Entertainment

Happy Twelfth Day Of Christmas!

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Happy Twelfth Night and farewell to the Christmas season!

This weekend I am offering a special discount on my class on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night! You can take the course at a $5 discount with coupon code HTHESNIF6B5 until Jan 13, 2022. Go to   https://outschool.com/classes/what-was-christmas-like-for-william-shakespeare-BwVLyBPp?usid=MaRDyJ13&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link and enter the coupon code at checkout.

Finally, here’s a short musical interlude from the movie version of Twelfth Night: Ben Kingsley singing “O Mistress Mine,” from Twelfth Night:

Happy Twelfth Night, and enjoy your cakes and ale responsibly!

More Twelfth Night Posts:

1. Play of the Month: Twelfth Night

2. Creating a Character: Malvolio

3. The duelling scene in Twelfth Night

4. The Fashion is the Fashion: Twelfth Night

Watch “Shakespeare Recipes: Wassail” on YouTube

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My special wassail recipe

I created this video as part of my “What Was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?” class on Outschool.com. It should be a really fun class with lots of games, facts, fun, and recipes from Christmas Past! If you want to sign up, go to my Outschool profile page.

Special “Twelfth Night” Discount:

I’m offering a $5 discount off this class and many others with coupon code until Jan 13, 2022.  Get started at https://outschool.com/classes/stars-and-constellations-for-kids-pd2zSp6P and enter the coupon code HTHESNIF6B5 at checkout.

New Outschool Course: Christmas For William Shakespeare

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Title card for my new online course, What Was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?
The goal of this class is to learn about both Shakespeare and the Elizabethan period through the lens of Christmas. I will begin by asking the class "What traditions do you think of when you think of Christmas?  We will then contrast the traditions of Christmas from the 17th century and now, including a brief period when Christmas itself was illegal.

 Once I have contextualized this period, we will then go through the plot, characters, and themes of Shakespeare’s most famous Christmas play- “Twelfth Night.”

Slideshare presentation I made about the play Twelfth Night 
The class will include videos, multimedia presentations, virtual tours, interactive quizzes, and online activities. The students will play games inspired by real Elizabethan Christmas traditions, get some festive recipes, and learn what it was like to be an actor in Shakespeare's company, when they performed "Twelfth Night" and other plays before Queen Elizabeth and King James.
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Hamlet, told through images from Disney’s Coco

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“Is not this something more than fantasy?”
“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew.”
“Do not forever with thy veiled lids, search for thy noble father in the dust.”
“A combination and a form indeed, where every God did set his seal…”
“Thou knoweth ’tis common, all that lives must die. Passing through nature to eternity.”

So loving.. that he might not not between the winds of heaven, visit her face too roughly.”
“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy.”
“The Serpent that did sting thy father’s life, now wears his crown.”
“O VILLAIN, SMILING, DAMNED VILLAIN!”
“To Be, Or Not To Be, that is the question.”
“Alas, poor Yorick… quite chop-fallen.”
“O my offense is rank. A brother’s murder!”
“A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.”
“There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow.”
“Thou art slain. In thee there is not half an hour of life.”

“Adieu, Adieu, remember me.”

Go See, “Voodoo Macbeth”

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I’m very excited! As some of you know, I wrote a piece about Orson Well’s 1936 Federal Theater Project production of “Macbeth,” set in Haiti. This was an important moment in theater history, and helped keep theater and African Americans employed during the Great Depression, so it deserves to be remembered. Imagine my joy when I found out that there’s an independent movie about the creation of this show! Below is the trailer. If you go to https://www.voodoomacbethfilm.com/, you can see the screening dates. Check it out when it comes to your town!

New Outschool Course: Macbeth

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Just in time for October, I’m offering an online class for kids ages 13-18 about Shakespeare’s most spooky and cursed play:

If you follow this blog you know I’ve written a lot about this play before. Though this class will be more like a game where I teach the class using multimedia, games, and a digital escape room!

Me in my Shakespeare gatb

I’ll start by speaking to the students in character as Shakespeare, and tell them the story of Macbeth using a multimedia presentation.

I will then test the students’ knowledge with a fun quiz that was inspired by the popular mobile game Among Us. As you know, the game is similar to a scene from the play, so I thought it would be an appropriate way to test the kids’ knowledge.

Screenshot from the Gimkit game “Trust No One.” Like Among Us, players need to figure out who the Imposter is, but they greatly increase the chances of surviving if they answer the quiz questions correctly.

The final part of the class is a digital escape room I’ve created. I don’t want to give too much away, and you can’t play it unless you sign up for the class, but let’s just say it’s fun, spooky, educational, and challenging!

Screenshot from my Macbeth Escape Room.

If you want to sign up now, the course is available every weekend in October, and then by request after that. Register now at Outschool.com. if you take the course, please leave me a good review.

Hope to see you soon!

New Acting Course for Young Actors Starting September 12th, 2021.

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Trailer for my 2021 Acting course via Outschool.com

I’ve been working on a remote learning class for Outschool.com where I take some of the audition advice I wrote in Creating A Character: Macbeth, and some of the other acting posts I’ve published over the years. This will be a weekly virtual acting course for kids ages 13-18, starting September 12th at 10AM EST.

This class will outline the tools and techniques of Shakespearean acting such as projection, articulation, and imagination. Each We’ll also go over Shakespeare’s own advice on acting in his play “Hamlet: Prince of Denmark.” The course will culminate with the students choosing their own Shakespearean monologues and scenes, which they can use going forward in auditions, school plays, and classes.

The best thing about the course is that each week builds on the previous week’s experience, but you don’t need to go to all of them. I’ll be flexible and work with the student’s schedule so everyone gets as much out of the class as possible.

If you’re interested in signing up, go to Outschool.com. If you have any questions, email me by clicking here:

Hope to see you online soon!