Shakespeare Class Ending

By: Maddy Ehrlich 

Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage.” While Shakespeare probably didn’t envision this line reaching the ears of thousands of people four hundred years from when he wrote it, nevertheless, the line couldn’t be more relevant than today. Niskayuna High School embodies what this seemingly simple sentence represents. 

There are so many different classes at Niskayuna, each one unique. Each classroom, each subject, is like a platform in which teachers and students trade roles between characters and audience, each person spending moments standing atop the stage, broadcasting their voice and ideas. The world is made up of interconnected stages, and schools are made up of classrooms that are like stages. However, one Niskayuna class readapts this famous Shakespeare line so that the classroom isn’t just a stage for teachers to teach, or students to attentively learn. The class is an actual stage in which students reenact plays, perform their own skits, and become actors stepping into a performance, rather than students entering into a classroom. The Niskayuna High School’s Shakespeare class has a long history of students studying Shakespeare, his life, analyzing his work, and reenacting famous parts of his plays. Unlike other classes, the Shakespeare class is unique because one of the main goals is for students to actually bring to life these performances that were meant for stages like The Globe Theater. However, next year, the curtain will be closing on this stage, and the Shakespeare class will no longer run.

During The Shakespeare class, students study sonnet structure, Shakespeare’s life, reenact his plays such as Taming of the Shrew, and craft their own adaptations of the plays. The class is interactive, including projects such as putting modern spins on one of Shakespeare’s comedies, and then recreating it. Students gain experience reading works like Measure for Measure, and rewriting it for modern times by changing the setting to common modern day surroundings such as a pizza shop. Students are acting, as well as reading. They are active participants while entering into the world of Shakespeare, becoming the characters they read about. 

Kyra Choumarov, a student in this year’s Shakespeare class, especially enjoyed the final project. She said that, “They split the class into two groups, each about 5-6 students, and each group picked a Shakespearean comedy. My group picked Measure for Measure, and we had to read and modernize the play to be acted out in 20 minutes for the last class. It was really fun to come up with the script and work with everyone in my group, and the final showcase in front of the class in the little theatre was really fun.” 

Unlike other literature, Shakespeare is not just meant to be read silently, but shared with others aloud. His work is like a living being that can only transcend the pages by having human actors as the vessel for his work to breathe. Projects such as the one Kyra described teaches students how to not only read play’s, but become the writers and actors themselves, learning skills that combine drama, english, writing, and more.

This year, there was one Shakespeare class made up of around 13 students. The class has been running for many years, since at least the early 2000s. Up until COVID-19, the class was consistently held each year, only once every few years not running. However, during COVID-19, despite attempts to hold a virtual Shakespeare class, the class was not able to thrive without a classroom as its stage. This year was the first year since COVID that the class ran again. One of the main reasons for not enough students enrolling in the class again next year is due to schedule conflicts. Singleton conflicts, where students have to choose between two classes, each existing only during one, same-block time slot, contributes to many students unable to take the Shakespeare class. Especially due to conflicts with music classes, students are forced into a situation where taking the Shakespeare class is simply impossible if they want to continue being involved in a certain band or chorus group. 

Whether it's because of the strange wording, or the fact that understanding the rhythm and structure of poetry feels like diving into a foreign language, most students adopt the mindset that they simply don’t like Shakespeare, or that they are afraid to take a class dedicated to reading this old English language. As Mrs. White and Mrs. DeSimony described during our interview, the best advertisement for the class is students. Students talking to other students, and older students telling younger ones how fun the class is the best way for students to learn about the class and reduce the stigma around Shakespeare. As the Shakespeare class hasn’t been running consistently for the past few years, this contributed to the lack of student interest since there are no past students to share their experiences with future Shakespeare class prospects. 

It is not uncommon for classes to meet an untimely end. The English department used to run a class on Contemporary Literature, as well as a class called Men, Women, and Literature. Following Zoom-based learning, it became harder for students to become active participants in classes, since they became so used to sitting silently behind a screen. This contributes to certain English classes that depend on student engagement and participation not gaining enough interest due to student’s unwillingness to fully immerse themselves in the literature they are studying. 

One factor that could contribute to lack of interest in Shakespeare is the shift away from the old literary canon, with students attempting to create a modern literary canon that includes more diverse voices and authors. History has shown that those in power have the influence and ability to broadcast their voices and ideas. Shakespeare is a product of this social structure in which upper class men were appreciated for their writing, oftentimes at the expense of lower class or marginalized communities that never had the opportunity to share their work or let alone learn to write. Students looking toward other authors could represent a shift from the old literary canon which emphasized classics that did not include a wide array of diverse authors. However, despite this shift away from past authors, Shakespeare continues to be an important writing voice. As Kyra stated, “His works have fallen out of date in some ways, but some of his themes of love, and roles have not. I also think that it is important to study the writers before us, he gives a glimpse into the life before, and does it so skillfully. I do not see a day in the very far future where people will stop thinking Shakespeare is important. He has inspired many many other writers, and will continue to do so.” In many ways, Shakespeare is timeless. His writing teaches about past English life, painting a picture of the Elizabethean era. But, his writing also covers themes that don’t relate to a singular time period, but are representative of lasting human themes that cover each decade. Although the Shakespeare class will not be running next year, that doesn’t mean it can’t come back. 

Just as each play has an intermission, the class may be taking a break- and just as Shakespeare’s writing has persevered, so can the class.