Text Alive! 2011-2012
Text Alive! invites public school students and teachers in
grades 8-12 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 these successive events:
- Students perform a scene onstage at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
- Students attend the professional play at the Shakespeare Theatre Company.
- A final workshops during which students reflect and provide 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! also includes four Professional Development
Workshops which introduce teachers to exercises, activities and
strategies that they can integrate into the classroom. Teachers are provided
with Curriculum
Guides to help create lesson plans that support the teaching
of the play. These workshops build the teacher’s capacity to confidently
lead students through an engaging exploration of Shakespeare’s work.
For the past 20 years Text Alive! has successfully reached 12,000
public high school students and 500 teachers through this engaging exploration
of Shakespeare’s
life, times and works.
What Students say about Text Alive!
“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)
“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)
Fall 2011 Text Alive! will focus on Much Ado
About Nothing
Spring
2012 Text Alive! will focus on The Two Gentlemen of Verona
2011-2012 Text Alive! Online Applications Coming Soon!
View photos from previous Text Alive! performances.
Leadership support from
The Jacob and Charlotte Lehrman Foundation
The Mark and Carol Hyman Fund
Mardi Gras Fund
ExxonMobil
|