Jepson Shakespeare Project Production Blog

This afternoon we had our first meeting with our students! I was excited about going into it because I love working with kids, however, it was nerve-racking because there were so many unknowns. We logged onto Google Meet and were greeted by one screen with 5 students sitting in a classroom. We started with some casual introductions which revealed our first technological issue. It was extremely difficult to hear them and I was unable to pick up on all of their names. Additionally, because they are all in one room and we are just a few faces on a screen it proved to be difficult to maintain their attention. There was a teacher there with them who was helping us to keep them on track, but it was challenging.

We began working on the project by showing a video to help explain the plot, this seemed to confuse them. From there we decided to relay the plot of our Act through casual conversation. This helped the students learn about the plot, however, they were still confused. They asked lots of questions and were very engaged. This is exciting because I think they will be very active participants in this project.

They were very interested in how and why the actors worked so long ago. They asked questions about what the play was like during Shakespeare’s time and what the actors were like. This reminded me of the conversations we have had as well as the podcasts that discussed England during Shakespeare’s time. This meeting made me very excited to begin working on this project, but it also made me aware of some of the challenges we will face, such as technology. Obviously, it would be nice to be with the students in person, however, we are doing the best we can and I am excited to see what comes out of it!

The first week working within the groups went well. It was helpful meeting as a group to talk about what we wanted to do with our act before meeting with the kids. I think the first time meeting with the children was good. There were only two kids for the start, but they were pretty engaged and were asking questions/participating. Another girl came near the middle of the session. We did introductions and then described the premise of the play and watched a short video. The kids seemed kind of confused about the plot – it being pretty complex – but once we explained that we were only doing one part of the play, they were relieved. We told the kids how our adaptation was going to work and they were ready with ideas (like using robots as the characters). Before we meet next time, they will hopefully be more familiar with the plot and we can get started on some concrete work.

We finally got to meet the kids! We began this week with introductions so everyone went around and said their name and favorite ice cream flavor. Then we talked a little about Shakespeare and watched a short video breaking down Much Ado About Nothing. We then did a quick quiz to see how well the kids remembered the characters. From there we moved on to talking about various important plot lines and gave them a few options to get some feedback on. Our group was very engaged and vocal (but not talking over one another). They had strong opinions that unfortunately conflicted with one another. Seemed like half of them wanted the characters to be returning from quarantine and the other half wanted them to return from a normal summer, half wanted the relationships to take place over social media and half wanted the relationships to take place in person.

Looking forward to next week and we will make final decisions on the major plot points and then move into more specifics and get a feel from the kids for what they want to do, if they want to speak and draw things or not. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by the group of kids and their manners and engagement. Off to a good start I think!