Shakespeare Works when Shakespeare Plays Conference

Workshop - From the Rehearsal Hall to the Classroom

  1. Warm-up activity
  2. The Ball Game, with Names – then Words – then Images (R&J)

Working with words from the play this introductory exercise introduces language and imagery to help determine meaning within the play.

  1. The discovery of the verse line, freeing the verse. (Dream)

Participants will discover the liberating use of strict verse line speech, and how it informs us of the playwright’s intent for the text.

  1. Any Number of interpretations! (Dream)

How many ways can a scene be interpreted? Participants will be given Act 1 sc. 1 (lines180-207) and will be asked to analyze the text, and change its interpretation while maintaining a specific character structure.

  1. Principle Thought, Cutting to the point. (Macbeth)

Participants discover the principle thought of an argument. In small groups they will decide the most important parts of each speech and eliminate the rest.

  1. Mantle of the Expert. (Hamlet)

Participants explore the characters in Hamlet Act 3 sc.4. In partners, they will improvise around the text, and make modern decisions based on what they learned. Partners will immerse themselves in role.

Common Core, Anchor Standards met:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1, R.2, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, R.8

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, SL.4, SL.6

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.1, L.3, L.4, L.5, L.6

English Language Arts Standards - Grade Specific: CCS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.9, 6.1, 6.2, 6.4, 6.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.6, 9-10.1, 9-10.2, 9-10.3, 9-10.4, 9-10.5, 11-12.1, 11-12.2, 11-12.3, 11-12.4, 11-12.6

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.5.4, RF.5.4A, RF.5.4B

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1, SL.5.1B, SL.5.1C, SL.5.1D, SL.5.3, SL.5.6, SL.6.1, SL.6.1B, SL.6.1.C, SL.6.1.D, SL.6.3, SL.6.6, SL.7.1, SL.7.1.B, SL.7.1.C, SL.7.1.D, SL.7.3, SL.7.6, SL.8.1, SL.8.1.C, SL.8.1.D, SL.8.3, SL.8.6, SL.9-10.1, SL.9-10.1.B, SL.9-10.1.C, SL.9-10.1.D, SL.9-10.3, SL.9-10.6, SL.11-12.1, SL.11-12.1C, SL.11-12.1D, SL.11-12.3, SL.11-12.4, SL.11-12.6

Edward Daranyi
Stratford Festival - Resident Teaching Artist

Edward has recently returned from El Salvador after creating and directing Voces de los Cerros a collectively written new work, and directing Fuente Ovejuna for Es Artes theatre in conjunction with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and CUSO-VSO. For Michigan State University, Edward has taught classical theatre and theatre for young audiences and directed The Beaux Stratagem, Cyrano de Bergerac and James and the Giant Peach. In his past 12 seasons at Stratford, Edward has served as Assistant Director of West Side Story, Oklahoma!, A Delicate Balance. Oliver!, Ghosts, The Lark, Quiet in the Land, The Count of Monte Cristo, King Henry VIII and Associate Director of The Donnellys: Sticks & Stones. Acting credits include roles in Cyrano de Bergerac,Alice Through the Looking Glass, Bent, Our Country’s Good, God Say Amen, Goodnight Desdemona-Good Morning Juliet, The Country Wife, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Girls in the Gang, and West Side Story. Other directing credits include Sonno Nocturno, Romeo and Juliet, (Shakespeare Link Canada; Julius Caesar, (In the Blink Prod. Canada/Wales); Noye’s Fludde (CBC); Dance of Death; Weird Kid, Nightlight; Sometimes…(In The Blink Productions); Nunsense, Baby, Six for Song, Little Shop of Horrors, On Golden Pond and On the Fourth (SummerStage Theatre, Boulder, Colorado). Edward recently co-created a landmark multi-disciplined adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet in Mozambique with Shakespeare Link Canada and Montes Numuli. Edward is a BFA acting graduate of the University of Windsor and has taught acting at the University of Guelph, Michigan State University, National Theatre School of Canada, Humber College, George Brown College, The Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Cawthra Park School for the Arts and the National Ballet School of Canada. His own production company, In the Blink, produces youth-oriented theatre in the Toronto area and he regularly voices characters for the TVO/Treehouse series Mighty Machines.