Shakespeare General Outline of class

Opening: Life of Shakespeare, discussion of time and place, Queen

Elizabeth, etc. Comedies-Shakespeares approach to comedy, how he used it
and why? Purpose of Midsummer Nights Dream.

We will have at least one guest-speaker in Michael Arndt, the

creative director of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company at California
Lutheran University. Michael will speak about how Shakespeare
impacts us today. We will also hear occasionally from my friend and
colleague, Richard Winterstein, one of the last trained Shakespearean
actors in the U.S.

Outline of Play:
Read one act per night, discuss acts during class, lecture and note-taking,
question, answers, acting out scenes, translating. On occasion, one act may
be read over two or more evenings for homework.
Watch film version of play
Provide base questions to small groups who will prepare Socratic
presentations using discussion, scene recreation, direction and analysis
as they delve deeper into each play.
Presentation week: Each group presents their act or characters to the class
using visual aides, acting out scenes, interpreting scenes, etc.
Test is written based on presentations and discussion.
Formal project or paper assigned (this includes, essays, synthesized
scripts, character analyses, arguments about the play, relevance, etc).
Total time on each play: approximately 5-7 weeks.