Text Alive! Celebrates it’s 20th Anniversary!
“I love the fact that we could take a scene that happened centuries ago and make it relevant in today's time.”
Jessica, Thomas Wooten High School (MD) “The story came together and made a lot more sense when we started to act it out.”
Susanna, Betheda Chevy Chase High School (MD) The Shakespeare Theatre Company is deeply committed to providing high quality
arts programming designed to impact the young people of our communities. We
are extremely pleased to announce that the 2009-2010 season will mark the
20th anniversary of the Text Alive! program in Washington, DC, Maryland
and Virginia schools. For the past 20 years Text Alive! has successfully reached
11,000 public high school students and 480 teachers through this engaging
exploration of Shakespeare’s life, times and works.
Text Alive! invites public school students and teachers in grades nine-12
from DC, Maryland and Virginia to explore the themes, complex characters and
language in William Shakespeare’s plays. Text Alive! supports each
district’s standards of learning in teaching Shakespeare, making his
work come alive through a performance-based teaching strategy that enables
students to become enthusiastic participants in their learning process. Through
a dynamic collaboration between students, classroom teachers and teaching
artists Text Alive! culminates in three successive events:
- Students from each participating school come together to perform the play
onstage at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
- Students attend a professional performance of the play at the Shakespeare
Theatre Company.
- Teaching artists return to the classroom to provide students the opportunity
to give feedback on the production and the entire program.
The performance process is an essential element of Text Alive! The Company
believes that students and their teachers need to both experience these plays
by viewing fully-realized performances and have opportunities to investigate
the plays through their own performances.
Text Alive! Professional Development Workshops introduce
teachers to exercises, activities and strategies that they can integrate into
the classroom. Teachers are provided with copies of First Folio:
Teacher Curriculum Guides for use in the classroom and lesson
plans through which they can explore key questions within the construct of
the workshops. These workshops build the teacher’s capacity to confidently
lead students through an engaging exploration of Shakespeare’s work.
For the 2009-2010 season Text Alive! will focus on As
You Like It and Henry V.
Click
here to participate
“TA! built confidence and appreciation for something that at first I didn't like or understand.”
Robert, West Potomac High School (VA) “I can honestly say I no longer hate Shakespeare and I don't think I could want a better skill than that. I gained such a great understanding about each of the characters and what each of the technical elements can bring to the play. I never thought I would be able to understand Shakespeare's language at such a great depth.”
Maria, Thomas Edison High School (VA) “[TA!] helped me appreciate Shakespeare more. I've only ever read Shakespeare in English and that's a drag because no one has any enthusiasm for it. This has gotten me psyched for Shakespeare.”
Emily, George C. Marshall High School (VA) View photos from previous Text Alive! performances.
Leadership support from
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Max and Heidi Berry/The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation
The Mark and Carol Hyman Fund
Mardi Gras Fund
Exxon Mobil
National Endowment for the Arts
 |