Northwoods Ramah Theatre

Camp Ramah in Wisconsin is the home of The Northwoods Ramah Theatre Company, an ensemble group dedicated to creating new work that reflects the Jewish experience. Their work is developed through an open-rehearsal process aimed at a wide audience of children and adults. By opening up the creative process, not just the performance, to the camp audience, the NRTC inspires the potential for a deeper connection to the work; not only does the community serve the process, the process serves the community. Culling material from folklore, poetry, contemporary literature and ancient texts, all sources are treated as sacred, and by working them into the script, the NRTC aims to magnify the connection between the story and Jewish teaching.

In 2009, for our fifth summer in residence at Camp Ramah Wisconsin, the Northwoods Ramah Theatre Company developed three new pieces, each revolving around the notion of "you reap what you sow." Focusing on the specific Jewish teachings concerning planting, nurturing and harvesting (and fitting into a larger camp wide celebration of Tel Aviv's centennial), the three short pieces, work-shopped in our open rehearsal environment, explored the connection between the satisfaction of planting for the future and understanding the origin of the fruits currently enjoyed. The company adapted Hayyim Nahman Bialik's short story Knight of Onion and Knight of Garlic into a one-act fractured fairy tale, created a walk-through piece, set around camp, based on submitted writings from campers and staff called But First, Finish Planting, and wrote a short play, Blowin' in the Wind, exploring the mythology surrounding the birth of Bob Dylan, the artist, the musician and the character created by Robert Zimmerman.

This summer, the Northwoods Ramah Theatre Company will be fixing its gaze on William Shakespeare. We will be workshopping a new adaptation of The Merchant of Venice by Brooklyn based playwright, Daniel Kelley that explores the role of Shylock in contemporary Jewish American consciousness entitled, I Am Sharon. We will also be combining Shakespeare's sonnets with Medieval Hebrew Poetry for a new, as of yet untitled "al fresco" piece. We will be inviting campers and staff with an interest in getting their theatrical hands dirty with a little Shakespearean text boot camp to work with the company creating and performing this piece, which will be set among the beautiful murals all around camp.

Past Northwoods Ramah Theater presentations included: