summer shakespeare workshop

A five day intensive Shakespeare program for high school students.

The Summer Shakespeare Workshop is designed to help students meaningfully engage with one of the greatest writers in the English Language. For students both well-read and new to Shakespeare's work, this workshop will provide deepened understanding of Shakespeare by exploring his literary, theatrical and historical context, as well as interacting with his works first hand.
What's it like? Lectures will develop a knowledge base that enables students to approach Shakespeare's works in an informed manner. The purpose of the lectures is not to give conclusive answers on a topic, but to provide context and information that will aid students in asking their own well-directed questions of Shakespeare's work. Group discussions provide a forum for students to ask those questions and engage critically with Shakespeare's plays first hand. Discussion cultivates good reading and interpretation skills as students and tutor work together to discern the meaning of Shakespeare's writing. Through theatrical activities, the workshop aims to bring Shakespeare's plays to life according to their intended media of acting, and round out the education process by enabling students to think, breath, move and speak the drama they find in the pages of Shakespeare.


Widely revered as one of the greatest writers in the English language, Shakespeare has long been regarded as an emblem of English culture and considered the national poet of England. Shakespeare's profound influence on the writers after his time renders him invaluable to students of literature, and his clever and insightful depiction of human nature renders him both enjoyable and edifying to all. Shakespeare touches on many significant questions, sentiments, and dilemmas that characterize the experience of humankind, and his perspectives on these are a valuable aid in thinking well about our own human experience. Shakespeare's plays lend themselves to discussion of human relationships, sentiments, actions, and consequences, as well as themes such as love, hatred, justice, and the nature of language, to name just a few. A study of Shakespeare is valuable in its own right, and is also useful for developing critical reading and thinking skills as students work to discern the meaning of plots, characters, motifs and language. Why Shakespeare?