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Double, Double, Toil and Trouble: A Dual Exploration of Macbeth
Students emulate a key practice of Renaissance theater: doubling. The goal of this instructional activity is for students to experience-to see, hear, and feel-the differences between characters. Each group presents scenes to the rest of...
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Measure for Measure: Are You Talkin' to Me?
Learners rehearse and perform an exchange from act three, scene two of the play, Measure for Measure, in pairs. They read the lines from the point of view of a different character in the play, and perform for the class.
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Playing Humanity: Comparing Shylock and Antonio
High schoolers read a scene of "The Merchant of Venice" and write remarks by Antonio and Shylock that indicate traits of their personalities. They enact both characters and discuss the treatment of anti-Semitism, bigotry, persecution and...
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A Series of Tragical Mirth
Students read and perform various scenes from the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. They perform each scene as both a tragedy and a comedy, then discuss the difference in the way the scenes were presented.
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MTV Othello
Students read a scene in Othello. They create a performance of a song in Othello. They perform their "ow Song"s and compare and contrast the interpretations.
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Othello's Predecessors: Moors in Renaissance Popular Literature
High schoolers gather textual citations from Othello, discuss stereotypes that they hold, examine primary source materials, and write character profiles.
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Othello's Father of the Bride
Students read and analyze Act one of the play Othello. They examine the themes of love and marriage and interpret Brabantio's words by using different subtexts.
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"O, I have lost my reputation" - Why Reputation Matters in Othello
Students examine Othello's references to and attitudes toward reputation.
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Leontes from Head to Toe
Students read Act One of "The Winter's Tale" and analyze the importance, influence and actions of Leontes. They predict what happen next in the play.
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"Blame not this haste of mine": Creating a scene for Twelfth Night
Pupils read a section of Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night and write a scene that would fit between scenes 4.1 and 4.3. They present the scene in small groups.
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Scatterbrained Soliloquies
Students reconstruct a famous soliloquy from Romeo and Juliet which the teacher has cut apart and scattered. They piece the soliloquy back together making sense of the passage.
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Can't Buy Me Love?
Students activity find the multiplicity of meanings buried within Shakespeare's language. They examine how the meanings of words differ in modern America and in Venice.
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Lose the Lute!
Students use Shakespeare's plays to add modern music to match the mood in the play. They assign adjectives to the original songs of the play and find a song with the same mood. They work together to role-play the play with new music.
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Prospero: Turkey or Tyrant?
Students study characterization and the difference between subjective and objective points of view by creating tableaux to depict three interpretations of the story of Prospero's overthrow, each with a very different point of view. They...
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What? Did Caesar Swoon?
Pupils discover the "dumb show," a scene that enacts a story silently while focusing on an example from Hamlet. Divided into groups, they act out the silent scene from the play. Again, in groups, they create a "dumb show" from Julius...
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Ariel, the occasionally, tricksy spirit
Students focus on Ariel's character and use online research and close reading in small groups and examine more understanding of the tricks spirit. Each group is assigned a scene and they make notes of Ariel's action, behavior, and...
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" I will hear that play"
Students listen to the play A Midsummer's Nights Dream and analyze how sound influences the overall film. They study about Foley and how sound effect artists use this in the film industry. Students compare what they have heard between...
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Divinity of hell
Learners have to look at the text of the play Othello and cut the text in half. Each group then moves to the computer to their right and continues on with what that group wrote. They then have to stage the final script and perform in...
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Folger on the Ramparts
Students use the website "Hamlet on the Ramparts" to investigate different ways of producing the ghost scenes 1.4 and 1.5 of Hamlet. They use this information to help them develop their own ideas on staging these important scenes.
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Knock, Knock
Students explore the use of sound as a special effect to enhance or radically change the meaning of a scene. They design a soundscape for Macbeth's porter scene, and conclude by listening to and watching two different film treatments of...
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Pyramus and Thisbe, Page to Stage
High schoolers read and interpret a script. Then they use higher order thinking skills to transfer information to long term memory. They use the information and interpretations in order to have a model to create dramatic scripts.
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That Quaffing and Drinking Will Undo You
Students do a close character study of the characters in scenes 1.3 and 2.3 from Twelfth Night. They read a primary source about the effects of drunkenness and examine its role in the characters of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. Students...
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Enter the Evil Stepmother
High schoolers realize that what the characters say may be very different from what they are thinking. They analyze a script that deals with intrigue, lies and manipulation. Students comprehend the different performance choices inherent...
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Lesson 9: Would the Real Portia Please Stand Up?
Students explore the subtext of the two scenes in which Portia appears. They compare the language she uses with her husband Brutus in 2.1 with the language she uses with her boy servant Lucius in 2.4. Students use their analysis of...