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The Perform

er is only as good as the contributions we receive from

the French Woods

comm

unity. Let us know w

hat is going on in your life. Your camp friends love to hear w

hat you are doing. D

o you have a performance or concert com

ing up? Have you seen or spoken to French

Woods friends? H

ow did your sports team

do this season? We also w

elcome your photos and any

creative writing you m

ay want to see in print. It’s your big chance! W

rite us at P.O. Box 770100,

Coral Springs, FL 33077-0100 or give us a call at 1-800-634-1703.

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We all love hearing from

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I n f o r m i n g T h e F r e n c h W o o d s C o m m u n i t y

French Woods Festival of the

Per forming Arts

H a p p y T h a n k s g i v i n g !

We are currently seeking physicians and nurses for the summer of 2008. Do you know of anyone who might like to be a camp doctor or nurse? Nurses are needed for a mini-mum stay of three weeks while doctors need to be available for a minimum of one week. Families can be accommodated. Please call the office if you know anyone that might be inter-ested.

Fondly, Ron & Barbara

IN THIS ISSUE:

Do you know someone that might make a great staff member at French Woods? We always welcome your recom-mendations. Especially needed are strong sports and tennis staff, musical directors, instrumental musicians, skilled artists, technical theatre staff and nurses. Please call us in the winter office at 1(800)634-1703 if you know of anyone and we will be happy to forward them the appropriate application forms and information. With many of your favorite staff returning we are hoping to make the staff of 2008 the best ever.

In response to the many phone calls we have received please mark these dates: June 22th and 23rd, July 12th and 13th, August 1st and 2nd, and August 22nd & 23rd. Visiting on the first of each two day period begins immediately after lunch, about 2 PM. The second day of visiting begins at 11 AM. Visitors will NOT be allowed on the grounds before these times. Parents may NOT bring picnic dinners or any other food to share with their children at camp. Parents and visitors are welcome to eat in our dining hall but under no circumstances are campers permitted to leave the grounds. Should you wish to attend any other performance during the summer please call the camp so that we know you are coming. You may arrive at 6 PM for dinner in the dining hall. Picnics and other food items are NOT permitted during these visits. If you are in need of accommodations please call the winter office and we will be happy to provide you with names and phone numbers to contact.

As you read this performer, Barbara and I have just returned from the first of our hiring trips of the year. In another few weeks we head for London. The return rate of staff is incredible this year. Wait for the next per-former and we’ll print the list of the current counselors headed back to French Woods in 2008.

As many of you know, say goodbye to the old costume shop. It has now been replaced with a model railroad center that we’ll be working on for years to come. The old gymnastics center is now gone and in it’s place the new rock and roll studios shine. Gymnastics is now in the old gym, while sports has a beautiful new home on the athletic fields. Add to this the new girls lodge and you’ll see that French Woods is on the move again.

Registration is just unreal. Please note the following: We are now almost 60% filled. In the next performer we will be forced to announce the closing of many sessions by age. Give us a call or return your registration before you are closed out. We would love to have you join us in 2008.

Please note: It is my pleasure to announce, Enid Marcus has rejoined the French Woods family. Enid brings with her seasoned camp directing experience. We are happy to have her back with us and know she will be a wonderful addition to our program!

*Staff & Camper News*Ron, Beth & Isaac

*Visiting Days*Positions Available

* London Trip

D o c t o r s&

N u r s e s

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

1 Ari Bellan Andrew Brod Kenna Mcwilliams Nicole Papetti Emily Shaw2 Alexander Anderson David Hyler Eryn Levine Katie Moshier Jack Muldavin Kira Murphy Maya Nahor Brian Reisman Megan Wylie3 Katherine Banos Solomon Billinkoff Lauren Buckley David Ezekiel Annabel Lindau Angelina Usherenko4 Rachel Briant Nicole Gotay Hope Newman Sasha Vukovic5 Madison Bishop Paulina Rubin6 Nina Follman Richard Frank Jodi Gerver Tyler Laurence Alana Summers Alicia Vividor7 Yael Haskal Joshua Kahky Daria Morganstern

Thomas Porat Laura Sharpe8 Courtney Arango Heather Gerstley Laura Langner Jack Petricone Jonathan Rojas Emma Schenker Miranda Van Iserstine9 Emily Benziger Gretchen Hannah Burke Jessica Hirschhorn David Karol Michael Kombert Joseph Miner Olivia Streisand10 Erin Champey Sean Feldman Kathryn Levin Denise Persampieri Noam Shapiro11 Ashley Fitzpatrick Amanda Gluck Dara Molotsky Jackson Shain12 Sebelle Bell Julia Dick13 Devitt Logan Soon Gyi Park14 Ryan Adams Norlex Belma Kendall Burger Gabrielle Coste Jonathan Feldman Jonathan Jakubowitz Jason Rose

Chloe Silverberg Rachel Weisbart15 Ben Ackerman Coco Ashkenazy Taryn Bagdasarian Phoebe Donaldson Taylor Dordick Tyler Glasheen Jordan Matt Molly McIntyre Maugeri Michelle Rosenthal Alisa Severin Emma Spector Amanda Zemel16 Harrison Baker Matt Maguire Elijah “Eli” Schildkraut Julian Weisner Vivian Bauer Clara Fath Jake Sokoloff Anna Vasilyeva18 Elyssa Bernfeld Romy Byrne Allison First Catherine Jackson Nicole Nudge Shona Rothfield-Carr Eleasha Walker Schmidt Alexandra Taggart Casie Tennin Alexa Ann Tkacsik19 Crystal Audigier Rachel Diamond David Dubrow

Sasha Dubyk Ben Ferraioli Serena Hernandez Amanda Lagowitz Nick Zanca20 Victoria Brown Lauren Gottesman Juliet Kimble Marcel Mascaro Kyle Schrager Sara Sigel Delaney Smith Giulietta Vento Kayleigh Willis Caitlin Wolper Charlotte Zee21 Ivanova Kaufman Anna Mansour Henry Molinari Nicholas Moretto Lindsey Peterson Alexis Smith Tara Tabachnik Sarah Treanor22 Daniel Cohen Jesse Fishman Daniel Mactas Brenna Ramirez23 Daniele Bellino Molly Cannistra Brandon Fishman Katie Garry Caroline Jenks Nicole Mizrahi Molly Rzepka

D e a r F r e n c h W o o d i t e , S t a f f

N e e d e d !

V i s i t i n g D a y s

J u s t R e g i s t e r e d !

N o v e m b e r B i r t h d a y s

Laura Thomas24 Gabriella Deluca Richard Devita Sam Giacometti25 Joshua Egerman Adria Spivack Lauren Tholemeier26 Daniele Sara Bell Rachel Chung Virginia Grey Le Vine Lauren Marino Julianna Salguero27 Louisa Ballhaus Max Gelfond Lauren Kozak Caroline Mc Vey Christine Vuolo Kate Werder28 Laura Abrams Sara Cott David Fair Elizabeth Grady Cordella Nowak Hillary Shlutz Natasha Vaughn29 Ethan Saviet Mirabai Trent30 Caitlin Dullahan-Bates Ryan Berman Matthew Blum Leah Kreichman Cindy Schmelkin Alana Tartaro

Elizabeth GluckNicole GotaySamatha GotayTatiana GottwaldSonya GouldLucy GrebinCole GreenbergEvan GreenbergMatthew GrossmanMilo HanSirus HanBenjamin HirschhornJessica HirschhornDiana HirstTessa HollidayBenjamin HoltzmanHannah Celeste HuntHarper Graciela HuntClaire JiangChloe & Jalyn JosephJalyn JosephKate KaplanGuy KarliMorgan KashinskyHarrison KaufmanRachel KellerAri KijankaKyla KijankaSamuel KimJuliet KimbleMadeleine KimbleAaron KlipinRebecca KlipinNicole KruseLouis LefkowitzAdam LeibowitzJoshua LeiferEryn LevineVictor LichtmanDanielle Lieberman

Ian Lieberman Dan LightZach LitnerMatthew LupovichAudrey MadoffPiper MajorsAleena Zara MalikSofia ManziBeatrice MartinRachel MartinAlexandra MautoneEmily McgurkJojo MeyersAlicia Mondini-BoschettiKira MoninJordana MoserJacob MussenAshley NeumanRobert NovyJillian O’learyKevin O’learyAce OrensteinKasie PatloveCarmen PerryJack PetriconeCourtney PoriesJordan PoriesSamuel PottashDanielle PranskyVictoria PrianoArabella PringleLily Grace RandallAlden ReimanJulien ReimanCharlotte RichJulia RileyIsabella RisiusRaquel RobertsRachel RosenAudrey Rosenblith

Lauren RovereDebbie SachareLena SafronJoey SchattAlex SchecterJessica SchiffBrooke SchneiderSam SchwartzCollin ShayChelsea SiegalLayne SilvermanAlex SityarPhillip SkokosJacob “Jack” SmythKitson. SmythBrooke StarkmanNia StipeticJustin SullivanTara TabachnikLauren TragerAriana VarvaroJoey VarvaroCora VassermanEleanor VertesRachel WalkerMac WardAri WeinbergJulia WeinbergHannah WeinsteinAlison (Ali) WeissJordan Rachel WeissEmma WenderElias WygodnyMollie YellinKarlene ZalkinLex ZeeJeffrey ZerenZachary Zeren

Angelika AlberstadtCarly AmlenChristopher AnselmoDylan (Wiggles) BaloughNorma BarrattVivian BauerElizabeth BelnapRuth BelnapDahrian BlockmonJustin BoesCamilla BorgogniCosimo BorgogniFlorence BreitstadtEva CatillonBrittany ChampeyJoseph ChampeySandra ChestertonJordyn CohenRachel DaminPeter DanisMadison DawkinsZachary DickSarah DicksonMatthew DimonaMax DonenfeldKacie DoranDavid DubrowBenjamin EdelmanWendy EisenbergGil Eplan-FrankelNikki FaitellTheodora FarahAnna FazioTaylor FeingoldAlisha FeldmanHaley FitzpatrickSarah FoxSabrina FuchsGabriella GardinerKatie Garry

As of November 1, 2007 there are only 219 days left until session 1 2007, rolls around. I bet you can’t wait. Kathy and I spent some time in NYC this month and had dinner with the Shectmans and the Holtzmans . We had a great time with them. My daughter Jen also joined us for dinner. Brittany Champey came along and went to Randi Olan’s sleep-over birthday party. Or should I say “stay up all night” party. Some of the party go-ers included Hali Garber, Dina Cook, Dani Shecht-man, and Christina Ames.It was a whirlwind trip! Kathy, Joey, Brittany, and I went to Orlando, picked up Erin, who is a freshman at UCF, and whisked her off to Universal for Fright Fest. Another great weekend was had by all. Spent a weekend with the Whaleys. They came down to south Florida to stay with us and to attend Josh Kahn’s Bar Mitzvah. It was their first trip to a shul. I had the please of seeing the Kahns, Pratts, Feldlmans, Schatts, Gelmans, Jonathan Jakubowitz, Michael Kombert, Ben Leff, Michael Kushner and I hope I didn’t leave anyone out. Oh yes, Kapialoni and Rachel. Brittany C. and Katey N. also crashed with me. The Broward Fury Basketball program is starting up. Our team consists of Joey Champey (starting at Douglas H.S.), Ryan Deri (sixth man at Coral Springs H.S.), Ari Bellan (Coral Springs Charter), Alex Bellino (St. Thomas of Aquinas H.S.), Ar-nau Robles (Taravella H.S.), also joining us this year will be Michael Minichello and Chris Harchuck. Unfortunately we cannot get Tyler Brown who’s working toward buying a new car. We are very excited about our team. We have five other boys who are also playing for their high school teams.

Kathy, Joey, Brittany, Erin, the French Woods, family and I all send our condolences to Lauri Bellan, who lost her dad in October. If there is anything you need, please let us know. Spoke to Carolyn, she’s doing great in Brussels, and heard from Jessie Coyle who’s loving his newly bought apartment in Amsterdam. Hopefully, Kathy and I will see them this year. Kathy and I will be in Boston area, Philly, and Paris again this year. We hope to see some of our campers and their families who live in those areas this winter. We will let you know the exact dates soon. Stay in touch. Bye for now, Isaac

I s a a c ’ s C o r n e r

B e t h B a c k s t a g e As you can see we have put together a tentative show schedule for the summer of 2008. We are planning some very exciting new shows and, as always, we will have several making their French Woods debut this summer. We have been in contact with many of you and have taken several of your suggestions into account. I think that the show selection is particularly good this year. It’s looking great in 2008! We have started sending out returning counselor invitations for the 2008 season and it looks as though we will have quite the fabulous staff. There will be many returning staff members and we have started the drive to recruit new staff from all over the country and, as always, all over the world. Things are busy in the French Woods office these days! A big congratulations to Jeff Maynard on his wedding to Robyn!I hope school is going well & I look forward to seeing you all next summer! Sincerely,

Beth T H A T ’ S T H E N E W S A N D W E A R E O U T T A H E R E !

Rachel Rudel loved her first time at FWF. So much so that she’s already signed up for next summer. Rachel is cur-rently cast in two shows at the same time! She is busy acting and is counting the days until camp! Noah Jacobson was just cast in the lead role of Troy in the production of High School Musical at the Meyer Acad-emy in West Palm Beach, Fl. He was also the second choice for the role of the son in The Full Monty at the Jupiter Theatre, which was his first professional audition. Noah was also just cast as Danny Zuko in the Maltz Jupiter Theatre Conservatory’s production of Grease! eli Jacobson was just cast in multiple roles in The Meyer Academy’s production of The Jungle Book. Louisa Pouch got the part Emily Webb in Our Town performing at Pace High School. Chris Brent is in New Zealand and is just about to go to work on the fruit farms in Australia. He then has a three month music project working with local children in Chennai, India before returning to the UK. Wendy eisenberg recently visited New York to see Spring Awakening and spend time with family. She has been named assistant director of her St. Andrews Episcopal High School’s Jazz Band. She has also joined the Blues Alley Youth Orchestra and will be playing with their ensembles in the DC area. Tara Folio has been cast as Queenie in her school’s production of Honk! The show is directed by Patti Mactas, mom of veteran campers Daniel and Michelle and FW alumni Elyssa. melissa Jacobson is busy directing and performing in cabaret shows throughout South Florida and across the coun-try. Her husband Alan just opened his world premiere musical Food Fight! to strong critical acclaim and tremendous audience response. Faryn Scheck was cast in the role of Ruben in Jo-seph! She’s been now cast in the role of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, a production to be featured in the new Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre (JCAT) at the Michael-Ann Russell Jew-ish Community Center in North Miami Beach/Aventura, under the direction of Michael Andron. Héloïse Fraitag (solo cellist in William Tell, sym-phony concert, August 4) has been selected to be a member of the jury of a cello contest, at the Conservatory of Paris (13th “arrondissement”), to take place on November 9. Kalyn altmeyer was cast as Martha Cratchitt in a professional production of A Christmas Carol at McCarter The-ater in Princeton, NJ. The show runs from December 2nd to 23rd. eamon Foley met up with more than 40 campers to experience Broadway on Broadway with his French Woods buddies. He’s really enjoying his freshman year in high school so far. But October 2nd he left school in New Canaan to start rehearsal for How the Grinch Stole Christmas. He’s going to be a swing for all the boys in the show! Kris mccormick is about to open as Papa Ge in Once on This Island at the Ridgefield, CT, Theater Barn. For the winter, he’s understudying Barry in House & Garden, an innovative, two-theater comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, at his new school. David Valentine is directing Dancing at Lughnasa at his local High School. The show is double cast and when performed, casts will be rotated so that, while the actors will

always play the same roles, they may never have the same scene partner twice. Sounds exciting! melissa Kleiman will be playing the role of Kim MacAfee in Bye, Bye Birdie at The Suburban Temple in Wantagh, NY. Bruce Bider is directing the show. The show dates are December 1st and 8th at 7:30 and December 2nd and 9th at 4:00. Brandon Powers was cast as Mephistopheles in the Fieldston Upper School production of Faust. Also, his bunk counselor, Danny Jones (Magic Dept.) will be visit-ing Brandon in New York at the end of October during his travels around the world. Ryan arey has been spending some time in the Florida office completing the editing of the summer shows and working on a new French Woods promotional video. We’ll let you know what he comes up with! Layne Silverman will be playing the role of JAQ in the Metrowest JCC Production of Cinderella. She also has been selected to be a part of the Mount Pleasant Players Troupe at her school in Livingston, NJ as well as performing in the school’s Show Stoppers Competition. Sam Schwartz is playing the wizard in The Wizard of Oz. He is looking forward to next year, when he will be taught by Jon Gellert in High School! Dan Hockstein is in his fall drama, The Laremie Project. He is also writing in his school newspaper. eli Hockstein is playing the role of Emile in South Pacific. Gretchen Hannah Burke made first violin in school orchestra & will play the role the cat in the hat in Seussical the Musical. Gabi Hakim has been invited by Maria Colaco Dance to join the cast of Duke In December: Not Just a Nut-cracker. Performances will be on Sunday, December 9th at the Evolution Dance Theater in Mount Kisco, NY and on Friday, December 21st at the Arts Exchange in White Plains, NY. Ben Schrager’s school is doing Urinetown, and is playing Officer Lockstock. The show performs November 15th, 16th, and 17th. He’s been working hard to raise money to send his school’s theater program to Edinbrugh next sum-mer. But don’t worry! He’s still counting down the days til camp! Josh Kahn celebrated his Rockmitzvah in Coral Springs, FL as well as a “B4A + other Frenchwoodites” re-union!

C a m p e r & S t a f f N e w sL o n d o n T r i p The details for the London trip have been worked out and we are getting very excited for the upcoming trip! The Gang will be arriving in London on December 25th and will spend their first day on an organized tour of the city. We have recently received confirmation from Martin Lowe, a French Woods alumnus and professional West End musical director, who plans to meet up with the group. It’s good luck for us, since he will have only just returned from rehearsing the new cast of Mama Mia on tour in Korea and working on the film prior to that! Martin has also contacted us with a list of shows to recommend in case anyone wants to squeeze in an extra show.

Day two, three, and four of the trip will include a tour of The Globe Theater, Museums, Windsor Castle, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament and a show every night! On day five we will get our shopping done with trips to Portobello Rd and Leicester Square. Kids will be given the option of seeing an extra show that afternoon, prior to the group dinner and show.

On days six and seven, we will immerse ourselves in history, hitting the British Museum, Covent Garden, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Madame Tussauds. We will cap off the final evening with a spooky New Years Eve. We will make our way to the Jack the Ripper tour of London, which always an entertaining evening! New Years Day will be a day of farewells, when we will board our flights and head back home. We can’t wait!

We can’t wait till 2008!Session One Session Two

The SeagullSession Three

The Diary of Ann Frank

Session Four

How to Eat Like a Child

Cosi

Wonderful Town

Here are the Shows we’re thinking of for next Summer!

A complete schedule of times & dates will be printed in our

May Newsletter!!!

Here are the Shows we’re thinking of for next Summer!

A complete schedule of times & dates will be printed in our

May Newsletter!!!

10 Little IndiansThe Man Who Came to Dinner

It’s a

Hit