Catch the Summer Buzz

GAMBIER, Ohio (June 12, 2007) A band marches, cheerleaders leap, and volleyball players spike, but the most articulate body language is spoken by the mimes of summer.

The Kenyon campus has a wide embrace between school years. Activities fill academic buildings, the Kenyon Athletic Center, and residence halls. About 4,300 people of various ages and interests will visit at different times from early June through middle August.

The School for Mime Theater returns for its twenty-sixth year, with a youth seminar that will attract local children and teenagers June 18-28 and an adult seminar with an international flavor July 2-13.

The Chihuly sculpture that hangs in Storer Hall captures the essence of Kenyon for Rick Wamer, the mime theater artistic director who returns for his twenty-fifth year. The Tucson, Arizona-based mime said the spiraling tendrils of the glass sculpture capture the diversity and reach of the College.

"These interconnected communities all kind of come together there in a global way," he said. "At the same time, Gambier is one of the most American places you can imagine.

"It feels kind of like home. It's time in the green and the hills."

Mimes in white-face will not be seen on village street corners. This troupe works in theater, with "universal forms of physical expression to communicate ideas, thoughts, concepts and emotions."

The sharpening of skills is not exclusive to mimes. The fine points of other endeavors, from basketball to writing, will be honed. Dancers, musicians, and teachers will retreat here to refocus, refresh and reload.

Craftsman Hill will guide lace knitters (June 13-16). The Teen Institute will groom future leaders (July 6-11). Episcopalians (July 22-27), Seventh Day Adventists (August 3-5), and Unitarians (July 15-21) will gather and reflect.

Academic pursuits are also welcome.

Central to the summer is the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop June 16-23. Workshops are held in creative nonfiction writing, fiction and poetry with a focus on new work. Workshops are also held for young writers June 24-July 7 and July 15-28.

The Summer Science Scholars Program returns dozens of Kenyon students to campus to work closely with faculty mentors on projects in the natural sciences.

But summer is all about action, and camps will be held for softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball. For information on summer athletic opportunities, visit http://athletics.kenyon.edu/x23398.xml .