Early Days

9/11: Homework: Keep working on the reflection (final due on Thursday). In class, we watched David Morrissey's reading of Richard's soliloquy in an effort to see what understanding it could offer. Then we worked our way through the speech, particularly thinking about the effects of the civil war, Richard's "excuses" for himself, his view of women, the idea of power in a kingdom and the plots he's laid.

9/10: Homework: Keep working on the reflection (final due on Thursday). In class: working our way through Richard's opening soliloquy and on the reflection.

9/7: Homework: Keep in mind the reflection on Monday. Gather together your notes/ideas.

In class, we explored the ramifications of Kelly Marie Tran's essay and about othering. We also took first steps toward Richard 3 - roses groups selected. Find background here.

9/6: Homework: Read Kelly Marie Tran's essay, marking with a star the places where you disagree or are confused, underlining the places where she helps you to see through her POV. Then, in the space at the end of the essay, REFLECT about what you read. THINK about Kelly Marie Tran's story, how it is similar to your own life (perhaps universal) and how it is unique to her. THINK about what is gained by being able to understand the world through her perspective - what do you know, understand, see differently because of her story, how does that story help you to better understand some of the questions we as humans wrestle with, etc. Fill the space on the back.

Staging the assassination - thinking about characterization in performance, about staging, about different interpretations, about ways in which the text leads your action, etc.

9/5: In class - we worked on staging the assassination of Caesar.

9/4: HOMEWORK: Read and respond to Forsyth's chapter about alliteration.

In class: we worked alone first, then together on Mark Antony's soliloquy (page 2) as a way to practice what we know about soliloquies.

8/30: HOMEWORK: Please wrap up the reflection (What's this week in Shakespeare been like for you) if you were not able to write about all of the following: How was the improv (what was hard? what surprised you? what did you learn? what do you want to work on?), about working with Shakespeare (level of comfort? what strategies did you learn? what was difficult? what do you need to work on?). Make sure to write about three specific things you learned - about yourself, about Shakespeare, about working in groups, etc. and about what you want to work on.

8/29: Improv today: We are working our way through some of the most commonly used words in Shakespeare, playing with how stress can change the meaning/attitude of a line (and reveal much about character and relationship). We also began soliloquy work with Cassius' soliloquy from Julius Caesar.