All the world's a stage

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts

--William Shakespeare's As You Like It



This has been quite literally the case for me this past month. Although I have no real acting experience or training, in the summer camp where I'm working right now, acting is required all the time. There are different levels of acting; acting like the host of an all-camp game of clue, playing the part of an English teacher for two hours in the morning, acting like I care whether or not kids sit against the wall and enforcing it because the camp director cares even though I don't mind at all, acting like I'm enthusiastic about singing the song Ring of Fire for the 50th time in a month, pretending that I am awake when I want nothing more than to be in my bed, presenting the day's schedule (and then eating lunch afterwards) as a mime, acting like a narrator/marshmellow tree in a skit about cavemen teaching fire safety, playing the part of a superhero's love interest, and acting like Babe the blue ox for 15 minutes during a skit about American history and folklore are fairly different. But they are all acting.

Which is a small part of why I've been thinking about As You Like It (the rest of the scene is also quite good. Google it if you have the chance.)

It seems like everyone is acting in some way or another. I wonder how much of belonging to a certain profession or social class, how many relationships, how much of any social interaction or personal habit is really some type of acting. Acting out what is expected by others; doing what is required by a situation not because of personal interest, skill, or desire, but because of necessity; repeating behaviors seen in other people, adapting to a social or professional role in terms of behavior, attitude, vocabulary......

I also like the image of people entering and exiting stage. Some people are only in a place for a season. Others for longer, but never forever. But there is a constant coming in and exiting of characters as time goes on, and an expected shifting of roles.

I wish I had time to read more this summer.

The third session begins today. One more month of skits. One month until I fly home.