Summer Camp

Having trouble picking out a camp for your kid this summer? Can't make up your mind from among the thousands of camps, the dozens of types, the glossy catalogs, the high-production videos? Racing to narrow down these myriad choices sometime before the bell rings on the final day of school in June? Try sending seven kids to summer camp. That was Ann Soper's plight. "I thought, ‘Where do I start?' " says Soper, of Wayland, who has three sons and four daughters. "It was bewildering.

PICK OF THE DAY Tod's Thompson Katharine Hepburn's character in "Woman of the Year" was modeled after Dorothy Thompson. Adolf Hitler's wrath resulted in the journalist's expulsion from Nazi Germany. Known by many as the "First Lady of American Journalism," Thompson is the subject of Norman Plotkin's "Cassandra Speaks," which opens the Shakespeare & Company summer season. Tod Randolph tackles the role. 8:30 p.m. (through Sept. 2). $15-$50 (see website for discounts)

With the summer camp season fast approaching, kids across the country will be stocking up on hiking shoes, bug spray, and other necessities for adventures in the great outdoors. Thousands of others, however, will be enjoying adventures of the indoor variety: creating video games, building robots, and designing Web pages. Lily Gordon, an 11-year-old girl from Berkeley, Calif., will be attending technology camp on the University of California, Berkeley campus, for the third straight year.

The town's Recreation Commission and the AtBats Training Center are partnering this summer on a program allowing local youths to attend the town's summer camp at Flerra Field for a half day and then go to the baseball and softball facility for the afternoon. The two camps operate separately but are being offered together as a convenience to families. Applications to both programs are available on the town's website, www.town.boxborough.ma.us.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two dozen masked men vandalized a UN summer camp for children in Gaza early yesterday, burning and slashing tents, toys, and a plastic swimming pool. It was the second such attack in just over a month. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which took place before dawn when no children were present. Islamic extremists have accused the main UN aid agency here of corrupting Gaza’s youth with its summer program of games, sports, and human rights lessons for 250,000 children.

If you are a working parent, the cost of day camp may help you qualify for the Child and Dependent Care Credit. This credit is as much as 35 percent of your qualifying expenses, depending on your income. Day camp expenses count towards this credit, but overnight camps do not. Specialized day camps, such as soccer camp, are included. Childcare provider costs are also eligible. Expenses also qualify if you are out of work and need to put your child in camp so that you can look for a job. There are income tests and qualifying person tests associated with the Child and...

Jake Moore, 11, of Marblehead plays drums with friends at Summer on the Hill at the JCC. By Caitlin Rung, Town Correspondent Marblehead’s Jake Moore, 11, spends his time playing, swimming and making new friends like most kids his age. What sets Moore apart from his classmates is the heart condition that has required him to undergo four separate open heart surgeries at his young age. Despite his condition and the developmental and...

SUMMER ARTS FESTIVAL At the Cambridge School of Weston, 45 Georgian Road, Weston, Friday, 12:45-4 p.m. Suggested donation: $5. 781-642-8617. summerarts.csw.org WESTON - "Oh, my God. Could we get, like, a dummy to play George Clooney during the tango scene?" "I still don't understand what amnesia is. " "Can you sing loud in your falsetto?" "My album is a honky-tonk album - and it's in Chinese. " Such are the oddball questions and concerns on a recent afternoon at the Cambridge School of Weston.

MANSFIELD — When the well-scrubbed rock of Versaemerge can lead directly to the scabby punk of the Casualties and nobody minds the starkness of the contrast, there’s only one place you must be: the Vans Warped Tour. The 2010 edition of the 16-year-old summer festival pulled into the Comcast Center yesterday. Five stages were set up in an area usually reserved for parking, while the amphitheater’s main stage was halved into performance areas where music ping-ponged from set to set. Though often labeled a punk event, Warped has long been reaching...

NEW YORK — Mom Stacey Udell couldn’t wait for visitors day when her daughter first went to sleepaway camp at age 9. “About two hours in she said to me, ‘I think you better leave now. You don’t want to get stuck in traffic.’ We had just sat down to lunch.’’ Six summers later, Udell thinks the traditional day for parents, grandparents, and siblings to check out what their campers are up to is definitely more about the grown-ups...

Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary will hold a spring open house Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sponsored through a grant from eight local cultural councils, the free event will provide an opportunity for visitors to see the sanctuary, walk the trails, and enjoy naturalist-led tours of Stony Brook's wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife. The sanctuary will also offer a live animal show and provide information on volunteering and summer camp opportunities. For details, call 508-528-3140, e-mail stonybrook@massaudubon.org, or visit www.massaudubon.org.

ON WGBHGreater Boston 7 p.m. WGBH (Channel 2)ON CHRONICLEProfiles 7:30 p.m. WCVB-TV (Channel 5) Ted Reinstein profiles Alma Wahlberg; Bianca de la Garza goes one on one with Barstool Sports owner David Portnoy.RADIO HIGHLIGHTSOn Point With Tom Ashbrook 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. WBUR-FM (90.9) The case against John Edwards. The Emily Rooney Show noon WGBH-FM (89.7) The Globe's Meredith Goldstein. The Callie Crossley Show1 p.m. WGBH-FM (89.7) Charlotte Silver, author of "Charlotte Au Chocolat, Memories of a Restaurant Girlhood.

STOCKHOLM - Alexander Dale Oen, 26, a world champion swimmer who was one of Norway's top medal hopes for the London Olympics, died of cardiac arrest after collapsing in his bathroom during a training camp in Flagstaff, Ariz. Per Rune Eknes, president of the Norwegian swimming federation, confirmed the death Tuesday. He said it was still unclear what led to the cardiac arrest. In a statement, the federation said the 100-meter breaststroke world champion was found collapsed on the floor of his bathroom late Monday.

Alexander Dale Oen stood on top of a world championship podium less than a year ago, wiping away tears as the Norwegian national anthem played in triumph again just three days after the country was rocked by a massacre by a right-wing extremist. The swimmer became a symbol of resilience and resurgence in Norway with that victory, the country's first swimming world title at a time when it was in desperate need of something to cheer for. On Tuesday, Norway was in mourning after Dale Oen died suddenly from cardiac arrest during a pre-Olympic training camp in Flagstaff,...

OSLO - By turns defiant, impassive, and, just once, tearful, the self-described anti-Islamic militant who admitted killing 77 people last year, including scores of young people at a summer camp on a tranquil, wooded island, went on trial here Monday. In the courtroom, the defendant, Anders Behring Breivik, 33, proclaimed he had acted in self-defense, bore no criminal guilt, and rejected the authority of the court. The trial pressed Norwegians once again to contemplate a seam of violence that few had suspected in their well-ordered...

Camp Bournedale is getting ready to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Samuel and Anne Gerson founded this summer camp for boys at Great Herring Pond in 1937, and it is now run by their son Arnie. Camp alumni and members of the community are invited to take part in the weekend-long "welcome home" reunion celebration on May 5 and 6, which will include tours of the campus, boat rides, and an alumni softball game. A dedication ceremony will also be held at the newly renovated dining hall.

STOCKHOLM - Alexander Dale Oen, 26, a world champion swimmer who was one of Norway's top medal hopes for the London Olympics, died of cardiac arrest after collapsing in his bathroom during a training camp in Flagstaff, Ariz. Per Rune Eknes, president of the Norwegian swimming federation, confirmed the death Tuesday. He said it was still unclear what led to the cardiac arrest. In a statement, the federation said the 100-meter breaststroke world champion was found collapsed on the floor of his bathroom late Monday.

AROUND THE CAMPFIRE Despite what Jon Marcus suggests in "How to Choose a Summer Camp" (February 26), local boards of health inspect a lot more than just water quality at Massachusetts camps. We require extensive criminal background checks, including juvenile records, and that camps develop a medical plan with a health care consultant. We review immunizations of both campers and staff, camper-to-counselor ratios, and high-risk activities such as swimming and horseback riding. In addition to all of that and more, we inspect all facilities, whether it is just a day camp on a field or an overnight camp.

An ex-coach and teacher in South Carolina has been indicted on 22 felony counts of molesting boys, and a prosecutor says The Citadel faces no criminal liability for not reporting an abuse allegation from the man's stint as a counselor at the military school's former summer camp. Prosecutor Scarlett Wilson announced the grand jury's indictment Tuesday of Louis "Skip" ReVille. A Citadel graduate who taught and coached at schools and churches, ReVille was arrested last year. His attorney has said he's sorry for the pain he's caused.