Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier

Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier
Originally uploaded by ninniane

Thirty-one/ Fifty-two 7.30.10 - 8.5.10

I spent Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. At the end of the school year I was invited to select some students and bring them, and myself, to participate in a program called CPS Shakespere, wherein teachers and students form an ensemble cast that puts on an abridged version of a Shakespeare play on the CTS mainstage. It is the only time in the entire year when students are allowed on the stage, so it's a very big deal.

The first week was spent doing a lot of ensemble-building and familiarizing the students with the play and the process of reading and analyzing a Shakespearean text. I've been keeping a journal, most of which I won't share, but here's an excerpt if you're interested:

"8.2.10
I got out to the theater early again, so I spent time wandering and taking pictures. After coffee (very bad coffee, by the way) we went downstairs and actually got to get on the stage. it's still set up for the family show that's in the space right now, but we were able to get used to moving around. Being a klutz, I of course tripped the first time I walked up the stairs onto the stage. =) After warm-ups we went on a tour of the theater, which I've been on before, but it was still neat to be in the non-audience space. Also, it gave me ideas for some things I want to try next year in terms of my theater program.

We spent the afternoon doing text work, and on my part, fighting off a headache. It's so cool to see the students taking Shakespeare and understanding it a line at a time. I have a much better sense now of how to approach script reading next year, and I'm excited to tackle teaching Shakespeare again. I'm trying to decide between A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. We didn't get to do combat today, and probably won't again until October, but it was still a good day."