“ The workshops also gave me a good sense of how the play was performed and seen in an actual theater . I enjoyed experimenting and being creative with iambic pentameter .” – Edward O . ’ 22
pay attention to punctuation . Shakespeare is very clever and his punctuation conveys meaning .” Reciting a series of words with no punctuation , for example , may convey something about the state of mind of the character ; a period forces the actor to take a breath .
“ While going through the text of the play in the classroom always generates enough fascination and momentum to captivate students who are discovering Shakespeare for the first time , the subsequent workshop that our most recent graduating class enjoyed with their counterparts at Marymount opened up even more dimensions of this masterpiece ,” said English Teacher Gene Romanosky . “ The compelling rhythms of Shakespeare ’ s dramatic verse , the excitement of choreographed sword fights , and the mesmerizing patterns of large-group formal dancing — all of these things and more came alive for the students in a way that ordinary classroom study of the printed word can ’ t easily convey .”
To structure the program , the educators sought a unifying framework . “ There needed to be a ‘ big question ’ driving the collaboration ,” said Mrs . Aoyama . Enter the English teachers , who provided salient ideas from the play : themes of secrecy , power or poor communication , gender or class stereotyping , and the role of physical confrontation in driving the plot .
The specialty sessions , conducted by professional teaching artists ( directors , actors , singers ) with deep experience in both the theater and Shakespeare , occurred over four consecutive Mondays in January and February 2022 on the campuses of both schools . Participants were divided into six co-ed working groups and focused on acting , voice , physical character , and scene work . After cycling through workshops with all of the teaching artists , each group
Scene from the final performance of the workshops on February 14 , 2022 . was assigned one expert to help them develop the response to the final big question they were given to explore and flesh out .
The pages of Romeo and Juliet sprang to life as the boys and girls dug deeply into elements of Shakespeare ’ s work in workshops on stage combat , iambic pentameter , masquerade , and dance . They explored his use of language , imagery , text and subtext , universal themes in his works , and how to conceptualize and present a modern interpretation of a character .
For their final performance held on February 14 , 2022 , the groups prepared and presented an incident from the play in Saint David ’ s Otto-Bernstein Theatre , using techniques they had learned . Their presentations addressed an assigned prompt question and incorporated the performance of at least one passage from the play . One group , charged with highlighting the
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