Festival Educational Offerings for Educators
Teachers, did you know that the Festival has summer classes just for you? You can expand your Shakespeare and theatre knowledge, come away from these onsite opportunities with lesson plans and hands-on experience to enrich your classrooms, and receive professional development credits for completing a course.
“These camps are a fun and inspiring way to not only gear up for the coming school year, but also refresh, and refill your own cup before embarking on teaching adventures of the Fall,” says Education Director Stewart Shelley.
Teaching Shakespeare
July 14-17, 2025
Specifically for English and Theatre educators, this in-person course provides active and engaging classroom approaches for any teacher of Shakespeare text. Tuition is $300 and includes a ticket to four plays and three Southern Utah University professional development credits.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is aimed at providing active and engaging classroom approaches to language arts and theatre teachers and others who teach Shakespeare’s text - or really any classical texts. It’s all about speaking, hearing, and seeing the text on its feet rather than simply reading it. The course will teach you how to create learning activities to get your students out from behind their desks and explore connections to contemporary themes, characters, and stories that keep your students’ attention and help them find relevance in classical literature texts.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
Teachers in English Language Arts and/or Theatre or who teach Shakespeare in other forms or classes:
● Those who may be anxious about teaching Shakespeare.
● Those who want to better understand Shakespeare’s writing tools.
● Those who are willing to adopt an active, performative, student-centered mindset in approaching teaching Shakespeare and other classical texts in the classroom.
● Those who would like to explore how to use simple performance tools/techniques to actively engage students with Shakespeare’s texts.
● Those who are seeking to fulfill English or Theatre endorsement requirements/competencies such as: ELA - Critically Interpreting Texts and Speaking and Listening; Theatre - Contextualize Dramatic Text: Script Analysis and Theatre History
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Participants will be able to demonstrate their understanding of teaching Shakespeare in the classroom by participating in various exercises and activities surrounding Shakespeare’s text and exploring the curriculum created by the instructor.
● This course will consist of direct instruction, interaction with Festival company, learning activities and assessments that can be replicated by participants in Language Arts classes, Theatre classes, or other authentic educational settings.
● The instructor will incorporate pedagogy principles and demonstrate instructional strategies while teaching methodology; lesson planning evidence, handouts, and assessments will be provided as resources for participants.
● All course materials and instruction will be practical and shared with teachers so they can take them directly back to the classroom and make them applicable for their teaching situation and students.
Click here to register. Registration closes June 30, 2025.
Tech for Teachers
July 21-26, 2025
This is a great in-person professional development course for any educator or director. Festival technicians and experts create a hands-on learning experience for designing, building, and running a production. You will take home ready-to-teach tech theatre lesson plans and files of resources. Tuition includes a ticket to four plays, the opportunity to watch post-production scenic changeovers, and three Southern Utah University Professional Development Credits.
Click here to register. Registration closes July 4, 2025.
It’s not too early to purchase tickets for the 2025 season of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. The play lineup for the 64th season includes Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, along with the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, the classic The Importance of Being Earnest, the touching Steel Magnolias, and the nostalgic Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Get tickets by clicking here, or call the ticket office at (800) PLAYTIX.
