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Education & Outreach

Shakespeare Aloud!

The reading group for Shakespeare lovers—for everyone—not just actors! At Shakespeare Aloud! we read the entire play aloud (approximately one act each week) and stop often to talk about the images, the characters, the story, ideas and experiences related to the play--whatever we find interesting. Open to all ages. $5 per session, 5-7 p.m. every Sunday, no reservations required—just come. 701 E. Tillery St., Ste A-8. For more information, contact Jill Swanson at swan@austinshakespeare.org.

Shakespeare 20/20

Bring Shakespeare to life in your library and classrooms with a presentation by professional actors from Austin Shakespeare, featuring your students’ participation. Using verse from Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and others, we invite students to meet TEKS requirements in ways that excite and enliven language-building skills. In Shakespeare 20/20, we spend half of the class period with Shakespearean trained actors performing scenes of his work. The other half consists of the actors working directly with the students to get them to speak/perform the words. Our philosophy is that Shakespeare is much better understood when seen and heard rather than simply read. To schedule Shakespeare 20/20 or find out more information, contact Nicole Shiro at (512) 740-6665 or Nicole@austinshakespeare.org.

Summer Programs for Children and Teens—It’s Not All Camp!

There is no better way to get students involved in Shakespeare than by participating in one of our summer camps or acting in a play. We serve students as young as age 5 in our Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre Summer Camp and work with middle and school students in our Shakespeare on the Hill Summer Camp at St. Edward’s University.

Young Shakespeare

Austin Shakespeare’s intensive summer performance group for teens returns for the summer of 2010 with a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. This intensive month-long experience culminates in a student performed and professionally staged production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at The Curtain Theater, June 24—July 3, 2010, Austin’s own Elizabethan replica theater space. Students work on all aspects of theater, including acting, crew and production. Tuition $500.

Students must audition. Auditions are done for this summer's program.

Austin Shakespeare & The Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre Summer Camp

GREAT ADVENTURES IN SHAKESPEARE
Ages 5-13
June 14-18, 2010

Fairies, heroes, magical lands, shipwrecks! Join us as we explore some of Shakespeare‘s most exciting adventures – from the woods near Athens to far away islands! Campers will learn about Shakespeare‘s most famous plays, create magical characters and speak the speech – Shakespeare-style! Co-led by the Scottish Rite Children‘s Theatre and Austin Shakespeare, this week-long camp is great for ages 5-13. Register online, www.srct.org or 512-472-KIDO

Austin Shakespeare & St. Edward’s Summer Camp

SHAKESPEARE ON THE HILL
Middle School and High School
Ages 13-17
June 21-July 2, 2010

Be a part of one of Austin‘s most popular theatre workshops for high school and middle school actors. For the 11th year, Austin Shakespeare is teaming up with St. Edward‘s University to bring its most comprehensive workshop ever. Workshop topics include acting, text analysis, stage combat, voice and Shakespearean history. The two-week workshop concludes with a performance at Mary Moody Northen Theatre.

Instructors: Ann Ciccolella, Artistic Director of Austin Shakespeare; Gwen Kelso, Company Member; Michael McKelvey, Artistic Director of SummerStock Austin; and many other guest artists. For more information contact mikeem@stedwards.edu.

Student Informances

Students experience Shakespeare on the stage at a specially crafted student “informance” during the run of our productions at The Long Center for the Performing Arts. Informances include scenes with the actors and a lively question and answer session with the students. It’s a rare opportunity to interact with Shakespearean trained professionals. For more information, contact Alex Alford, alex@austinshakespeare.org

Field Trips to The Curtain Theatre and Castleton Village

Bring your class to The Curtain Theatre, Austin’s replica of an Elizabethan theatre off City Park Road for a special tour and talk on how the shape and structure of the Globe Theatre shaped how Shakespeare wrote his masterpieces. Follow it up with a tour of Castleton Village, a miniature Elizabethan village next door. For arrangements, contact Alex Alford, alex@austinshakespeare.org



TEACHING RESOURCES

http://www.rsc.org.uk/downloads/learning/rsc_internet_guide.pdf
Royal Shakespeare Company Internet Guide: “Travel Manual” that maps out interesting territories for exploration, focusing on (1) general resources, (2) primary resources for textual studies, (3) primary resources for performance history, and (4) teaching materials.

http://shakespeare.palomar.edu
This website has reviews of other websites, as well as a host of other material. It lists 195 websites of other Shakespeare theaters/festivals, about 10% of which are not in the US. Examples include links to a website for teaching Shakespeare with American Sign Language and another site for teaching Shakespeare in home schools. See what other teachers have offered in their lectures and classes. Select downloadable copies of the Penguin teachers guides for eight of Will's best (unfortunately, excluding Romeo & Juliet). This site also provides links to Will's plays on Wikipedia.

http://www.coloradoshakes.org/education-outreach/shakespeare-resources
See this site’s extensive list of links to other resources in many categories. In addition to Shakespeare’s works, the categories include, among others: (1) dictionaries and glossaries, (2) guides, lesson plans and teaching units, (3) historical and lifestyle information, (4) audio and visual materials, (5) school sites, (6) student oriented materials, and (7) fun and games.

http://folger.edu/
One unique appeal of this site is that it permits teachers to trade ideas and post questions. This site has a K-12 teacher section, which includes lesson plans, primary sources, a primary source archive, play-by-play for 11 of Shakespeare’s most popular plays (each page contains lesson plans, notes on the play, and a history of the text, and for many plays, additional material such as podcasts, videos, photo albums, activities, and student projects are available—NOTE: you must buy the Folger’s edition of each play to access these materials) study guides, audio and video, teachers’ lounge and other resources.

Also check out “Shakespeare for Kids”, with games, etc. on it. A separate tab leads to scholarly resources, including sections on research library, research fellowships, and the Folger’s collection of Shakespeare materials, which is the largest in the world. The Hamnet web-based catalogue provides access to many of the Folger’s bibliographic materials. Keep up with what others are doing by logging onto their blog, at http://folgereducation.wordpress.com/. The blog invites teachers to send in their lesson plans to share.



LINKS TO OTHER RESOURCES (NON-TEACHING)

http://www.Shakespearefellowship.org/linksfestivals.htm
Find links to other Shakespeare Festivals.

http://www.it.usyd.edu.au/~matty/Shakespeare/test.html
Searchable Complete Works of William Shakespeare Online. Can’t find a particular quote and can't remember the play, act, scene, and speaker? This site offers helpful hints on how to find what you are looking for.

http://www.shakespeares-globe.org
Shakespeare's Globe Center. The official site about the Globe theatre, exact re-construction of the original 1599 Globe which burned down due to a fire caused by a prop cannon. The Globe is not just a theatre, but also an education center. Information about both these aspects as well as wonderful Elizabethan theatre exhibition.

http://www.costumes.org
Fabulous site with information about period costumes, supplies, and anything you might want to know about the costuming aspect of theatre.

http://www.theatrecrafts.com
Another great site with loads of information about the technical side of theatre including lighting, sound, props, stage management, etc.



VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Anyone interested in serving on the Education and Outreach Committee for the 2010 year, contact Gayle Cannon, 512-372-2469, gayle.cannon66@gmail.com. Involves one meeting per month, usually not more than 1 ½ hours.

We need volunteer grant writers for two areas:

  • to apply for grants in the arts and education area, and
  • to assist teachers applying for grants for funds to underwrite the costs of securing mandatory certification credits (templates available).