Unschooling The Shakespeare Season

I gave you all a taste of our Shakespeare productions in yesterday's blog post, but because of a question about unschooling and the value of studying Shakespeare on Facebook, I am adding this post about our troupe, Front Lawn Players, a group founded in 2005, which performs a complete, unabridged play every spring.  The students, some unschooled, some more formally schooled, are all homeschoolers who dedicate time and effort to perform the works faithfully, in costume, on a set designed and built by parents and students.  We are blessed with talented parents (who design, direct, stage, schedule, prompt, drive, and more...) and kids (who act, and help out with all the other jobs) who have all seen the value of this kind of in-depth Shakespeare study (for that's what it really is) year after year.  Shakespeare by total immersion is the method.

Because the stage is a flatbed truck, it can be brought on site and assembled in no time.  Well, it takes a few hours, and is assembled by men, distracted by small children running around:

And voila!

Finished Set--two levels, two stairways

The Shakespeare season has been an annual event for so long, and takes up so much time--real educational time--and provides some many lessons, that we have become rather good at interpreting the lessons learned for consumption by education professionals (college applications, quarterly reports, etc.).  Subjects covered include the obvious--enhanced oral reading skills, language, diction, vocabulary, contextual understanding, history, acting, and the sort of things you would expect.  They also learn costuming (and through that, clothing styles from other centuries), ethics (deception is a common theme), religion (see Claire Asquith's Shadowplay and Joseph Pierce's Quest for Shakespeare), politics, economics (we have a budget--sort of), geography, law, and human nature.

And time management--are your lines memorized yet??

This year we are using the wonderful technology of Google+ hangouts for line practice.  This saves gas (we really do this on a shoestring budget), and ensures that the kids are getting the pronunciations correct and so do not have to unlearn mistakes.

Here are some video clips and some still photos and links to our productions.  I hope you'll agree that the kids really pull off something amazing.

Click through to youtube for the whole scene, which does not fit here.

We begin each year by announcing the cast list.  Casting is a chore that goes to our director.  We do not audition, since the company does not change, though graduates move on, and younger students move up to the senior group.  The students, theoretically, practice their lines and know them well by the time rehearsals begin in March.  In reality, everyone is constantly learning and relearning lines, stage directions, and cues until performance times.  The kids drive each other to excel.  Suddenly, chaos turns to order, and the play's the thing.

We perform in June for our homeschool group and for friends and relatives.  And that's it.

From the Junior (now senior) Players:  Poor Bottom!

The older kids--junior and seniors--have gone on to direct other "spin off" groups within our larger homeschooling group, and their younger siblings perform A Midsummer Night's Dream every year, until they join the senior players.  Best of all, the kids have made the sort of friendships based on common experience that will surely be lifelong.

Links to past productions:
Scenes from As You Like It and here.  Note the older set, on ground level.  Shakespeare does not need a big, complicated set.  Our first and subsequent productions of A Midsummer Nights' Dream do not even use a stage, but rely on a few props and the landscape.

Scenes from Twelfth Night, the play that taught me to spell Twelfth.

Setting the Set for Merchant of Venice

It's modular.

How a Non-Reader Becomes a Reader

A Lesson in Humility and Patience

With two kids who were early readers and who love to read, and one child who was a late reader and who loves to read, the normal child who read at six and reads well, but only when asked, was a worry. Sure, I might give him a passage to read, and he'd read it flawlessly, and he loves to listen to audio books, but he just would not pick up a book on his own for the longest time. I resorted to letting him read selected comic books, telling myself: At least he's reading. I had heard those words used by well-meaning moms to justify the most twaddly book selections at the library, and swore I would never say them.

At least he's reading was usually accompanied by a knowing glance from a beleaguered librarian, who wondered aloud to me once whether she worked in a library or a video rental establishment. A short stack of Captain Underpants books was better than a Pokemon DVD, right? At least he's reading. Not my children, I thought, with my armful of classics chosen by the first three children. Of course they are reading. How could they not? There is a bookshelf in every room in the house. We homeschooling parents read all the time. We visit the library, and the children's idea of a fun outing is an afternoon at Barnes and Noble. When the UPS man comes, my small bibliophiles look for the Amazon.com logo. When they visit friends, they look for the bookshelves. They had literary discussions with their friends in the hallway of the college where they took music lessons, finding kindred spirits among the young musicians. They acted out scenes from their favorite books...they devoured literature at an astonishing rate.

But not this child. He just didn't want to read. Back at the library, I looked at the pile of Junie B. Jones books that one mother was checking out for her daughter and sighed. At least she's reading.

Then, things changed. Not overnight, mind you, and it is still a process, but he has surprised me lately. First, he read a complete novel. He chose a science fiction novel called The True Meaning of Smekday (my review here) over which we readers were all fighting. And he read it.

That was last October. Things were biblio-quiet after that, except for As You Like It, which he read in preparation for our annual Shakespeare production. At least he's reading.

Yesterday, we were at the library, and I sent him off to find a books. Hope springs eternal, don't you know. I spied him at the computer, and later in the stacks, as I sought several books for myself. As we were ready to leave, he brought me his selection: The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde. Hardcover, 1216 pages. I blinked and muttered shocked approval. He beamed.

Last night, he sat reading the book with a look of sheer delight on his face. At one point, he looked up and said, "Oscar Wilde is quite different than Shakespeare."

"Quite," I replied.

Still later, I told him to put the book away and go to sleep. "But," he retorted, "I'm reading."

Not at least...at last.

Forgot to Mention...

That Libby took most of the AYLI photos. More here and here.

As You Like It--Full Cast

As You Like It--Part 5

"In spring time!"

Wedding day!

Oliver and Celia

Sylvius and Phebe

Hymen

Whoa! It's the second son of Rowland de Boys!

As You Like It--Part 4

"The horn, the horn!"


Sylvius forgot to take off his cap!

The Bloody Napkin

Audrey and Touchstone see William


William is told to leave


Orlando and Ganymede

As You Like It--Part 3

Corin and Touchstone

"Aliena" and "Ganymede"


"What features?"


"...mine eyes murderers?"


"I take thee, Rosalind..."

As You Like It--Part 2

The banished Duke and foresters

"So this is the forest of Arden"

"Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame!"

Feasting Foresters

Posting verses on plants

As You Like It--Part 1

Adam and Orlando in the garden

Cousins and Touchstone with LeBeau

A Wrestling Match


"I would thou hadst told me of another father."

Banished!

Our Gang--The Smallest Shakespeareans

More Not So Serious...

Many friendships were strengthened.



Slapjack, without cards?

Libby takes on the Colossus of Rhododendrons.

Not So Serious Moments, Backstage

I can fly!

Are you going to leave your hair like that?

This is sheepskin, right? It smells like sheepskin...

Touchstone humors the Usurper

As You Like It: Quick Preview

Just two photos tonight...Annika and Paul (Audrey and the Usurping Duke) for starters. More tomorrow!

Quick Family Updates

T can ride his bike very far. Nearly 50 miles far, so far, in an afternoon.

P and A are working on the latest Front Lawn Players production, As You Like It:



Libby is busy preparing for finals and juries.

I have two articles to write for Mater et Magistra. Subscribe here.

Are you Ready for The Tempest?

Friday Nov. 21st and Saturday Nov. 22nd, at Chaminade...here's a sneak preview of the set:

A's in the ensemble. T is on the tech crew...

Curtain at 8:15 both nights. Tickets $5, at the box office. Be there.

Updates...what a Week!

Actually, I was just too lazy to post much.

Let's see. Trip completes his first full week of 11th grade this week, and we met his teachers on Tuesday night. They all seem like good guys, and two, his German and English teachers, he has had before. On a funny note, I was sitting next to a friend during the beginning of P-T night, and we compared the schedules our dear sons had written out for us. Their hand writing was remarkably the same. "Oh, did you use Seton?" she asked. "No. We used nothing." The story of how Trip learned to read and write is still shrouded in mystery.

Annika auditioned for The Tempest at Trip's school and was cast in the ensemble. That's exciting! The directors are the best, and all the school productions are over-the-top and lavishly set. Of course, she is thrilled. We are too! Tickets will be available to the public, and are usually around $5, so bring the family to see The Tempest!! I'll post the dates as soon as I know them.

Paul has spent a good deal of time over the past couple of weeks making sling shots. Inspired by the weapons for sale at the Scottish Games, he imitated the design and added his own touch, experimenting with different woods--walnut, apple, maple--to see which make the best sling-shots. I forgot to tell him that when working with the walnut wood, it is best to leave the bark on, as the juices will stain hands and clothing. He found that out for himself, in the end. He then gave a few of his creations to his friends. Nice, Paul!

Libby has settled into college life. She loves her classes, except the ethics class where the professor expects the students to put aside their personal religious views and evaluate their readings without any faith-informed bias. Even the more liberal students in the class are complaining, and the professor is getting huffy, as Libby put it. The students are planning some kind of insurrection. Frankly, I think the class would be way more interesting and valuable if the answers were faith-informed. That way, the students would get a variety of viewpoints, rather than a bland, homogenized and drearily meaningless "ethical" outlook. The class is well-balanced enough between liberal and conservative students (who are all friends) to provide a wonderful opportunity for debate and discussion. Unfortunately, it sounds as though all will be squelched.

My mother is on her way to Alaska. I hope she takes pictures. She says "hi" to everyone.

More Twelth Night Photos

at Alice's.

Twelfth Night

The Front Lawn Players put on their annual Shakespearean production. The actors, from extras as young as 3, to the 17 year old "Sir Toby" (most were in the 10-14 range), worked hard and long to pull this production together. Behind the scenes, adults directed, designed, built, prompted, prodded, watered and fed the actors.

And the costumes? Our designer and seamstress is 16, and it looks like she might have quite a career ahead of her!

Viola and Olivia

Conspiracy!

Sir Andrew hides in the Garden.

Sir Toby and Fabian chat while Viola considers her plight.

Malvolio comes smiling and cross-gartered to Olivia.

Malvolio is jailed and the fool teases him.

Sebastian takes on Sir Toby



Orsino confronts Antonio



Viola Revealed!

Remember the rehearsal photos? Is it possible that this is the same play?

ETA: See the rest of the 200+ photos here. Video soon!