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Exploring William Shakespeare’s
Pre-Show Lesson Plan
The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles’
Production is part of
Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national initiative sponsored by the
National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
THE SHAKESPEARE CENTER OF LOS ANGELES STAFF:
Ben Donenberg, Artistic Director
Chris Anthony, Associate Artistic Director, Director of Youth & Education
Jeremy Ancalade, Director of Operations
Regina Cabrera, Director of Community Engagement and New Media
Sam Greenstone, Director of Advancement
Marina Oliva, Education Programs Coordinator
Marcela Robles, Youth Programs Manager
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Marshall Bissett Lawrence Silverton
Frank Brownstead Patrick Stansfield
Lynette Corolla Deidre Steine
Craig Darian Kathleen Vanderziel
Sandra Davis Rita Wilson
Gilbert J. DeGloria
Sy Exter
Lynda Boone Fetter
Lessing Gold
Kathleen A. Hill
Anika Jackson
Craig Jackson
Paul Kartsonis
Gina Kimmel
Timothy Lykowski
Shelly L. Myers
Michael Narvid
Joel J. Prell
Pamela Robinson
Richard Rosenberg
Karen Seigel
Barry Shaffer
Mee Hae Semcken
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Pre-show Lesson Plan for the Teaching Artist
Activating Students’ Background Knowledge and Deeper Exploration of the Text
This lesson plan consists of five sections building upon the students’ prior knowledge about the play,
the themes and the language. The topics are explored through the use of discussion, reading, writing
and presentation. Depending on your students’ grade level and response to literature, the topics can
uncover complex, abstract and counterintuitive ideas. Feel free to reconstruct the questions into ‘kid-
friendly’ language that best suit your students’ abilities. The students’ ideas are welcomed, their point
of view is important. The activities can be practiced and rethought gain deeper understanding.
There are several opportunities to connect issues found in the play with issues in their own lives, their
neighborhoods and the city of Los Angeles.
The lesson is designed to be taught in a classroom of approximately 35 students and lasting one and
a half hours. If you have shorter class periods, please focus on the topics marked with an asterisk (*). A
list of important points is written to help teach each lesson. Supplemental materials can also be found
on The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles web-site.
Enduring Understanding
Students will understand the plot of the play and recognize the reoccurring themes of fate, defiance
and love through open discussion, writing and improvisational activities.
Essential Questions
What Understandings are • Students will understand the plot of the play.
likely? • Students will recognize words or lines describing fate,
defiance and love to understand the play.
• Students will connect themes of fate, defiance and love with
issues in their lives.
• Students will understand the setting of 1930s Boyle Heights.
What misunderstandings are • Students will find the language of Shakespeare
likely? challenging.
• Students will not have time to fully explore the
neighborhood and demographics of 1930s Boyle Heights.
How will I be able to • Students will identify themes of fate, defiance and love in
distinguish between those the text.
who really understand and • Students will use the vocabulary of theatre in their
those who don’t? presentations.
• Optional: Students will paraphrase a portion of the Romeo
& Juliet text into modern-day dialogue and present their
scene to the class.
What resources are • Shakespeare in American Communities Toolkit, on-line
available? resources and books.
Important Points to Help Students Understand the Text
• Romeo & Juliet is the world’s most excellent and lamentable tragedy by William
Shakespeare.
• The tragic hero in classical theatre has a character flaw that leads to his downfall.
• Tragedy is a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair; calamity; disaster: the tragedy of
war. ‘dictionary.com.’ It is a play, often in verse, dealing with somber events that end in
disaster. Having a tragic end. More than just unhappy.
• The plot of a story is also called a storyline. The plot includes all events that happen in the
story. It has a beginning, middle and end.
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• A prologue is a piece of writing used to introduce a drama. Romeo & Juliet has a prologue
that tells the audience how the play will end.
• Romeo & Juliet was written in 1597, a time of economic and social stability for the country of
England.
• The theatre closed for a time because of the plague.
• Throughout the nineteenth Century, William Shakespeare was the most popular playwright in
America.
• The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles’ Romeo & Juliet is set amidst the spicy cultural stew
that was 1930s Boyle Heights. It was populated by Jewish Americans, Japanese Americans,
Mexican Americans, Russian Americans and Yugoslavians. According to the 2000 Census,
Boyle Heights’ population is now 95% Mexican American.
* Activity #1, Part I: What Do You Already Know?
Transition: It is important to access the students’ prior knowledge in order to teach the following
lesson. Ask students what they already know about the original Romeo & Juliet and the performance
they are about to see.
Instructions Purpose Items Needed
• Students actively • Help students reconnect to • Composition books or
share what they what they already know filler paper
know about the • Clarify the student’s • White boards
play preexistent knowledge as • Eraser pens
• Write student a foundation to start the • Pens or pencils
responses on white activities
board
Questions for Gathering Preexistent Knowledge
Using Ice Breaker Agreement Activity:
• I have read a play written by William Shakespeare.
• I have read Romeo and Juliet.
• I have seen a production of Romeo and Juliet (live or a movie).
• I believe in love at first sight.
• My parents give me advice I can follow.
• I think arranged marriages are O.K.
• There is no fighting in our family that keeps us from supporting each other.
• My actions are my responsibility.
• I have physically fought someone to protect what I believe in.
• I believe that gang injunctions have increased public safety in my neighborhood.
• I believe my life is dictated by fate more than the choice I make.
• My parents approve of who I choose to marry and be happy about it.
• I am ready to participate in today’s activities.
Writing Student Responses on the White Board
What do you already know about the play? Who’s in it? What happens? What kind of story is it? Is it
funny? Is it more than sad? What themes are in the play?
Write responses on white board. (If students are keeping books or pages of scenes, they can track
their answers on their copies.)
Activity #1, Part II: Response to Hearing the Prologue
Pass out copies of the prologue to read the text out loud. Each student may speak one line to
acquaint themselves with Shakespeare’s text in a verbal and auditory manner.
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Transition: Shakespeare was written to be heard. Use the prologue for students to hear and to
understand the big ideas of the story. The prologue even tells how it ends!
Activity Purpose Items Needed
• Students stand • Discover something new in the • Composition books or
and read the text filler paper
prologue • Understand the main points of • White boards
together the story • Copies of the prologue,
• Understand who the families scenes or any version
are in relationship to each of the R & J book.
other and the community • Pens or pencils
Questions:
• What is a prologue?
• Why did Shakespeare write a prologue?
• What does the prologue tell us?
• By speaking and listening to the prologue, did you learn anything new?
• Does the prologue tell us the whole story?
• Does it introduce all the characters in the play?
• What part of the story was emphasized?
• Once you heard the prologue and if you lived in Shakespeare’s time, would you want to
stay to see this play?
Write student responses on the white board.
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* Activity # 2: Constructing the Plot
Transition: Knowing the big ideas in the story, does not tell us who the characters are or how the
tragedy takes place. Knowing the plot of the play adds more clarity to knowing the story. It will help
you to know what to expect in the performance you are about to see. The play you are about to see is
a performance of Romeo & Juliet set in 1930s Boyle Heights.
Activity Purpose Items Needed
• Students • Gain a clear understanding of • Composition books or
contribute to the plot of the play filler paper
creating the • Connect the characters in the • White boards
storyline by play to family members found • Copies of the prologue
discussing the in their own lives or any version of the R &
plot • J script.
• Pens or pencils
Questions: From your memory, what portions of the plot are missing from the prologue? What
else happens in the play? What are the elements in the play? What happens in the
beginning, middle and end of the play? Where is the climax of the play? Can you condense
the plot into one sentence?
Who does what to whom? What relationship do they have to each other?
Where does the story take place during the Elizabethan era? What type of community is it? What
types of people live there? Who governs the town?
In the 1930s, who was in control of the laws in Boyle Heights? What type of community was it? Was
there a Mayor of Los Angeles? Did it have laws?
Who talks to whom on your campus? Does your campus deal with the same kind of social issues
as your community? Do students and teachers follow the laws? Why or why not? What would
you do differently? Who can you share your ideas with to make a change?
Write student responses on the board or students can use their composition books and filler paper .
Optional Activity: Pick a situation found in the plot of Romeo & Juliet. Write about a time when you
found yourself in the same kind of situation. What happened? What was the outcome?
Recourses
Students can understand the plot by reading the script or seeing Romeo & Juliet (1998), Directed by
Baz Luhrmann. The story set in a fictitious modern day Verona Beach.
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* Activity #3: Finding the Themes in the Play
Transition: Directors have been creating interpretations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for
centuries. Each director has created a rendition of this tragic love story that ends in tragedy. The play
has been set in Verona Italy, New York, and fictitious locations such as Verona Beach. It has been
played by real actors and by animated characters. Adaptations include Westside Story directed by
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, Mississippi Masala directed by Mira Nai and Jungle Fever by Spike
Lee.
Chris Anthony, director of this performance, has set the play in Boyle Heights in the 1930s. She invites
the audience to explore the themes of fate, defiance and love that are presented in the play in the
1930s and how social issues of that time are different or the same as the ones today.
Tell “The story of the Special Someone,” found at the end of these lessons. Explain the difference
between plot and theme. Discuss the themes of fate, defiance and love. Distribute the scenes or
books of Romeo & Juliet.
Activities Purpose Items Needed
• Groups will use • Gain a clear understanding of • Composition books or
scenes to the themes in the play filler paper
explore the • Connect the themes in the play • White boards
themes to ones found in their own lives • The Story of the Special
• Students will Someone
read scenes • Copies of the scenes or
out loud any version of the R & J
• Students will script.
comment on • Pens or pencils
what they saw
• Fate: In your world fate might be your horoscope, where you live, and where you go to
school. It can also be the classes you are required to take in school or your parent’s decision
to have more than one child.
• Defiance: Many forms of defiance are acted out in the play. Parent to child, child to parent,
Friar to parents, peer to peer, youth to prince, etc.
• Love: There are many forms of love seen in the play. Parent to child, nurse to child, friend to
friend, lover to lover.
Questions: Have you uncovered some the themes in Activities 1-3? What themes are written in the
prologue? From the plot, what do we know about these themes? How do these themes
present themselves in the play? How do they present themselves in your lives?
Underline the themes written on the white board. Or students can underline themes in their
composition books.
Optional Activity: Choose one scene of Romeo & Juliet found on The Shakespeare Center of Los
Angeles web-site to read through together to identify one of the themes.
Fate: Do things happen because they are “meant to be”? Who or what controls your fate? Do the
characters in the scene have control over the situation? What part of the situation do they
have control over? Can they change the outcome? Why or why not?
Do you or friends you know always have the ability to control what happens to you? Why or why
not? Pick a situation in your life you did not control. How did it make you feel? What did you do
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to change the situation? What was the outcome tragic? If you had to do it all over again,
would you take the same action? Would fate control the outcome?
Defiance: How many families are involved in the story of Romeo & Juliet? Who are they? What are
they like? Do they like each other? How do members of the family communicate with each
other? Who shows defiance to another person when speaking?
Do they communicate the same way as families you know? What is different or the same? How
do the parents communicate vs. the children in the family?
Love: How many ways is love expressed in this play? Who loves who in the play? How do you
know? Do you think all characters express their love in a positive way? Why or why not?
Do you know families who communicate or show their love in the same way or differently than
the characters? How does your family show love to another person who is inside or outside
your family? What is love to you?
Students break into groups to read through the scenes. Ask each group to create a list of each
instance when they recognize the theme. Groups will present their findings. Discuss the results, and
what discoveries were made.
Optional Activities: Using the play, set the play in a different time period and a different place. What
are the issues? Are the themes the same? What is the community like?
Set the play in your own neighborhood. Who would be the prince? What families from the
neighborhood would be in your play? Who would the lovers be? Are the themes the same or are they
different?
Resources
To find an article written about the history of Boyle Heights by a member of the Japanese American
Museum, go to: http://131.193.153.231/www/issues/issue6_4/lee-sung/index.html#l1. Or go to
http://www.urbanedpartnership.org/access/change/histbh/index.html
To find a map of Boyle Heights and demographics go to: http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-
la/neighborhoods/neighborhood/boyle-heights/.
To find a brief history of Los Angeles County 1930-1940 go to:
http://www.laalmanac.com/history/hi01g.htm.
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* Activity #4, Part I: Creating a Tableau With Passion
Transition: They say a picture says a thousand words. Students review what they studied. Choose part
of the scene, a line or a word to create a tableau or frozen picture. The picture should represent and
emphasize one theme in the scene.
Activity Purpose Items Needed
• Groups will • Gain a clear understanding of • Copies of the scenes or
create one the themes in the play any version of the R & J
thematic still • Understand the importance of book.
picture Shakespeare as a • Pens or pencils
• Read all or part performance piece, creating a
of the scene in picture from the spoken word
front of the
class
• Students will
comment on
what they saw
Groups create a picture. They will need some help.
Instructions: Start by showing a picture of one character.
Optional Activity: Use one scene and show how a tableaux is created with the entire group.
Please remember a few rules for presentations. Keep yourself open to the audience. (Show
example.) Make sure to project. (Explain.)
Respond to viewing tableaus using the following parameters.
• How is the theme presented
• Body position of the actor
• Relationship between one actor to another
• State one thing you liked about the Tableaux
Questions: What did you “see” that let you know what was happening in the picture? Whose body
position best reflects the theme? Who was reacting to whom? Did the actors clearly present a
theme? Could you hear them? Could you understand the meaning behind the words? How?
Is there more than one theme presented in the Tableaux? What is it? Can you see layers of the
themes in the Tableaux?
Optional: Ask students in the audience to move actors around to make the theme stronger.
Activity 4, Part II: Perform Scenes to Clarify Themes in the Play
Transition: Student groups will present scenes to the class. Discoveries are made by hearing the text
and the words the actor chooses to emphasize.
Instructions Purpose Items Needed
• Students will • Will speak the word of the text • Copies of the scenes or
work as a • Gain a clear understanding of any version of the R & J
group to the themes in the play book.
present a • Understand the importance of • Pens or pencils
scene to the Shakespeare as a
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class performance piece, creating a
• Read all or part picture from the spoken word
of the scene in • Work collaboratively as a
front of the group.
class • Critique a performance piece
• Students will
critique what
they saw
Student groups take time to practice their scenes.
Questions: What did you “see” that let you know what was happening in the picture? Who was
reacting to whom? Did the actors clearly present a theme? Could you hear them? Could you
understand the meaning behind the words? How?
View all scenes with the following parameters.
• State one thing you liked about the presentation
• Listen for thematic clues spoken by the actors
• What did their body language tell you about the theme
• Who is speaking to whom?
• Can you hear the actors?
Optional Activity: Student groups listen to critique and incorporate changes in a second presentation.
Optional Activity: Students translate a portion of a scene into their own language by paraphrasing
the written text. Or set the play in a different time period and translate the text using slang of the
period.
Resources
The free educational toolkit is provided by Shakespeare in American Communities – Arts Midwest.
This educational toolkit include several resources including a video, CD and DVD to enhance student
enjoyment of Shakespeare’s plays. You can find the toolkit at:
http://www.shakespeareinamericancommunities.org/education/toolkit.shtml.
To explore the plot and themes of the play, visit the Royal Shakespeare Company’s website. You will
find a list of movies and see extracts from their 2008 production of Romeo & Juliet.
http://www.rsc.org.uk/Romeo/teachers/film.html.
Activity #5: Review of What We Know. What Can You Look for in the Play?
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Transition: Let’s review what we know.
Instructions Purpose Items Needed
• Groups will • Know the plot of the play allow • Copies of the scenes or
shout out students to enjoy the any version of the
elements of the performance Romeo & Juliet book.
plot • Have a clear understanding of
• Students will the themes in the play to
repeat where connect the themes to their
the play takes own lives
place
• Students will Optional
repeat the • Understand the importance of
themes in the Shakespeare as a
play performance piece, listening to
• Students will the words
repeat what to
look for in the
play
Questions: What are the elements in the play? What are the three themes in the play that the
director wants you to notice?
When Students Watch the Play
Remember to:
• Listen and look for clues presented on the themes in the play. (There might be others.)
• Look for clues in the stage design that show where and when the play takes place,
1930’s Boyle Heights.
• Does ethnicity of the actors influence the story?
• Be aware that the configuration of the theatre is “in the round.” Students are part of the
play and the audience will be watching you as well. Be courteous to the actors and have
fun.
We will talk about the play next time we meet!
Introduction Piece to Activity #3
The Story of the Special Someone
Imagine that once there was a mother and a daughter who lived in your neighborhood. The mother
says to the daughter, “I have to go to a conference this weekend. I trust you so much that I’m going to
leave you alone. I know you won’t do anything wrong and everything will be fine when I return on
Sunday.” The mother kisses her daughter goodbye and is off to the conference. The daughter
orders a pizza and calls her boyfriend. They settle in the living room with the pizza, turn on a movie
and turn off the lights. It is warm and cozy. Suddenly, there’s a screech of wheels in the driveway, and
the mother bursts through the door seeing her daughter and boyfriend in the living room and says;
“WHAT HAPPENED!”
The mother can see the plot but she wants to know the theme.
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