HDA To Go To Scotland

Organized by Drama teachers Hope Hartup and Michael Calderone, students will be performing Shakespeare on a Shoestring: Cymbeline!

Hopkins Drama Association first made the trip to Scotland in 2012, where nine students performed a series of acts titled Hamlet and Other Theatrical Nightmares.  This year, sixteen students will be joining Calderone and Hartup, who hope to offer the trip every other year for students in the future.

Stemming from his own first-hand experience as a performer at theatre festivals, Calderone has wanted to offer the same trip to his drama students for the past fifteen years.  “I first went to the Edinburgh Fringe as an undergraduate where I performed with the original Shoestring Players” he said. “That first tour had such an impact on my life and career that I wanted to share it with my students.”

Aside from their extensive performance schedule, the students will also have the opportunity to go on many fun outings, such as visiting Holy-rood Palace, the royal residence of Queen Elizabeth II, and watching plenty of performances in an arena adjacent to Edinburgh castle.  The group will also be exploring aspects of the city which so heavily influenced the creation of J.K. Rowling’s award-winning Harry Potter series.  “We will be taking the Potter Trail walking tour, see the cafes where Rowling wrote the books, the private school she based Hogwarts on, and the real-life Diagon Alley!” said Calderone.

Calderone and Hartup hope this trip to Scotland validates the art form of theatre for their students and helps them recognize that theater is not simply what someone does in their off time.