French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts is a sleep away performing arts summer camp co-owned by Ron Schaefer and his daughter, Beth Schaefer, and directed by Isaac Baumfeld, and founded in 1969. The large camp is located just outside Hancock, New York, on a private lake known as Sand Pond in the western Catskill Mountains. French Woods offers summer camp programs in dance, theatre (including technical theatre and musical theater), music, rock and roll, circus, magic, visual arts, skateboarding, sport and horseback riding, and in 2008, 2,400 children attended the camp, over some 12 weeks, consisting of 4 three-week sessions and 1 one-week session. According to New York Times, French Woods, along with the Interlochen Center for the Arts and Stagedoor Manor, are considered the gold standard of theater camps."
French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts is a sleep away performing arts summer camp co-owned by Ron Schaefer and his daughter, Beth Schaefer, and directed by Isaac Baumfeld, and founded in 1969. The large camp is located just outside Hancock, New York, on a private lake known as Sand Pond in the western Catskill Mountains. French Woods offers summer camp programs in dance, theatre (including technical theatre and musical theater), music, rock and roll, circus, magic, visual arts, skateboarding, sport and horseback riding, and in 2008, 2,400 children attended the camp, over some 12 weeks, consisting of 4 three-week sessions and 1 one-week session. According to New York Times, French Woods, along with the Interlochen Center for the Arts and Stagedoor Manor, are considered the gold stand