PBL + Shakespeare = SWAG

Did you know that Shakespeare had swag before anyone else? According to my friend and colleague, Sarah Papin-Thomas, Shakespeare invented the word "swagger". He also invented "eyeball." Pretty cool, eh? What can you do with Shakespeare in a PBL classroom? Turns out, quite a bit... I cannot think of a more pronounced PROJECT than the creation of a play. The sets, research, character building, voice, tone, inflections, nuance... Music! Lights! Costumes! Putting on a play is a huge multi-faceted project.

Sarah and I had done Julius Caesar in years past, but we wanted to do something else this year. The Indiana Repertory Theater was putting on A Midsummer Night's Dream. We decided to do that instead. We converted our Caesar play materials and began to fit the rubric for Midsummer.

Theseus and Hippolyta in Chicago Dream

Entry event: We handed the students a playbill with the date that they would be doing their plays. Then we handed everyone a copy of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." We began the Know, Need-to-know, and Next Step process which lead us to read the play. We held a reading where students stood and acted out the parts while reading their lines. The acting part is important, because they must physically go through the scene to process what is going on. Since Shakespeare left out stage and prop directions, the students had to pull it out of the text. It's more tableaux than acting, but it works. Students begin to visualize what is happening in the context of the King James' English. The reading took us 3 days. (300 minutes of class time.) Anything that the students were unable to complete was given to them as homework - yes, we still assign it.

At the end of the 3 day reading session we took our students to see the play at the Indiana Repertory Theater, which was most accommodating for us, and the play was a great experience. Director, Peter Amster's vision was superb! The students found themselves completely enthralled with the play and came back to school the next day ready to dig in. (Thank you IRT!)

Stage 2: After seeing the play, the students took a fresh look at their entry event - the playbill. "We have to make a play, don't we?" They asked us. We just smiled. The students then asked the typical questions - "Is there a rubric?" "Who is on my team? How many are on a team?" and "Does it have to be in iambic pentameter?"

Concerning the language, Sarah and I decided that the students could put the play into modern day language. (I pause here to note that Shakespeare was writing in MODERN English. We are speaking something else. "American" I suppose? Or, at the very least, Post-Modern English. Beowulf is Old English. Chaucer is Middle English.) The reason that we decided that it was okay for the students to change the text was twofold; first, the students must create a one act play (7 to 15 minutes) script covering an important incident or event in Midsummer. Time is a factor, so they were allowed to utilize the language that they speak. The second reason that we agreed to let them convert the text is that students must comprehend what they read to translate it. Asking them to put the scene in their own words demonstrates that they understood what was happening in the scene. The words that they choose to utilize define their understanding and become a very quick and easy assessment for us.

Each student was also instructed to be creative. We asked them to put their mark on the play without ruining the heart of the play, much like the example that Peter Amster gave them at IRT.

Puck freezes the scene

Once each student had created a script, the students worked in small groups. Each group read the scripts that they had aloud. Then the groups voted on one to move on. The "winning" script was sent into a larger group - which was 2 or 3 groups combined. We repeated this process until we had 2 scripts in the class. Then we divided the room into 2 teams. We assigned the groups insuring that each group had a personality that could play each role. The "winning" script writers became the directors of the play associated with their script. Some titles for this year: "Romeo's Dream," a juxtaposition of Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. "Time-travelling Puck," a play dealing with Oberon's instruction to Puck to fix his error. "Schitzophrenic Dream," a play where the dreamers wake up to find themselves in an asylum under the care of a doctor worried about their strange dreams. "Chicago Dream," where Egeus isn't just an angry father, he's a mobster. "Zombie Midsummer," a play where Pucks mischief creates a whole new problem...  

Team Meeting

Once the teams were established the students began the hard task of putting on a play. They struggled with rehearsals, lighting, sound, and costuming. Directors had to deal with whiny peers and people that didn't do their homework. Per usual, the students had to create original music to fulfill my music theory standards.  The students opened Finale and began scoring their music and matching it up with the blocking and stage choreography. Also, students were constantly writing and communicating with e-mails, texts, and hand-written notes. Sarah and I received notes, storyboards, scripts and all manor of artifacts from students during the process.

To aid them in staging, Sarah and I elicited the help of our colleague and friend, Tina Mahr. Tina holds a degree in Theater from Columbia University and specializes in working with kids. She flew out from California and taught workshops on make-up, projection, fake blood making, safe falling, stage blocking, stage combat, and the keys to being a good thespian. During this time, Sarah and I managed the classes and the hallways and put out any small fires that erupted between group members.

On Stage: Finally, the day came. We scheduled 2 shows per block and invited the entire campus - elementary, middle school, and high school. The crowds came and the plays were performed to the delight of thespians and audience alike.

As a debrief, Sarah and I asked the kids, "What did you learn?" Here are some of the things they told us...

A Mid-School Year Daydream

"I truly learned, and understand now, how artists can create things - inspired or alternative - versions of a  form of art." - C.H.

"I learned that you cannot get far in life if you cannot communicate well with others." - K.F.

"During this project I have learned how to be a leader." - T.H.

"I had no idea how much work needed to go into a play." - L.B.


Theater and Music Appreciation: Check. Reading and understanding a Shakespearean play: Check. Getting students to recognize the amount of work that real art takes: Check. Script writing, communication, music composition, set design and creation, costume design and creation, teamwork...

We felt like it was a success.

A toast during Chicago Dream