Why Shakespeare?

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of ACT in San Francisco, called you while you were out! She left a message on your answering machine, saying that she heard from a reliable source that you are a local expert on Shakespeare, and she wants your recommendation for the next Shakespeare play that ACT should produce. You are even being asked to direct the play, should she be impressed with your recommendation.

So, you will do the following, with classmates, in this order:

1. Do some initial research about ol' Will, to find out a little about him and his oeuvre.

2. Choose one of his plays to recommend. You and your group will be presenting to the rest of the class (Carey Perloff), hoping to persuade it (her) that THIS play is the one to produce.
You must
- briefly describe the play's action (synopsis)
- give some information about the play's performance history
- defend your choice: why this play, at this time, for this audience?
- describe and discuss your concept for the play's production
- perform one short scene from the play, that shows how wonderful it is

3. Once all groups have made their presentations, the class will decide which play will be produced. As a class, we will then read the whole play and prepare a series of scenes from it for performance.

 

Now, click on PROCESS to move on to the first step...