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.

A few weeks of rehearsal in Bowdoinham, Maine- nice little town but pretty isolated, out-of-town actor housing is usually not within close distance to the rehearsal space as all housing is sourced from volunteer households. Entire production moves to new housing (always close to the performance space) in Camden, ME. Gorgeous setting, generally good audiences, though Camden is a tourist town whose consistent population is older. MAJOR issue trying to find food at night, for instance, as everything shuts down at 9 PM and shows typically let out around 9:15. Most places are overpriced during the day, which cuts into pay. “Tours” on weekends to other towns in Maine (Bath and Monson), though audience retention varies. Bath is usually worth the drive up, Monson usually not. Professional theatre but VERY family-owned and operated. Director’s family is included among the cast, but they fit in well and are wonderful people and skilled artists. Casts young, around early 20s- a great opportunity if you’re in college or looking for your first pro gig, lets you really dig into roles that older actors would typically receive in larger settings. The area is beautiful, and the host families are often very nice- lots of very generous friends of the company who will welcome you with open arms. All that said- multiple instances of intimacy and fight coordination being outright rejected, even when offered up for free from experienced individuals within the cast. Refuses to follow these industry standards because, as was recounted to one individual, “it would put ideas in people’s heads.” Fight choreographer for one show only called in *after* an actor injury due to this negligence. As for intimacy, an incident involving most cast members occurred that nearly put the show on strike unless better awareness was promised- at the end of a production, eight cast members were given the direction to kiss in the show. Zero warning, zero intimacy coordination, just the instruction to add this in on the day of the first preview. Mints were thrown down onto the table in front of them as a joke. Despite the promise to treat these situations differently in the future, one year later it turned into the aforementioned issue. Severe weather conditions, including those that would result in unsafe travel for the cast and crew, are practically ignored. When one cast member brought up these concerns specifically, a company meeting was held without this individual present where director claimed this was "not an acting collective" and that concerns like this were not valid. After traveling a long distance without being able to see the road in front of our vehicles, only six people attended that day's performance... due to said weather. Director is the only person making executive decisions regarding this production. Other creative team only includes a costume designer and the stage manager, and any/all tech responsibilities are often thrown on the SM without warning. Out-of-state pay is fair enough for non-drivers (though a bit tight at $300/wk), but is drastically under what is required to own and operate a vehicle while on contract while still getting a fair amount of money- keep in mind the cast is often transporting themselves and their castmates several miles between housing and rehearsals in Bowdoinham, then several miles to tour the show once it's settled in Camden. Audience tickets are often overpriced and comps are limited. Social media has been handed to multiple people as a job but their ideas are often rejected, which makes actor publicity rather difficult. In-state pay is SEVERELY below what the other actors make, a one-time payment in the mid-to-high hundreds paid at the end of the contract. Stage manager pay is a bit better than out-of-state, but not by much: $400/wk. No available bathroom during most performances. Library who hosts the company closes their doors and refuses to let cast members use the facility, often closing just before curtain. In a more contractual setting with official labels, actors would probably also be considered as ASMs. Lots of publicity, which can be thrown onto the performers (usually the non-locals) with only a 12 hour notice- though this notice has been broken before and has also been placed on the actors the day of opening. The entire production is set up and struck before and after each show- this includes the heavy pieces of a wooden ticket booth that 2-3 cast members must remove from storage, construct, deconstruct, and place back into storage for every single show. None of these requirements’ actual demands are made explicit- and indeed, purposely mentioned a bit later- within the contract. Female characters, generally those who do not move the plot forward, don’t tend to receive much creative freedom in how they are portrayed- this can get dicey with more suggestive roles- and comedic characters, regardless of comedic style, receive the same amount of backlash- not quite line reads, but close. Stage manager is often treated poorly, which includes being expected to take calls close to 24/7, including days off, and receiving much harsher and direct criticism than other members of the company. Older cast members are usually not accounted for in terms of health or time, which has resulted in injury. If you have a tougher skin, I would still recommend for a younger actor who wants a trial run at the summer stock experience. But lots that needs to be fixed if they expect employees to return. (edited)