Salon Night

Wednesday Night. August 4. Salon Night. Some of the campers rode the elevator, while the rest of the campers climbed the black and white checkered stairs up to the 5th floor at the Masonic building where ASC has its offices. All of them eventually reached the red carpeted room where the grad students were waiting for them in a big circle of chairs. Salon Night is a tradition at YCTC where the Mary Baldwin College graduate students lead a discussion about the resident troupe plays that all of the campers have seen. On Wednesday, the grads started the discussion with Wild Oats. The first question was asking for the campers’ favorite quotes from the show. The campers were immediately involved and started spouting the moments that they loved. The next question posed to the campers was to ask if Wild Oats was a play just for ‘Shakespeare nerds’ or if it could be enjoyed by all audiences. The room was almost split, yet the campers patiently awaited their turns to speak their opinions. Even when they disagreed, they listened to each other and let those opinions be heard. Campers asked questions too, continuing the discussion.

The group then went on to talk about Othello and The Taming of the Shrew. The grad student leading the discussion about Shrew split the room in two, asking one side to argue the feminist side and the other to argue the sexist side. He then asked two campers to read a monologue from Petruico and Kate’s famous last speech. After each one he let the sides state their opinions and argue out the merits of one side over the other. The campers had so many ideas and opinions, it was hard to keep up with all of them. For many the night ended too soon, and while walking back to Stuart Hall, the campers were still fervently discussing their interpretations of The Taming of the Shrew.

Darielle Shandler