the gorgeous city of Camden and the beauty of working in Maine, the pleasure of working on Shakespeare, and the solid pay and housing options. However, beyond the surface there's even more richness to be found: Stephen, the artistic director, has a real knack for working with Shakespeare and offers great insights that grow the show beyond its original scope, and make it very digestible for the common audience. In addition, he has a real talent for brining not just skilled actors together but really lovely people. My contract was full of delightful folks who I'd be pleased as peanuts to work with again. You'll certainly be spending some time outside (set up and tear down of the set), and the housing is done with host families, who were all very sweet. You'll be rehearsing in Bowdoinham, Maine, which is quite different from the tourist destination of Camden where you perform (and a good amount smaller), but there's lots to do close at hand (highly recommend Maine State Music Theatre)! If you are able to drive to the contract comfortably, I definitely recommend doing so. Beyond all that, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the genuine care and kindness I was shown my everyone at the company. I happened to fall ill during the process, but I was checked in on every day and never felt pushed / stressed that I "had to get better fast" so that the show could go on. Instead, the company covered my absence without a fuss, and I really felt that my wellbeing was being put first, which really can't be said of a lot of companies. Overall, it was a great Shakespearean summer in a gorgeous outdoor venue with talented folks and a solid foundation of work to build off of. You get lots of time with the show after a fairly short rehearsal process so seeing the show blossom and grow is BEYOND fun! HIGHLY recommend, especially for younger actors or folks just entering the professional world; this is a great jumping off into summer stock theatre work.

I had a truly amazing time working with the Camden Shakespeare Festival. The cast and crew were great to work with, and I got a lot out of the experience. The performance venue is really a dream, the audiences responsive and engaging, and the direction and fight coordination thorough and very helpful. You have to be prepared to be a part of some areas of the theater beyond performing, such as publicity and some tech aspects of the show (i.e striking the set after each performance), but rather than detract from the experience I found it helped the cast work better as a team and brought that feeling to the stage (while also mentioning the strike took very little time, twenty minutes or less). Overall, an incredible experience and I hope to be back in the future!

I had a fantastic experience being a part of the Camden Shakespeare Festival. I am a local actor with a full time job, so I was juggling that and rehearsals/performances. The rehearsal period is short, but creatively satisfying. The performance venue (the Camden Amphitheater) is absolutely gorgeous. You are performing outside, so this isn’t a “wait in your dressing room while not onstage” type of atmosphere, but the entire cast was a great team, and made the experience not only satisfying, but fun as well. It was an incredible way to spend my July, and I plan on auditioning again in the future.

I was fortunate to spend several seasons working with The Camden Shakespeare Festival. I count those as some of the most satisfying and memorable experiences I have had in theater. Having an opportunity to do Shakespeare in Maine, in the summer, to perform in a spectacular amphitheater under the stars was nothing less than magical. I think one must bring a sense of adventure to Maine and be willing to pitch in to make this kind of summer theater happen. I enjoyed the old fashioned situation of working together as a family in order to make the show happen. Artistically you are working with a director who has many years of experience doing theater all over the world. He has the intellect, humor and vision to create, with the actors, something unforgettable. The audiences end up having a very unique and delightful experience. Bring your sense of humor and a professional can do spirit and your reward will be well worth it.

I found my experience performing with Camden Shakespeare Festival to be an excellent one. Outdoor summer theater in the amphitheater in Camden Maine, overlooking an exceptionally beautiful harbor, is a lovely and nourishing event. A nice indoor stage for rainy day performances adds another positive challenge and dynamic to the run of the show. The generally large casts are a mix of local and regional actors, with a variety of levels of training and experience. A terrific interplay of creative energies results and the casts inevitably bond nicely. All under expert and seasoned direction, with respect for the actor’s input, wonderful production values, and enthusiastic audience response. The costuming is always gorgeous. The choice of material for each summer season always attracts interest from younger actors looking for a meaningful theatrical experience and more seasoned pros looking for the next great role to play. Having worked with companies on stages around the country for many years, I can attest to and highly recommend the quality of the experience at Camden Shakespeare.

I worked two seasons with company as an actor and give it high marks for: professionalism, respect for the actor’s process, innovative approaches to the material, and while it may sound a bit corny- plain kindness. I have been in the business for over 40 years, acting on both stage and television. At this stage in my career I have no need to do summer stock to build credits. I act for the love of the craft and for the chance to deepen my experience with Shakespeare. Fortunately I live close to Camden so when the opportunity to join the company for a season arrived I took the chance and signed a contract. I suppose that the best indicator of my feelings about the experience was the fact that I re-enlisted for another season. There is a really interesting mix of artists who are involved in the production- some just getting started, some mid-career and others, like myself, in the later stages. This makes for a unique learning experience for all involved and it was wonderful to see the trust that developed and the sense of shared mission. Often the reviews you see are anonymous- but if anyone is interested in working with the Camden Shakespeare Festival and wants to discuss something in more detail please feel free to contact me at john@slimgoodbody.com

Worked with this company for multiple summers and always enjoyed the cast and crew. Clear and well communicated artistic standards and choices that consistently result in high level productions, and are a satisfying performance experience for seasoned or new actors. Good audiences and supportive local fan base make for well received shows for those familiar with Shakespeare or the less experienced. Idyllic setting in Maine with many opportunities for diversion and experiencing the coast of Maine while being paid professionally for roles. All in all a deep and enriching experience with quality people who recognize and respect talent and creativity.