For Students
In-Class/Residency
After-School Acting
Shakespeare Class
After-School Camp
Fall/Spring Break Camp
A classically-trained Professional Actor joins the existing English/Drama educator for a unit on Shakespeare OR leads a 5 to 10-day residency about any Shakespeare play.
Topics covered can include:
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Language: iambic pentameter, language, verse vs. prose, etc.
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Themes and storytelling within the play
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How different theatrical elements convey story (music, props, costume, etc.)
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Historical context for when the play was written
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Human storytelling - we can relate to Shakespeare/Shakespeare is for everyone
An ongoing class once or twice per week after school. Students will be introduced to acting approaches and techniques in a safe, respectful environment that allows them to grow and explore the material without judgement.
Training and discussions include:
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Consent-based work/Self-Advocacy
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Building a Character
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Given Circumstances
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Using Language for Performance (verse vs. prose, rhetoric, etc.)
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Tactics
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Direct Address
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Embedded Stage Directions
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Music
This camp meets daily after school and can be month to month or run the length of the semester. Meeting daily will allow enough time for students to receive training as well as prepare for a performance. A month-long program concludes with a performance of a 1-hour production performed by the students on the final night of class. A semester-long program concludes with a performance of a full-length production performed by the students on the final night of class.
This camp meets full days during Fall and/or Spring Break. Acting Shakespeare Camp is available for students to have full days of creative exploration and work towards a final performance of scene work for invited family and friends.
For Educators
In Shakespeare's time, people would say they were going to "hear" a play - not "watch" or "read" a play. The poetry of Shakespeare is extraordinary and deserves to be studied, but investigating it only through literary analysis leaves the text unexplored in ways that can excite and stimulate students.
Teaching Shakespeare with a variety of tools not only allows students to understand it in a way that's unique to how they learn, but increases their enjoyment of working with the text. A combination of approaches ensures that each student will find his/her own way to connect with the material.
Educators who want to expand their approaches to teaching Shakespeare benefit from a workshop that combines literary analysis with performance techniques. These exercises used by actors and such respected establishments as The Globe and The Royal Shakespeare Company will expand your ideas on how to connect students with Shakespeare's text.
Interested in bringing Shakespeare into your school? Reach out via the contact form on this site or email me at nora@norafrankovich.com. I'd love to create a program that meets your needs!