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  • 1.  Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-24-2022 15:18
    I am currently a K-12 media specialist, but I have missed the classroom so much, I have convinced admin to let me teach my Fundamentals of Theatre class for part of my day! We have not had a theatre class in our school since I stopped teaching it five years ago! So I am excited to get back into things. 

    I am working on my curriculum map, and I have almost a project a week in place!... But I am not happy with my Shakespeare week ideas.  I am thinking something along the lines of a Shakespeare festival and have the students direct their own "Shakespeare Shorts" as scenes.  But I think this is ALOT to take on in one week, especially since the "shorts" I have are from plays they have not seen in their lit classes!  Anyone else have anything fun for teaching ole Will, The Renaissance, and Elizabethan Theatre?

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    Analiese Hamm
    ECHS Drama Director
    Echols County High School
    Statenville GA
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  • 2.  RE: Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-25-2022 03:28
    Hi Analiese! 

    I taught for 14 years before starting my own Shakespeare theatre company, and still get hired as a teaching artist specializing is Shakespeare (teaching all ages). I have some ideas that might work. �� If I interested, feel free to send me an email; I'd be happy to help! 

    Ellicia Elliott (she/her)
    Artistic Director, The Rude Mechanicals 






  • 3.  RE: Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-25-2022 11:07
    What about this: The Seussification of A Midsummer Night's Dream (full-length) by Peter Bloedel
    Playscripts remove preview
    The Seussification of A Midsummer Night's Dream (full-length) by Peter Bloedel
    The Bard's most beloved comedy gets the full Seuss treatment in this playful adaptation. Two madcap Narrators chronicle the tale of the mixed-up lovers as they wander through a forest full of whoosh bush tush beasts and fairies dueling with bumballoon swords.
    View this on Playscripts >
    Or this:
    The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet by Peter Bloedel
    Playscripts remove preview
    The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet by Peter Bloedel
    A whimsical reinvention of Shakespeare's tragic love story, complete with rhymed couplets, creative wordplay, and fantastical machines -- similar to something Dr. Seuss might have come up with if he ever had his way with the script... (A full-length version of this play is also available.)
    View this on Playscripts >



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    Becky Gil
    Performing Arts Teacher
    Willows Preparatory School
    Redmond, WA
    www.willowsprep.com
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  • 4.  RE: Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-25-2022 11:24
      |   view attached
    If you're looking for a fun one-off lesson for Shakespeare during your Shakespeare week, I would recommend Shakespearian Insults! I give my students this sheet, and they have to look up the definitions of many of the insults using Google or a Shakespeare Lexicon or Shakespeare Glossary (be careful here, as it is the bard, some of them are quite...bawdy). They then pick one insult from each column and memorize the whole phrase. I then set myself up in a big chair as a king, and they get to line up one at a time to deliver their insult at me in their most derisive way possible. I then decide which one was the most slanderous and/or have a class vote, and the winner gets a prize of some kind. A fun time all around.

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    Christopher Hamilton
    Drama Teacher
    Kamiakin High School
    WA
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    Attachment(s)

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    Shakespeare Insults.pdf   931 KB 1 version


  • 5.  RE: Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-25-2022 11:59
    Oh my! My Friend! I think you might have settled this one.  Love it! I see this, coupled with a zany stage combat lesson too!! Woohoo! Thank you.

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    Analiese Hamm
    ECHS Drama Director
    Echols County High School
    Statenville GA
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  • 6.  RE: Fun Shakespeare Activity?

    Posted 03-25-2022 12:18
      |   view attached
    An introductory activity my Theatre I students enjoyed was picking slips of paper with quotes from Shakespeare's plays out of a container, lining up on the curtain line, and taking turns hurling the lines out to the house.  I'm attaching my collection of lines as a starting point.

    The project my Theatre I students enjoyed most was working up and performing a short monologue from a play by Shakespeare.  They chose from a collection of monologues I laid out on a table, then wrote it out or typed it, paraphrased it line by line, and memorized it.  We worked on them for a short while every day, then they performed them in front of the class as the culmination of our study of the Elizabethan period.  Email me if you'd like my monologue selection.

    I have recommended before the educational introduction to Shakespeare that Miramax put out when Shakespeare in Love came out.  Miramax uploaded it to YouTube a few years ago, so it is free.  I found it a great lesson plan for when I had to be absent, whether we were currently studying the Elizabethan Period or hadn't gotten to it yet.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAfih_YUgMk


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    CJ Breland
    Retired Theatre Arts Educator
    NC
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    Attachment(s)

    doc
    ShakesQuotes.doc   37 KB 1 version