SHAKSPEARE classroom

ASHLAND, OREGON

Fourteen MBA students traveled to Ashland, Oregon on August 31 to participate in Shakespeare Classroom, a four-day off-campus learning experience created by the English Department for students who wanted a deeper experience in the theatre.

In Ashland, the students attended five plays put on by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom by August Wilson, The Belle's Stratagem by Hannah Cowley, and Love's Labour's Lost, Richard III, and Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare.  OSF is ranked among the five best regional theatres in The United States, according to a recent article in Time.

To participate in Shakespeare Classroom, students submitted proposals, worked hard to stay current in classes, and demonstrated leadership on campus.  The result was a group of students who could embrace some intensity in their studies.  According to the trip leader, Glenn Austin, "It's such a privilege to work with students who are doing well with their personal work and schooling.  They earn the opportunity to have this amazing experience and it seems like they appreciate it more.  We had a great time and learned so much."

Theatre is a collaborative art, so many of the lectures and discussions before and on the trip had to do with appreciating the many people who are involved in creating a theatrical production:  playwright, actors, director, design team, including costume, scenery, and lighting design, and audience. 

"I think the importance of the audience's role is surprising to students," Austin commented.  "Television and movies can be such passive activities and the theatre requires engagement – following the action, listening and reacting to the words, 'suspending disbelief' in order to discover the themes that emerge from each production.  It's a very different experience from sitting down on the couch with a remote to 'see what's on.'"

Students were asked to think about each of the plays on a deep level and the most poignant comments related to Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a play set in 1927 Chicago that deals with the African-American experience.  For Keller Ziegler the play "was really interesting and shocking."  Preston Beard wrote, "I felt the pain of black people and the struggle they are facing."  Sarah Woods explained, "I felt more educated, like I got a secret look into the oppression of black people."

The different plays and aspects of those plays spoke to each of the students differently.  When asked about his favorite plays, Jeremy Simons named the comedies:  "Love's Labour's Lost has so many good lines, Twelfth Night has really funny situations, and I loved how silly the characters acted in The Belle's Stratagem."  At first, Fallon Kratovil "didn't like" the simple and dark set of Richard III.  Afterward she remarked, "I loved how the lighting was used to create different settings on the stage.  It was impressive."  Eve Schroeder enjoyed the costumes in The Belle's Stratagem:  "The ball room scene was so beautiful."

In addition to hearing the plays, students attended a lecture on English history (to understand the background for Richard III), prologues to each of the plays, a backstage theatre tour, and a stage combat workshop taught by James Newcomb, who played the lead role in Richard III.

To see more pictures from the above events CLICK HERE