And Camp Recap

I am still recovering from And Camp. I am sick and I am sleep-deprived due to some life choices (taking too many improv and comedy writing classes—more on that some other time). Bear with me, please. When you sign up to go to an adult improv sleepover camp, especially an adult improv sleepover camp that's in its first year, you don't know what to expect. Overall, my experience was great. For $800, I paid a little extra for a private room. I look forward to doing it again next year, and so I hope it continues and they are able to bring people back.

My pre-camp expectations were that I'd get to go and meet people. I think sometimes it's easy to fall into a trap and build a workshop up too much just because it's offered by a well-known person. That's not to say workshops aren't valuable, but when it's only two and a half hours, it's just not likely—for some people—that you're going to get something earth-shattering from the experience. That said, as someone who regularly takes online improv classes, it was great to meet so many people outside of the 2D Zoom box! People are real! Real connections are great! Improv is such an accessible art form. It was great to meet my improv heroes and hang out and be normal.

Thursday, September 17

A five-hour drive from Baltimore to Copake Lake. Arriving at the camp, I unpacked and warmed up with a ~150-person Pass the Clap, pure chaos, but also pure fun.

4:15–6:45 PM: Improv Masterclass (Will Hines)

If you've taken Will's workshops recently—or read his Substack—you know what this is going to be. I liked that this was an anchor class for the camp, the one most everyone took. It was a nice warm-up to the week. In my session, Will's approach was to treat this as a class for people who are likely going to coach teams and other performers, so it had a more advanced feel. I did a warmup I had never done before, Two Sandwiches (always fun to learn new warm-ups). My takeaway from this class was thinking about scenes as having three elements: agreement, reality, and absurdity.

Friday, September 18

10:00 AM–12:00 PM: Free Block: Tie-Dye or Jam

I'll be honest and say I was disappointed initially that I had any free blocks at this camp. I wanted to do workshop all the time! While this probably remained true to a degree, having to take a break was probably good for me. Also I got to tie-dye a shirt, something I have not done in decades and seemingly there's much more theory to tie-dye in terms of how to fold a shirt to create various effects.

1:15–3:45 PM: Let's Give Improv the Respect It Deserves (Sebastian Conelli)

Meeting Sebastian was a highlight. I had the good fortune to work with him as a coach on a practice team I was a part of from October 2025 to June 2026. I wrote more notes for this class than any others. For someone so silly, Sebastian is a great teacher of improv and great himself at improv, a rare combination. My takeaway:

Improv has so many rules. It would be a disservice not to have fun.

4:15–6:45 PM: Crashganics: Organic Improv (Shannon O'Neill)

An eight-week class compressed down to two and a half hours. This is the first workshop I have ever taken with Shannon O'Neill and her teaching skills and classroom management were top notch. Clear, challenging directions and exercises. Tons of reps. Takeaway:

Burn the comfort.

Saturday, September 19

9:45 AM–12:15 PM: What's Your Deal? (Sarah Claspell)

A character class with a lot of great reps. This was a very back-to-basics class for me which actually made it valuable. I've never worked with Sarah before, but she was lovely and supportive which makes me excited to work with her again (I need to make WGIS intensives happen in 2027. I know LA folks now I'd love to meet in person and I have never had a chance to actually visit that city, despite having been to LAX multiple times. I should see Convoy in person. I should see a show at Largo. This thread is going on for too long in my head. Really at this point I am knowingly avoiding other writing I need to do by daydreaming in this parenthetical).

Parenthetical aside, I was actually grateful for this class and its simplicity. I'd been working hard and it was a nice cool-down. I feel like I lucked out here.

Takeaway. Another new warm-up for me: We're going to a Wedding (All I can find is this Reddit link). It's a nice "if this is true what else is true" game and one I'll probably suggest a bunch as my teams tend to like Justification Lawyer and Ted the Loquacious Gardener.

1:30–3:30 PM: Free Block: Kayak, Jam, Friendship Bracelets, or Zines

I listened to Session 0 of the new Quinn's Quest Patreon Play to Find Out which will feature Adam Vass's Necronautilus. It was this session when I realized taking breaks is good. Next time, I'm going to prioritize sleep and rest more.

4:15–6:45 PM: Initiate the Scene, Not Just the Game (Jim Woods)

Jim Woods is another teacher I've worked with a number of times. This was the first time I met him in person and I was excited for the opportunity to get notes on my physical performance. I click with his vibe. He has a carefree style born out of iO and Chicago that I don't feel like I get much exposure to in Baltimore, at least not in the way he presents it. My takeaway from this session was, if you get what you want in a scene, heighten and become insatiable. I've been a part of many improv scenes that stall out when a character has a want and they don't get it. People try to play keep away and it just doesn't feel real. Which is the easier scene? Watching a character being denied a single bottle of coke or watching a character drink hundreds of bottles of coke? I think drinking a hundred bottles of coke is much easier to find the comedy in.

What else?

Each night after dinner there was a Jam/Show. The first night it was all of the teachers together. The second and third nights were students supported by teachers, you entered by putting your name in a box. I went up on the third night.

Final Takeaway

Assuming everything can work out, I plan to go again. It was so amazing to meet everyone and to just be in a community where people say "Yes" and have your back. I'm sure there were challenging situations between people, but I did not directly experience any of them.