Shakespeare From Stage to Classroom

By Dan Guarino

The writer of “All the world’s a stage” is shortly coming to Rockaway, both on stage and in the classroom.

Starting in early December, the newly formed Rockaway Shakespeare Company (RSC) will be presenting “Shakespeare in the Classroom” with Royal Shakespeare Company Associate Practitioner Fiona Ross.

Two sessions for educators are already scheduled for Tuesday, December 2, and Wednesday, December 3, at the Knights of Columbus, 333 Beach 90th Street. These are each stand-alone workshops which will run from 4 to 6 p.m. on each day.

Teachers can find out more information and sign up by going to www.eventbrite.com  and entering “Shakespeare in the Classroom with RSC Associate Practitioner Fiona Ross.”  Scrolling down will show both sessions. Tuition for each session is $80 plus tax and service fee.

As an international theater maker, director, choreographer and arts educator, Ross, who is arriving from England this week, brings over two decades of experience with the world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company and the award-winning RSC Teacher Training Program to the peninsula.

Ross will also be conducting a “Shakespeare Master Class For Actors with RSC associate Fiona Ross,” on Monday, December 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the Players Theatre at 115 MacDougal Street in Manhattan. Tuition is $75 plus fees and tax and can also be found on Eventbrite.

Rockaway Shakespeare Company organizers describe “Shakespeare in the Classroom” as “a hands-on interactive workshop for K-12 teachers which shares RSC’s ‘best practices’ from the rehearsal room and the educational outreach program.” With an eye towards giving teachers insights and ideas to bring back to their classrooms, it’s designed to introduce “new approaches for heightening student engagement when presenting Shakespeare, poetry and other great literature.”

As part of Ross and Rockaway’s RSC partnership, she will also be available for additional workshop bookings for both students and educators at local schools from December 1-11. For more information contact Rockawayshakespearecompany@gmail.com.

The Rockaway Shakespeare Company notes that under Ross’ guidance, the teachers’ workshops have been especially successful for instructors of English, language arts, theater and drama, and even history and social studies.

In tandem with the educational workshops, the newly formed group, made up of local actors, will be presenting Shakespeare’s drama “The Winter’s Tale,” which Ross will be directing. Hosted by Scholars’ Academy, the production will grace the school’s stage, on Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 14 at 2 p.m. The show will be presented for the community, with a $5 suggested donation admission.

Now worked into a brisk and entertaining 90-minute version, it is a tale of hidden identities, jealousy, redemption, love, a shipwreck, of course, a bear, and even some humor and music. Rehearsals are being held at the First Congregational Church on Beach 94th Street.

This production follows this summer’s Shakespeare On The Rocks performances of “Romeo and Juliet,” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” presented at the Beach 94th Street Amphitheater by Shakespeare on the Beach two years ago and attended by over 300 people. Many members of the Rockaway Shakespeare Company originally came together in that 2023 production.

Starting things off for this new venture, RSC’s Kaitlin Creed Boyce notes, the “Rockaway Shakespeare Company has already secured two amazing world-class collaborations for this production.” The first is bringing Ross, who has worked with programs like this all over the world, for her first artistic residency here in Queens. “Her tenure at the Royal Shakespeare Company at England’s Stratford-upon-Avon has seen her lead national and international projects, imparting her knowledge and enthusiasm for Shakespeare across the globe. Fiona also serves as a lead practitioner in the RSC Teacher Training Program, creating curriculum and materials used by RSC Educational Outreach worldwide” and directed and adapted other works at numerous well-regarded theatre venues.

“Our second, and equally important, collaboration,” Creed Boyce says, “is with the Scholars’ Academy at 320 Beach 104th Street in Rockaway Park. Fiona will be teaching workshops for both students and educators, in cooperation with the Academy’s theater department and administration. Scholars’ Academy will also be hosting the Rockaway Shakespeare Company’s performance of ‘The Winter’s Tale.’”

Of course, even a volunteer Shakespeare effort comes with costs. To that end, the Rockaway Shakespeare Company is fundraising to support the production and programs. To contribute via raffles, etc., check out Patrick Tubz Tubridy on social media. For larger donation inquiries to help cover overall costs, sponsor crew and cast meals or travel, email Rockawayshakespearecompany@gmail.com.

Shakespeare in his time wrote 38 plays, including “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet”, “Othello,” “King Lear” and “Macbeth,” 154 sonnets, two narrative poems and numerous other poems. He is also credited with inventing and/or introducing some 1,700 words to our language. So, we can thank him for such words as bedroom, critic, elbow, generous, gloomy and moonbeam.

Also, for everyday phrases like break the ice, eaten out of house and home, good riddance, laugh stock, in a pickle, love is blind and dead as a doornail, and more.

With its first production, the Rockaway Shakespeare Company looks to bring the writer and his art to refreshing life on our shores in teaching about his work and performing “The Winter’s Tale.”

They will also be introducing to Rockaway, Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction- “Exit, pursued by a bear.”