Hamilton Camp

Spolin Theater Games Intensive

Hamilton Camp was a master of improv, a talent that pervaded his career as a comedic actor, and one which entertained his friends as well. Every conversation I had with him was notable for his spontaneous humor. He had a rare gift of seeing the humor in everything, and being able to instantly put it in words. He was formally recognized for his skill at improv with a Dramalogue award for best direction of an ensemble performance with the Spolin Games Players.

Throughout his life he was involved with improvisation, and taught workshops on and off for many years. This section is first under "Acting", because he asked me to place it there, and I will honor his request even now after his death.

What follows is the text of the original web page I prepared for Hamilton, including several paragraphs in his own words.

Anyone who attended one of these workshops was very fortunate.

These games were designed by Viola Spolin as a means of arriving at a heightened state of awareness, allowing the players to improvise freely and spontaneously without interference from the mind. They are a key for spontaneous playing in theatrical performance.

The workshop is kept to 16 people, who will be together for two sessions of the Games every day, ending with an evening of playing Theater Games for an invited audience Saturday night.

Hamilton describes his workshops:

We play the Game, making contact with ourselves and then with other players using various exercises, such as mirroring, improvising, working with space objects that arise spontaneously between the players. As Viola Spolin, creator of these games said, “We make the invisible, visible.”
This is for any artist who wants an available intuitive. We are moving towards theatrical performance with this, but any artist who wants to connect to his or her intuitive will find these games are a fruitful way of exercising that inner vision which the mind can’t really understand.
I can attest to the fact that after forty years of playing and improvising with Spolin Games, I have felt at home in all forms of theater, from Story Theater to Shakespeare. Let me share with you the tools that have brought me such joy and satisfaction. Let us play.

Hamilton coached Theater Games frequently throughout the years, up until the year of his death. People who attended his workshops raved about them.

Theater Games Workshops

Spolin Theater Games Intensive