{"id":10389,"date":"2015-03-13T12:50:41","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T17:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=10389"},"modified":"2015-03-13T12:50:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T17:50:41","slug":"shakespeare-troupes-struggle-to-bring-the-bard-into-chicago-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/shakespeare-troupes-struggle-to-bring-the-bard-into-chicago-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Shakespeare troupes struggle to bring the Bard into Chicago classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jessica Gable<\/p>\n

Ever since Arin Mulvaney first performed Shakespeare with a high school troupe for elementary and middle school students, her dream has been to bring her beloved Bard and his work to younger children.<\/p>\n

Today, she is the Artistic Director of Shakespeare All-Stars<\/a>, a group of professional actors who travel around Chicago schools to present Shakespearean plays or scenes to a captive audience of students. They give about 15-18 performances a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of kids don\u2019t have any experience with Shakespeare before high school,\u201d Mulvaney said. \u201cSo for some people, especially elementary schoolers, they\u2019ve never heard of this guy Shakespeare.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t take long for them to catch on. When Mulvaney\u2019s actors begin the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, she frequently notices some people following along or mouthing the words made familiar if not by the play itself, then by pop culture\u2019s spin on it. The biggest challenge for the All-Stars is not a lack of understanding on the children\u2019s part. In fact, Mulvaney is usually impressed by their quick grasp of the archaic language and form of Shakespeare\u2019s verse. No, the challenge is getting a foothold in a school system increasingly strapped for cash, especially when it comes to the arts. Most of their performances are done for private or suburban schools.<\/p>\n

\"Shakespeare<\/a>
The Shakespeare All-Stars perform at Chase Elementary, a public school in Chicago, in 2010. They started the performance in street clothes to show that anyone can do Shakespeare and transitioned into costumes as the performance went on. (Arin Mulvaney\/Shakespeare All-Stars)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I envisioned the program, I was thinking of Chicago public schools, underserved communities, people who really need this,\u201d Mulvaney said. \u201cSome of those schools don\u2019t have the resources. It\u2019s not quite as easy to get into those schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mulvaney can\u2019t always find a willing go-between at public schools in Chicago. Sometimes there\u2019s no one for her to talk to at all.<\/p>\n

Peter Garino, the artistic director of the Shakespeare Project of Chicago<\/a>, presents Shakespeare readings done by Equity actors both for the public and for schools via the organization\u2019s Education Outreach Program. They produce 50-minute versions of Hamlet<\/em> and Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, with fewer than five actors per show play all the characters. Each production costs about $400. According to Garino\u2019s estimates, about 90 percent of their performances, like those of the Shakespeare All-Stars, end up being given to private schools that have more resources than public ones.<\/p>\n

\"Shakespeare<\/a>
The Shakespeare Project of Chicago performs a reading of The Tragedy of Macbeth at Moraine Valley Community College. (Peter Garino\/Shakespeare Project of Chicago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are some people who are like, \u2018Are you absolutely crazy? There\u2019s no way in the world we could ever come up with that,\u2019\u201d Garino said. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the public schools don\u2019t have the same coordination and resources available. We see that ourselves. We recognize that it\u2019s not our failing or our shortcoming. That\u2019s just reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student response to performances by both organizations is usually overwhelmingly positive. Kids devour the action of a wrestling match in As You Like It<\/em>, giggle at the wild antics of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em> and relish the romance of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet<\/em>. But things are becoming more difficult as Shakespeare is taking a back seat in many classrooms in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\"Cast<\/a>
Cast and crew of the Shakespeare Project of Chicago\u2019s The Tragedy of Macbeth. (Peter Garino\/Shakespeare Project of Chicago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are schools in Chicago that have said, \u2018it\u2019s optional. You don\u2019t have to teach Shakespeare anymore. You can teach The Life of Pi<\/em> instead,\u2019\u201d Garino said. \u201cSo, this is really concerning to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of deadline, CPS had not responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

But according to Mulvaney, reaching out to Chicago\u2019s public schools has become easier since 2012. Chicago Public Schools have named more arts liaisons as part of its Creative Schools Initiative. Arts liaisons are school employees who coordinate and track improvements in arts instruction at their schools. But it\u2019s still a struggle to find schools with adequate funding to support the performances of the Shakespeare Project or the All-Stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Shakespeare and I want to share him with everyone I meet,\u201d Mulvaney said. \u201cSo I hope we can expand it to more public schools in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Arin Mulvaney (far left) celebrates with students at Disney II Magnet School in Chicago following their final performance after a semester of workshops with the Shakespeare All-Stars. (Arin Mulvaney\/Shakespeare All-Stars)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jessica Gable Ever since Arin Mulvaney first performed Shakespeare with a high school troupe for elementary and middle school students, her dream has been to bring her beloved Bard and his work to younger children. Today, she is the Artistic Director of Shakespeare All-Stars, a group of professional actors who travel around Chicago schools […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":10392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"\nShakespeare troupes struggle to bring the Bard into Chicago classrooms - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/shakespeare-troupes-struggle-to-bring-the-bard-into-chicago-classrooms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shakespeare troupes struggle to bring the Bard into Chicago classrooms - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jessica Gable Ever since Arin Mulvaney first performed Shakespeare with a high school troupe for elementary and middle school students, her dream has been to bring her beloved Bard and his work to younger children. 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