Shakespeare to Hip Hop
Shakespeare to Hiphop --- a classic-to-the-modern celebration of the literary arts, music and the spoken word --- is available for auditorium presentations for K-College, as well as for PD for Language Arts Educators. Using poetry, storytelling, hip-hop, song and live music, Shakespeare to Hiphop offers a fun, innovative and engaging program that promotes active engagement with literacy and encourages students to become more excited about the written and spoken word.
Programs
Performance: The Shakespeare Time-traveling Speakeasy (Making Learning About the "Bard" Hip)
For the 2016-2017 season, Shakespeare to Hiphop was partnered with the Boston Public Library to celebrate the works of William Shakespeare in the 400th year since his death.
To do so, Shakespeare to Hiphop has created The Shakespeare Speakeasy, an all new presentation using live music (jazz, funk, country, pop, and hip-hop), poetry, song, storytelling and rap to explore the life, impact, and mysteries surrounding the man reverently known as “The Bard”. The Shakespeare Speakeasy is ideal for students and adults who have had, or will soon have, some exposure to Shakespeare.
And, because The Shakespeare Speakeasy combines History, Language Arts, Theater and Music, it meets both Common Core and Massachusetts Educational Framework standards.
Educational:
Our programs are fully customizable, based on age and grade level, what topics a given school wishes to emphasize, and the amount of time allotted.
To give you a taste, this is what a preferred (week-long residency) Shakespeare to Hiphop program would include in a K-5 school:
Assemblies:
We would begin with 3 assemblies. These would be K-1; 2-3; and 4-5. Because of differing cognitive levels and developed skill sets, we find it most effective to make each assembly targeted to specific grade groups. This helps to keeps the students engaged as the subject matter and its performance will be relevant and age-appropriate.
Writing Workshops:
After having solicited input from educators, we would visit all classrooms and focus on areas of interest.
Example:
K-1: Collective Story-telling using games and imagination
Grade 2: Couplets, Quatrains and Rhyme
Grade 3: Narrative Poems
Grade 4: Person
Grade 5: Epistolary (Letter Poems)
Classroom Workshops
Let’s Get Engaged!: Writing that engages both sides of the brain
Page to Stage: Getting written work ready to perform
Read Like a Rock Star: Oral presentation and performance techniques
Week-Long Residencies
Our assembly performances can be within the context of a week-long residency, where we work directly in the classrooms. The objectives of our residencies are:
Programs
Performance: The Shakespeare Time-traveling Speakeasy (Making Learning About the "Bard" Hip)
For the 2016-2017 season, Shakespeare to Hiphop was partnered with the Boston Public Library to celebrate the works of William Shakespeare in the 400th year since his death.
To do so, Shakespeare to Hiphop has created The Shakespeare Speakeasy, an all new presentation using live music (jazz, funk, country, pop, and hip-hop), poetry, song, storytelling and rap to explore the life, impact, and mysteries surrounding the man reverently known as “The Bard”. The Shakespeare Speakeasy is ideal for students and adults who have had, or will soon have, some exposure to Shakespeare.
And, because The Shakespeare Speakeasy combines History, Language Arts, Theater and Music, it meets both Common Core and Massachusetts Educational Framework standards.
Educational:
Our programs are fully customizable, based on age and grade level, what topics a given school wishes to emphasize, and the amount of time allotted.
To give you a taste, this is what a preferred (week-long residency) Shakespeare to Hiphop program would include in a K-5 school:
Assemblies:
We would begin with 3 assemblies. These would be K-1; 2-3; and 4-5. Because of differing cognitive levels and developed skill sets, we find it most effective to make each assembly targeted to specific grade groups. This helps to keeps the students engaged as the subject matter and its performance will be relevant and age-appropriate.
Writing Workshops:
After having solicited input from educators, we would visit all classrooms and focus on areas of interest.
Example:
K-1: Collective Story-telling using games and imagination
Grade 2: Couplets, Quatrains and Rhyme
Grade 3: Narrative Poems
Grade 4: Person
Grade 5: Epistolary (Letter Poems)
Classroom Workshops
Let’s Get Engaged!: Writing that engages both sides of the brain
Page to Stage: Getting written work ready to perform
Read Like a Rock Star: Oral presentation and performance techniques
Week-Long Residencies
Our assembly performances can be within the context of a week-long residency, where we work directly in the classrooms. The objectives of our residencies are:
- To excite and inspire students by bringing new life to classic texts, and introducing poetry in a manner that makes it more accessible, less intimidating .
- To empower students to consciously associate seemingly disparate contexts by realizing they already unconsciously do so.
- To provide a fun and safe atmosphere for students to express themselves through writing and spoken word performance.
- To underscore many of the lessons educators have worked hard to ingrain. (We have often found that when someone not associated with a school validates what teachers have been telling students all along, this increases the students interest in the subject. It becomes, for them, something that has been independently tested and verified).