Text Alive!

Participate fully in an active exploration of the plot, themes, and characters of a Shakespeare play.

• Participate fully in an active exploration of the plot, themes, and characters of a Shakespeare play.
• Analyze and interpret Shakespeare’s text as an actor.
• Create characters through physical and vocal choices.
• Make creative choices as a theatrical designer.
• Collaborate as an ensemble in a rehearsal process which culminates in a performance.
• Identify with the work of other students from a variety of diverse backgrounds.

We offer this program to enhance your existing curriculum and to help students develop a deeper, more immediate connection to the works of William Shakespeare. We also provide all the necessary materials, including teacher curriculum guides, classroom activities and scripts.

This dynamic collaboration between student, classroom teacher and teaching artist includes these successive events:

• 10 in-class workshops: All workshops are led by STC Teaching Artists.
• 4 Professional Development Workshops for Teachers: Classroom teachers will attend four mandatory workshops at the STC rehearsal studios. These sessions are designed to build confidence and skills for teaching Shakespeare. They focus on the historical context of the specified play and provide a variety of lesson plans and strategies for teaching Shakespeare. Dinner is provided.
• SHAKESPEARIENCE Student Matinee : All participating students and teachers will attend a matinee performance of STC’s production. Subsidized tickets are provided for this event.
• Text Alive! Student Performance: Students will perform their scene as part of the whole play before an audience of family, friends, and peers on stage at STC.

“The story came together and made a lot more sense when we started to act it out.”
– Susanna, Betheda Chevy Chase High School (MD)

“TA! built confidence and appreciation for something that at first I didn’t like or understand.”
– Robert, West Potomac High School (VA)

“I can honestly say I no longer hate Shakespeare and I don’t think I could want a better skill than that. I gained such a great understanding about each of the characters and what each of the technical elements can bring to the play. I never thought I would be able to understand Shakespeare’s language at such a great depth.”
– Maria, Thomas Edison High School (VA)

“[TA!] helped me appreciate Shakespeare more. I’ve only ever read Shakespeare in English and that’s a drag because no one has any enthusiasm for it. This has gotten me psyched for Shakespeare.”
– Emily, George C. Marshall High School (VA)

“Producing a scene helped me relate to the play by bringing the scene to life. By doing this, it made the work more realistic and I could see how I would be able to react to it if it were me.”
– Nestor Vazquez, Parkdale High School

“After getting a deeper understanding of the characters, I realized they were very similar to me: teenagers dealing with romantic and platonic relationships, peer pressure, and loyalty.”
– Nora Sands, Albert Einstein High School

“I have learned how to understand Shakespeare’s language. I have also learned how to break down the lines paraphrase them to get the meaning.”
– Tiona Rollerson, Thurgood Marshall Academy

“Seeing my classmates—real, living people that I know—delivering the lines made Shakespeare’s work seem more human. I understood characters’ motivations and characteristics better when watching my peers portray them.”
– Julia McMurry, Albert Einstein High School

“I have conquered my fear of public speaking.”
– Synquawna Claiborne, Charles Flowers High School