Shakespeare competition with Romeo & Juliet for Kids

I recently met a teacher from Seattle who decided to use our Romeo & Juliet for Kids script to enter a Theater tournament for kids in Portland, Oregon. I was able to spend a few minutes with her to see what the experience was like and to give advice to teachers trying to reach children with Shakespeare.

Shakespeare4kid: Tell me a little something about who you are and what you do.

Sandra: I am a 45-year old Swiss/South African and have worked in the cruise industry for my entire career prior to “retiring” to stay home with my little boy. I have been on stage since the age of 6 and was very actively involved with stage production (acting) right through till university. I had great drama teachers and dreamed of pursuing a career onstage via the London Stage School. My mother had other ideas and wanted me to learn something I could use first and so I earned a BA Hons degree in languages and literature in South Africa followed by an intense hotel school training in Switzerland. When I retired from the cruise industry, I started volunteering at school and church and ended up being busier than when I was working full time.

Shakespeare4kid: How long have you been teaching drama?

Sandra: I was serving as PTA Vice Pres when a parent asked us for funds to pay a director to direct the school play for the interschool competition you know all about! My first reaction was – why pay someone? I’ll do it!!! And a dream came true! We won that year, came second the next. During that time I also started teaching for one of the local theatres here in Seattle and started a

school drama club which was much enjoyed by all my students. I have been teaching for 3 years now.

Shakespeare4kid: Tell us a little bit about the competition you were recently in?

Sandra: The drama competition is part of L.E.S.T. – Lutheran Elementary School Tournament –which takes place in Portland each February. All Lutheran schools in the western part of the US compete. The competition includes academics, sports, music, art, science, drama, cheer/drill/dance etc. It’s a huge 3-day event and a very exciting one! It’s great seeing our kids competing and doing the best of their very best!

Shakespeare4kid: We were very honored to hear that you chose to use our Romeo & Juliet for Kids script for your competition, but what made you decide to take on Shakespeare with a younger audience to work with?

Sandra: I mentioned earlier that I started an after-school drama club for the middle school kids starting 4th grade thru 8th. I really wanted to offer something that wasn’t just about putting on a play and performing for an audience – the LEST competition would take care of that – but something that they could take with them as they go through school life. I found your plays online and thought the timing of the plays was perfect and it gave me a flexible cast to work with as I had no idea how many students would end up signing up. My classes ended up being structured as follows: 30 mins - Creative Mime – learning about the rudiments of good acting. 30 mins – Shakespeare Discussion while the kids ate their afternoon snack. I got some good picture books from the library and divided up the bard’s life into segments for each week’s class: Shakespeare’s life; the times he lived in; his theatre – the Globe; his plays etc etc. I made sure that I picked out interesting, horrifying and fun facts and made it into a discussion – rather than a lecture. 60 mins – How to put on a play. Again, I divided up the A to Z of stage production into segments that we worked through each week: auditions; read-throughs; blocking; rehearsal; lighting/sound/costumes; performance. I took some aspects to highlight good stage acting techniques, such as sword-fighting onstage, falling onstage, fighting onstage, dying onstage etc. (they LOVED this!!!) The play we used to put all this together was your Midsummer Night’s Dream for Kids – very funny when you consider the love story tangle and the age group! The kids had a wonderful time at after-school drama club and I have been asked by the principle to offer more.

Shakespeare4kid: Now that the kids have performed R&J, what do they think about Shakespeare?

Sandra: They became very familiar with the language, the themes, the over-the-top performances that were required. They had a lot of fun and I am sure that when the time comes for them to read Shakespeare at school – they will be head and shoulders above the other kids!

Shakespeare4kid: How did you see kids respond to this type of Shakespeare?

Sandra: They enjoyed it since it contained all the aspects that kids enjoy to do onstage – fighting, dying dramatically, being silly, being regal – just taking things over the top which this age group loves to do anyway!

Shakespeare4kid: Was it intimidating at all to approach Shakespeare with kids through this format?

Sandra: Not at all – you made the language clear and yet were able to incorporate some of the most famous lines he wrote. The kids were very interested as to why things were put the way they were at that time – for example: “Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?” – wow – that was the line that really fascinated them and the provenance thereof. I heard it around the school for several weeks afterwards! Another example: all the kids had heard Juliet’s balcony lament – but now they learned that “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” doesn’t mean “Romeo where are you?”, it means “why are you called Romeo Montague – the enemy”! Boy – were they surprised but the lights went on!! It made them more attuned to other such lines. The intimidation factor for this age group is the romance between the two – but we made it into something very funny – for instance – the kissing was replaced with high 5’s – even the very last one: “thus with a kiss I die” and the “dead” Juliet puts up her hand and high 5’s him. We performed for Kindergartners thru 5th grade after the competition and parents were telling me the next day that the kids came home VERY excited about the fabulous and funny play they had seen and were repeating lines they had heard!

Shakespeare4kid: If you had to do this performance over again, what would you do differently?

Sandra: Absolutely nothing – we loved it! I even had great costumes and for clarity’s sake had all the Montagues in Blue and the Capulets in Red.

Shakespeare4kid: If you were going to give educators advice on incorporating elementary drama with Shakespeare – what would be the one piece of advice you would give?

Sandra: Keep it simple, keep it fun and slowly but surely incorporate Shakespeare’s life and times into the lesson spicing things up with fascinating details and lots of sword fighting and dramatic dying!

Shakespeare4kid: What’s your favorite Shakespeare play?

Sandra: King Lear and Midsummer Night’s Dream

Shakespeare4kid: Who is your favorite Shakespeare Character(s)?

Sandra: King Lear; Mercutio, Queen Mab

Shakespeare4kid: Favorite quote?

Sandra: Double, double toil and trouble………

Shakespeare4kid: If you could spend an evening with the Bard, what would you two do?

Sandra: I would ask him all about his life and times – fascinating stuff since there are very few facts about him.

Shakespeare4kid: Oh yeah, and my favorite, what’s on your iPod?

Sandra: Genesis, Creed, Josh Groban, Evita, Meatloaf, Nickelback, Journey, Eric Clapton, etc a real mish-mash!

Shakespeare4kid: Any last comments?

Sandra: Yes, thank you SO much for doing what you are doing! You are taking the intimidation out of Shakespeare and letting the kids look forward to reading him at school, rather than dread him and be bored to tears! Thank you!

"Shake it up" with Shakespeare and Elementary Kids

Recently we were able to get in touch with a wonderfully gifted AIG teacher from North Carolina, Debra Williamson. She took a few of our plays and did a trio of melodramatic Shakespeare skits with her kids. They performed Midsummer, Romeo & Juliet, and Macbeth. She referred to it as "Shake it up, Shakespeare". Since this was such a wonderful way to approach her elementary children, we asked her to answer a few questions about her experience. Here ya go...

1) Did you find using the Shakespeare for Kids book series by Brendan P. Kelso an easy way to deliver Shakespeare to the kids? Yes.

2) If you were to do it over again, what would you do differently? Not email Brendan Kelso every day? Yes, we had several conversations, which is what made the experience for both us, and Debra, more enjoyable.

3) For teachers that are approaching the subject of teaching Shakespeare for the first time (yes, it can be very intimidating) what advice would you give them?

Sir Ken Robinson's catchline is "If kids don't know, they'll have a go." Teachers should "have a go" at Shakespeare in the elementary school because they are laying the foundation for middle and high school when Shakespeare is part of the core curriculum. Our unit of study was based on the developmental age of students and incorporating creativity into the unit. I looked for resources that made Shakespeare easy for young students to understand and that fit best with my style of teaching. I started the unit by sending my students a letter from Shakespeare from Postcards from Shakespeare by Wendy Conklin and Christi Parker. I copied it on parchment paper and sealed it. After reading the letter, we came up with more questions we had about Shakespeare. I had other resources in the room for them to use to answer their questions...Shakespeare for Kids by Colleen Aagesen and Margie Blumberg, Who Was William Shakespeare by Celeste Davidson Mannis, William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki, Tales From Shakespeare by Marcia Williams, and Kids Discover Magazine. I created a project for the students based on multiple intelligences and Marzanno's questioning strategies. After we were pretty well versed on Shakespeare the man, we moved onto the plays. I used the Scholastic Teaching Resources: Shakespeare Mini-Books, the Shakespeare Can Be Fun! series by Lois Burdett and Playing with Plays by Brendan P. Kelso. I tried to find plays for my students to perform that were featured in all three of those resources. I gave it to the kids, and they came up with their own unique interpretations and I basically just sat back at that point and filmed what they created in class.

4) Of the PlayingWithPlays books, which one did your kids perform? Did they enjoy it?

We performed Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. They enjoyed all of it, because they were able to put their own spin on it, and I enjoyed watching fifth graders quote Shakespeare. Their parents loved their performances, so it was a win-win-win! Macbeth was the favorite of the viewing audience, Romeo and Juliet for the performers, and we struggled with a Midsummer Night's Dream...but I think Shakespeare did, too!

5) We truly believe in a creative license with the kid's interpretations of the plays, what would you say is the most memorable creative kid moment during your performance?

The student who played Puck turned him into a superhero. He TOTALLY ditched the costume I had for him, showed up at school in a batman cape, and zoomed around the stage during the performance. Lady Macbeth was pretty funny, wandering around the stage in red gloves. The group that performed Romeo and Juliet incorporated Michael Jackson's Thriller dance into the Capulet ball.

6) If you were to suggest a few lesson plans to incorporate into teaching Shakespeare to students, what would they be and why?

I think I answered that in question #3. They were hooked from the moment they opened up their parchment paper letter from Shakespeare. I had a finger puppet of Shakespeare on the board, with "WHO was (fingerpuppet)? written for the day's lesson. Incorporate as many higher level thinking activities as possible...don't ask kids to make a model of the Globe theater...ask them to design a new and improved Globe theater incorporating a few details from the original and explain why. One of my students watercolored a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream (Aagesen's book), but painted the faces as large oval circles so that whoever looked at her work could imagine what the characters looked like. I am stealing that idea for next year. The students will paint a water color of a scene, leave part of the scene blank, and pass it on to another student to finish. Then I will have them pair and share about the picture.

7) Did YOU have fun?

I had great fun. The most important aspect of this unit was that the kids had fun learning about Shakespeare, and carried it over into their real lives. They were renting Shakespeare movies (I had to caution parents) and talking about Shakespeare to their relatives.

For more teaching resources for Shakespeare and kids check out PlayingWithPlays.com

Book Review - Break a Leg!

I am very diligent about getting kids on stage to perform Shakespeare. Now mind you, I do mean in a FUN way (the whole reason I wrote the melodramatic Shakespeare books). Following this mantra, I came across Lise Friedman, co-author of the new movie coming out Letters to Juliet. Well Lise is a performing arts guru and has authored a book called Break a Leg! The Kids' Guide to Acting & Stagecraft.

After reading through this book (it is more like a kids acting bible than a book) several items popped out to me:

1. Definitions, activities, and notes - on the sidebars of all the pages are various items to help the actor learn more about this wonderful craft.
2. Well organized - the book is broken up into several chapters that make it very easy, and quick, to get a group started on an activity.
3. TONS of activities - there are a plethora of different activities you can play with, no matter what your group size.
4. Pictures - well, my English teachers can tell you this, I was a lot better with the books with pictures than the ones with just words (probably my ADHD conveniently kicking in). If they would teach the class with comics, I would have finally received an A! Seriously though (well, as serious as I can get) there are a lot of photos in Break a Leg! that really help visualize the topic that is being discussed. Not only are they of the kids, but of professional actors showing that these activities really can get you to the bigs.

All in all, this book is one of the better kids acting books I have seen. I always have it out at the classes that I teach just for the kids to dig through and get ideas from. If you are teaching drama to elementary, middle, or home school kids Break a Leg! is a must have to get the kids in the acting groove! There are sooooo many activities in there that you could literally make a lesson plan for everyday of the year, just from the quantity of topics listed. From warm-ups to dress up to building a character to slap stick to what's a green room to improv to monologs to etc. etc. etc..... you get the picture.

So the next time you are starting your kids on a Shakespeare for Kids melodramatic performance by Playing With Plays be sure to have Break a Leg! handy as you break the ice!

Interview with the Reduced Shakespeare Company's Austin Tichenor

It was a great night. I got off work early, got some great laughs from my son, and then I had free tickets to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC). For someone who writes shortened, melodramatic Shakespeare for kids books, what could be better?! Oh wait, I know, to meet and interview one third of the RSC. I say one third because there are only three main players on stage. There is Matt Rippy, the youngest of the triplets, Reed Martin, one of the writers and managing partner, and Austin Tichenor, another writer, performer, managing partner, and leader of the RSC podcasts (funny! check them out!). I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes with Austin after their show at the Cal Poly SLO campus.

With both of us breaking out our Apple gear to capture this great interview, my first question was launched: “You’ve been doing this for how many years?” Austin: “Well, in 1981 this started as a pass-the-hat act at Renaissance fairs working 20 minute slots. First there was Hamlet, and then came Romeo and Juliet to kind of mix it up a little bit.” What was really interesting to hear was that the RSC was posed with the opportunity to do the entire works of William Shakespeare. They asked themselves, “we’ve done two plays, there’s only 35 more, how tough can that be?” They decided to make it their “swan song,” as Austin puts it, and to perform it at the Edinburgh festival in 1987. At this point, the RSC blew up as they started getting bookings and interest from all over the globe. The original founders have stepped out since then, but the second coming of Reduced Shakespeare started to fall into place: 1989 Reed Martin joined as one of the founders, Daniel Singer, decided to leave. Austin joined in 1992 when Jess Winfield moved on, and Matt Rippy joined in 1996 as Adam Long’s wife decided that it was time to settle down and have a family. Matt also mentioned that he emails Adam’s wife every week to thank her for his opportunity! However, to get back to the original question: “You’ve been doing this for how many years?” The company: 29 years. Austin, well, July 1^st will be Austin’s 18^th year with the RSC. Woohoo!

18 years, wow. That’s a while to be doing the same shtick. I mean, they do keep it fresh with Google references, Twilight references, ‘LOL’ references, but this leads to my next question… “So you have been doing the same shows for 18 years, how does it not get old?” Austin: “You know, making people laugh never gets old.” He could have ended it right there. I have always believed this but never said it. He nailed it in one sentence: “Making people laugh never gets old, that’s the thing,” and boy were people laughing. There is something to be said about always laughing, although there may or may not be studies on this somewhere in some science book from some fancy college. But I bet you people live longer who laugh a lot, it’s just fact that I made up and it has to be that way, dontcha’ think? Austin: “Making people laugh is a pretty good gig.” You betcha!

What also caught my interest was their willingness to make people laugh anywhere in the world. I mean these guys have played the White House, The Criterion Theatre in London (for 9 YEARS!), The San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Hong Kong Arts Festival, The Liverpool Comedy Festival, and the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, to name a few (check out here for a bigger list). Living in a town half the size of the Rose Bowl, such as I do, this easily sparked my next question: “You just spent two weeks in Times Square, playing to sold out houses in New York at the New Victory Theatre, and two days later you are here, San Luis Obispo. What gives?” Austin: “Basically, a gig’s a gig. You go where they book ya. Sadly, it has gotten more expensive to go places because travel costs so much. But you know, it’s a living. We’re lucky. We get to make people laugh, but we’re lucky to be making our livings in the theater.”

Traveling all this time easily led to, “You have a family?” Austin: “Yeah, my son is thirteen and a half and my daughter turns ten tomorrow! It’s definitely difficult having a family and doing all this traveling. My wife’s in the business and is a writer.” Keenly I picked out my next question: “Now, you’re a pretty good writer, too?” Austin: “Well, Reed and I have written all the shows but Shakespeare (abridged) (for a list of abridged masterpieces, check here). We are currently writing the RSC’s 7^th show, The Complete World of Sports (abridged).”

A few other questions came about along the way: “I noticed that you are an all male stage show, yet in one of your photos on your website, you have a girl, what gives?” Austin: “When we wrote ‘The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged)", we decided that the harmonies would really benefit from having a female voice, and we also thought it would be fun to change it up a little, casting-wise. The trouble was, we weren't sure where we could find an actress-comedienne who also had musical theatre chops. Then we realized - wait, I'm married to one. My wife Dee Ryan has her BFA in musical theatre, and spent five years in Chicago writing and performing shows at Second City. Having Dee in the show also finally gave the RSC a female sensibility. Unfortunately, it was Reed's.”

“What are some of the craziest moments you have had on stage?” Austin: “I don't know about ‘craziest,’ but some of the most memorable moments were when a guy suddenly jumped onstage during the show in Houghton, Michigan and for a brief second we understood what John Lennon must have felt (he turned out to be harmless). And we caught a kid asleep in the second row in San Diego so we took a picture of him and tweeted it mid-performance.”

“Do you ever talk to or see Adam Long, or any of the founders?” Austin: “Sure. We're in touch with Adam a lot about a variety of things. He's doing well, and of course he wrote AMERICA and BIBLE with me and Reed. We see Jess and Daniel every now and then as well. Search for any of their names on our website and you'll find great interviews with them, including this one with Jess about his new (not child-friendly) book NY NAME IS WILL.”

“If you could give one piece of advice to educators trying to reach kids with Shakespeare, what would it be?” Austin: “Shakespeare was meant to be performed, not read, so get the kids to a good live performance. Or have them watch a good movie (I like the Leonardo DiCaprio ROMEO + JULIET and the Kevin Kline MIDSUMMER; also 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU). Or failing all that, have them 'speak the speech' - yes, it's archaic but it can begin to sound natural and kids are amazed when it starts to make sense even if you don't know exactly what each word means. It's akin to the joy of learning a new language. A good way to get them comfortable with the language is to get them to swear - our Michael Faulkner talks about how he teaches this in Podcast #8 WORDS WORDS WORDS - this podcast also features my kids swearing.” Swearing, I love it! Another great place to get some Shakespeare insults flowing with your kids is from this handy worksheet from PlayingWithPlays.com.

“And lastly, what’s on your ipod?” Austin: “Rippy was just going through my iPod looking for something embarrassing and he didn't find anything. Mostly I think because my collection is so broad and eclectic. I've got everything on there from Gilbert & Sullivan to Lady Gaga. (That said, the theme to the TV show "Enterprise" with Scott Bakula is mildly indefensible).”

RSC has grown from their roots as a comedy group to a theater company with the help of Austin’s background and experience. Currently they have about 9 actors in their rotation traveling and doing their shtick all over the globe. At their peak, they had about 5 companies out at any one time.

The show was wonderful, and my gut hurt afterwards from laughing (at least I think that’s what it was). What really caught my attention was the audience participation where they guys pull an Ophelia from the audience to scream on stage. They don’t just have her go up there and scream, they get the ENTIRE audience involved. And there is nothing cooler than seeing the audience yelling 4 different chants ( 1) “maybe, maybe not” 2) “get the to a nunnery!” 3) “Paint an inch thick!” 4) “cut the crap, Hamlet, my biological clock is ticking, and if you liked it you should have put a ring on it!” It’s this Id, Ego, Super-ego thing….oh, I can’t explain, just go see the show) at Ophelia while she is on stage, really setting her up to, frankly, just be insane. After that she lets out this howl that is, well, impressive.

In a nutshell, the Reduced Shakespeare Company is phenomenal. I was lucky enough to go see them two days in a row, to their “adult” version the night before, and their “almost adult” version the next morning for the schools in town. I can tell you this, without their help and inspiration, I know of about 100+ 6^th graders over the past 5 years that would still not be caring about Shakespeare. They make Shakespeare fun and easily accessible to anyone who has had a tough time digesting all the Bard has to offer. Isn’t that all of us? So, stop reading this, take your kids and GO SEE THEM! Your kids will think Shakespeare is a really cool cat, heck, he even wore an earring!

Why Shakespeare? or #whyShakespeare

Really, why Shakespeare? You know, I never really thought about it, just accepted it. Well, I will have you know, that there are some VERY good reasons for why Shakespeare. This fun little project was brought to us by @_clayr_ because a school project for his kid. @_clayr_ original post was:

_clayr_ My kids working on project to answer the question Why Shakespeare? Hope to collect as many thoughts as possible. Please RT. #whyshakespeare

At that point, it just took off. Some of my favorites were:

From @datruss

Because tragedy is truly understood thru storytelling

From @Mrkeenan

Once you understand the language, his characters are among the most relevant of any in literature

From @nothingfuture

Because he wrote about the human condition, which is still (& always) relevant. If you're human.

and

Because he's able to say the most low-brow things in the most high-brow way.

and

One word is all you really need here: Groundlings

From @findingdulcinea

Richard Nixon as Richard II, O.J. Simpson as Othello. Even Steven Spielberg admits Shakespeare just about said it all.

And the last from @mikelomo

Top Three reasons for #whyshakespeare: Words, Words, Words

But my favorite was @Shakespeare4kid

Because he gave us so many great insults to use!

To see _clayr_ blog, check out: http://paperlessenglish.blogspot.com/2010/02/why-shakespeare.html

Well, I think you have waited long enough, just go straight to Twitter and search for: #whyShakespeare.

PlayingWithPlays.com

Shakespeare and the Olympics

I love the Olympics, maybe it's the competition, maybe it's the cool outfits, maybe it's the opening and closing ceremonies, and maybe it's the energy. Yep, it's definitely the energy. In 2002 I was lucky enough to take a 13 hr (each way) road trip with my wife and mom-in-law to Salt Lake City. All for a one day tour through the Olympic village, and to tool around Park City. Although we drove there on Friday, and drove home Sunday, 26 hours in all, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I would do it again in a heart beat.

When you are there, you are constantly bombarded by people from all over the world that are extremely happy to be there, it just exudes from their pores. You bump into athletes all over the place, celebrities, and just plan happy people. There is no cold to feel in the air because the people are so warm. The energy is AMAZING. Even today, eight years later, I can still feel it when I think about it. Truly inspiring. I wish I had the ability to make it up to Vancouver in the next week, that would be awesome!

So, while reminiscing, I started to think, "What event would Shakespeare compete in?" Really not knowing whether Shakespeare was any kind of an athlete or not (I would highly doubt it, although they sure wore tights alot) I figure he would have to take on something a little simpler and quicker to grasp onto, like ski jumping. I figure, if Eddie the Eagle could do it, so could Willy the Woodpecker (ok, so it's no Eagle, or even a seagull, but it's better than a Whooping crane.) I can see him being decent at fencing though, there was plenty of swordplay in his works to get some good practice in. But to see him flying through the air, (said in a Howard Cosell voice) "And there goes Bard the Buzzard to set another new Olympic record."

Even more curious from my thouts, I did a quick search for "Shakespeare and Olympics" and came across some interesting things:

• Shakespeare Comics Olympics - someone wrote a book
• Shannon Shakespeare - Canadian Olympic swimmer
• World Shakespeare Festival - through the Cultural Olympics
• Shakespeare 2012 - Happening at the same time as the London Olympics
• Hip Hop Shakespeare - prepping for 2012 - cool video

Wow, I didn't even know about the World Shakespeare festival until I wrote this blog, cool. I'm going, you in?

In reality, Shakespeare would have competed on a level of Intellectual Olympics, things such as:

• Spelling bees
• Rhyming Competitions
• Monolog and Soliloquy readings
• Speed reading with complex juxtapositions

What other events would there be for the "Intellectual Olympics"? Write the funniest play in 30 minutes? On your marks, get set, go! I can just see a number of authors writing away, ink flying all around, and Shakespeare sitting there, just blowing away the competition and looking for that Gold.

For other fun and crazy Shakespeare stuff your kids will love check out: PlayingWithPlays.com

Shakespeare Lesson Plan – Days 2-6ish

This is a continuation from the article “Shakespeare in a Can: Six Days With the Bard From Start to Stage.”

REMEMBER, this mini-Shakespeare play you are doing is NOT a perfect play. Heck, if you want to make it perfect, please don’t do it; that’s a complete waste of perfect creativity, and the kids are chock full of it! We at PlayingWithPlays.com specifically reference these plays as “Melodramatic Masterpieces,” so please don’t forget the melodrama. It’s what gets the parents rolling in the audience and the kids coming back for more!

Day 2: BLOCKING. By now you have cast the play. So step 1 here is to hand out the parts. Step 2 is to do a read through just wherever you are (sitting at a desk, sitting on stage, on the grass outside next to a lake with ducks floating by, wherever). Once you have done your first read through, the next thing to do is start blocking. First of all, the definition of blocking, for those of you who don’t know: to plan or work out the movement of performers in a play. This is where the “F’s” come in… it is fun, frustrating, and FOREVER! Yes, the first time walking through and doing basic blocking of the play seems like forever, but don’t worry, it speeds up quickly! You will probably only get through the play maybe once, but call it a wrap and head home. HOWEVER, emphasize to the kids to start memorizing their lines (always do this, sometimes it takes a while to sink in). Also, remind them that as of Day 5, you will be “off-book” (no scripts) so, good luck.

Day 3: MORE BLOCKING. You may get through 2 times today. But that’s okay, the kids will have a basic idea of what they are doing and where they are going now. KEY POINT: kids will start coming up with ideas for their character: GO WITH IT! This is where their creative juices starting to flow. This is VERY IMPORTANT; if they feel empowered with the Bard, and start having fun with Shakespeare, they will start to embrace his work more and more (you are on your way to creating a Shakespeare monster!).

Oh yeah, and start thinking about costumes. WHAT! Costumes? Yes, costumes. This can be a major headache or really simple. I go with the really simple route myself. Hit Walmart or K-mart the day after Halloween and buy a bunch of plastic swords, renaissance type costumes, and miscellaneous fun stuff (the Witches are great fun to buy for). I typically throw everything in one or two bins and tell the kids to have at it. They spend about 20 minutes trying on costumes and seeing if they can make things fit, it’s great fun! But don’t do this piece until Day 5 (or the day before the show).

Most of the time there are at least one to two parents that can make a costume or two as well. You’ll always have those few talented moms out there who love to help! They are the BEST!

And remind the kids again… on Day 5 we are off book!

Day 4: AND MORE BLOCKING. Now you are starting to move a little faster. Some kids know their lines, other kids don’t, but they are starting to come up with ideas whether for costumes, props, how to die on stage (with dramatic sword fighting of course!) or whatever, just go with it! Keep remembering, the entire goal here is to have fun with Shakespeare. The kids will love it, the parents will love it, and I bet ya Willy will be watching too and having a great ol’ time!

And remind them, next time we meet we are off book!

Day 5: OFF BOOK. Yep, that’s right. These two to three run-throughs today will be a bit slow, but by the third time you go through it, most kids will be moving pretty well with their lines and starting to really have fun!

DRESS UP TIME! Okay, pull out your two to three bins of clothes and let the kids have at it. Remember, this is NOT a perfect play. Some of the clothes will not fit perfectly (that’s what clothes pins, belts, and duct tape are for). If kids have their own stuff, let them bring it in too. They will really love doing this!

At this point, you are welcome to add more days for rehearsals. As any director will tell you, actors can ALWAYS use more rehearsals!

Day 6: DRESS REHEARSAL and PERFORMANCE.

DRESS REHEARSAL: I typically do the performance in the same time slot that I have been doing all the other group meetings and rehearsals, but it is up to you. This day starts straight away with getting into costumes. You should perform two dress rehearsals just before the big show. And at this point, just let the kids just run it with no interference. Don’t even go backstage for this, they need to learn that the world is really their stage. Just stand back and enjoy the show.

THE BIG SHOW. By this time, the audience has filed in and you are ready to go with the show. So, to break the ice, you get on stage first. Thank the kids for all their hard work, the parents for putting up with Shakespeare in their homes for so many weeks, and then stand on stage and introduce the wrong show. Set this up before hand with all of the kids yelling from backstage the correct play. i.e.: “I am proud to announce today’s play, ‘Hamlet.’” From backstage the group says, “NO!”. Then one kid wanders on stage, whispers into your ear the correct play and you proceed to change your intro to: “I am proud to announce today’s play…(asking backstage so the audience can hear) what is it again?” Then all the kids yell in unison, “MACBETH!” “Oh yeah! Right! I am proud to announce today’s performance of …‘Macbeth!’” This typically helps break nervous tension that the kids have built up.

Then stand back and watch the show!!!!

That’s about it – pretty simple, huh?

For more information or fun items like the Shakespeare Insult Generator, check out: PlayingWithPlays.com