Shakespeare Immersion Day ✤ Classics in the Classroom ✤ Residencies ✤ Workshops ✤ Classics off the Page ✤ Assemblies ✤ Creative PlayGround ✤ Common Core Standards ✤ Booking Information
Designed to augment and strengthen your school’s curriculum in Literature, Social Studies, and Performing Arts, our classroom enrichment programs can be modified for PK through 12th grade classes. We will work with you to build a program tailor-made to your needs.
To Book or Create a program, contact School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, leave a message with our office manager, Gina Shansey, at 310-455-2322, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below. We’ll get back to you with a proposal as soon as possible!
If you wish to inquire about a field trip to Theatricum instead, please see our School Days Field Trips page.
“What a dynamic and balanced program. Students observe, interact, and learn from professionals.” – Duncan Wallace, Teacher, Ojai Valley School
Shakespeare Immersion Day
“I just wanted to thank you all for the amazing experience and opportunity you gave us to watch the play and do workshops. The play was amazing, and that’s shocking coming from me. You see, I never actually liked Romeo and Juliet, but you all completely changed my mind. You all did such a great job with the performance, and I also want to thank you for all the workshops. I did stage combat and being able to perform on the stage was such a dream come true.” – Student thank you letter, Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies
- Book your class, grade, or even your entire school for a day celebrating a Shakespeare Play! The Shakespeare Immersion Day can last just 50 minutes, half your school day, or even a full day experience!
- Your day is fully customizable, and may include any and all of the following:
- Meet Queen Elizabeth and William Shakespeare
- An interactive introductory workshop
- An abridged performance of the play of your choice
- Technique workshops, centered on the play of choice
- A culminating share, featuring the students performing the techniques they’ve learned.
- Available Titles Include: Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Also Available: Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, The Tempest, As You Like It
- Other Classics include Merlin and King Arthur * Greek Mythology, or we can create an experience for the text of your choice!
- Have us come to your school, or book the Shakespeare Immersion Day at Theatricum Botanicum’s gorgeous outdoor space.
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Classics in the Classroom
“This is the perfect end to our Shakespeare unit.” – Lisa Heidel, English Teacher, St. Mark’s School
- Classics in the Classroom – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- A new program designed to bring your students a similar experience to our in-person field trips, offered online at your convenience!
- Includes a preparatory workshop with one of our fantastic teaching artists, a 45-minute recorded version of our signature Midsummer Night’s Dream production, and a follow-up assessment workshop!
- Watch with or without subtitles in English or Spanish.
- Classics in the Classroom – Julius Caesar
- Experience Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, presented by Theatricum Botanicum, offered online at your convenience!
- Includes a preparatory workshop with one of our fantastic teaching artists, a 70-minute recorded version of Julius Caesar shot and edited specifically for classroom presentation, and a follow-up assessment workshop!
- Watch with or without subtitles in English.
- Or, schedule the perfect culmination to your Shakespeare unit – a full day of theatre workshops and interactive presentations! Include any or all of the options below to augment Classics in the Classroom. We will work with your schedule to develop the program that works best for your school.
- William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth digitally visit your classroom, and provide a living history of the Elizabethan world and Shakespeare’s stage.
- Theatre Games, Stage Combat, and Elizabethan Movement workshops, available individually or in rotation.
- Schedule a Voice and Text workshop, and have our expert teaching artists coach your students in speaking Shakespeare’s language themselves!
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Residencies
- Students Act the Classics
- We direct your students in a performance using our edited scripts adjusted for your class size.
- Available titles include Any of Shakespeare’s Plays, Greek Mythology, Egyptian Mythology, and Tales of Chivalry
- Americana off the Page
- Students attend an assembly of our Americana Series (see below), then create their own performance bringing to life that period in American History.
- Playwriting/Performing
- Students work together to write their own one-act play. The play is staged, rehearsed, and performed. Perfect for after school.
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Workshops
- Technique Workshops – Book one workshop, or schedule a rotation of the workshops of your choice.
- IMPROVISATION – Students learn to think quickly and creatively.
- ENSEMBLE – Theatre games inspire teamwork and cooperation.
- FENCING – Students learn the basics of this ancient art form (stances, parries, footwork).
- STAGE COMBAT – This no-contact class introduces the basic moves of on-stage fight illusion (falls, slaps, nose tweaks).
- ELIZABETHAN MUSIC – Part music appreciation and part performance, students learn excerpts from music of the era.
- ELIZABETHAN MOVEMENT – Students learn basic movement (bows, curtsies) and a choreographed period court dance.
- ELIZABETHAN LIFE – Students learn about the details of this exciting period of English history.
- SCANSION/RHETORIC – Students are exposed to the basics of iambic pentameter, simile, metaphor, and more.
- COMMEDIA DEL’ARTE – Students learn stock characters and ways to portray characteristics on stage.
- SHAKESPEARE’S PLANTS – Experience Elizabethan plants, herbs, and flowers through Shakespeare’s greatest characters.
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Classics off the Page
“The students loved the performance! They were engrossed in the performance and it helped them understand the text so much better! They were so impressed with the actors and their ability to make the characters come alive. They also really appreciated the workshops. They helped them understand iambic pentameter better as well as characterization through the soliloquies.” – Rebecca Williams, 12th Grade Coordinator for Cleveland Humanities Magnet
- Shakespeare Assemblies
- In-School or Online Performances of abridged Shakespeare plays (50-70 minutes) are presented by full casts of actors in costume and characters.
- Available titles include (but are not limited to):
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Twelfth Night
- Macbeth
- Romeo & Juliet
- Julius Caesar
- The Tempest
- As You Like It
- Hamlet
- Classics off the PageWorkshop
- Special performances accompanied by activities and workshops to illuminate a chosen text.
- Available titles include Any of Shakespeare’s Plays. Or, we can create a presentation for the text of your choice.
- Classics off the Page Assemblies
- 2-6 actors present key scenes from a classical text connected with creative narration.
- Length: 45 minutes – Age: 3rd-12th grade.
- Available titles include Any of Shakespeare’s Plays, Greek Mythology, Ancient Mythology, or we can create a presentation for the text of your choice.
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Assemblies
“What an amazing way to get kids excited about literature, history, and theatre!” – Julie Marsh, Homeschool Teacher
- African Storytelling
- An interactive storytelling assembly combining stories from various African countries, accompanied by live West African Djembe drumming!
- Length: approx 40 minutes – Age: K-6tth grade.
- Living History Visits
- Queen Elizabeth & William Shakespeare * John Steinbeck * Mark Twain * Homer
- In costume and character, a great figure from history/literature will drop in on your classroom or assembly! In a combination of scripted and improvised engagement your students will learn as they engage.
- The Americana Series
- In-School Concert-Style Assemblies highlight important periods in American History through the poems, speeches, songs, and characters of the era.
- Length: approx 55 minutes – Age: 5th-12th grade.
- Available Titles include:
- The Strength of Women (the Suffrage Movement)
- Black History in North America
- Searching for the American Dream (the Labor Movement)
- Viva La Raza (the Latinx Rights Movement)
- A Poet’s Gathering (great American Poets share their work)
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Creative PlayGround
- Creative PlayGround performs for primary grades!
- Three professional actors join your class over Zoom or in person for a highly-imaginative, interactive story!
- Length: approx 45 minutes – Age: PK – 3rd grade.
- Available Titles include: Aesop’s Fables * Ferdinand the Bull * Dia de los Muertos: Cuentos de mi Familia * Halloween Stories * Three Tales by Hans Christian Andersen * The Velveteen Rabbit
- Book today! Send any booking emails or questions to School Programs Manager Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Common Core and Content Standards
2014 marked the roll out of the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. These standards now provide the benchmark for assessment in these two subject areas. Social Studies, Science, Visual and Performing Arts are still covered by the CDE Content Standards. Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum School Programs are designed by professional, experienced arts education experts to provide the highest quality multi- modal experience while also aligning with Local, State and National education goals as defined by the current Standards. Common Core Standards seek to shift the coverage of ELA and Mathematics from fact-based to experience- based assessment. Writing skills focus on mastery of argument, informative language, and narrative. Language skills are approached as a matter of craft (expanded vocabulary with a knowledge of nuance and relationship). Speaking and Listening skills ask students to integrate and discuss input from oral, visual, quantitative, and various media sources. Theatricum’s School Programs provide meaningful assistance in the achievement of all of these Common Core goals. Students expand their vocabulary and experience with narrative; their ability to ask and answer questions; and engage in meaningful discussions as they are exposed to our Literature and Social-Science based arts programming.
VAPA & Social Science Standards
While Common Core provides literacy suggestions for other content areas, the CDE VAPA and Social Science Standards remain the determining factor for coverage in these two critical areas of curriculum. In addition to meaningful support of such grade-level required content as Ancient Greece, the English Renaissance, and Shakespeare. Theatricum also provides coverage of virtually all VAPA Standards including:
- Component Strand 2: Creative Expression Students Act the Classics, Playwriting/Performing Workshop and all our In-Class Enrichment programs address this strand.
- Component Strand 3: Historical & Cultural Context While our School Days Field Trips, Living History Presentation and Elizabethan Life Technique Workshops address this strand directly, many of our programs can be used as part of an overall unit addressing the art of the Elizabethan Era.
Booking Instructions & Payment Information
To book or create a Classroom Enrichment program, contact Emoria Weidner at education@theatricum.com, leave a message with Gina in the office at (310) 455-2322, or fill out out our inquiry sheet below.
Assembly and In-Class Enrichment prices vary. Contact Emoria Weidner to tailor-make a program that meets your budget, schedule, and curricular goals.
- Theatricum Botanicum is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization.
- A 25% deposit is required to secure booking of any program.
- Payment of remaining balance is due on or before the completion of the program.
- Any problems regarding this payment schedule must be addressed at the time of booking.
- Payment can be made with a Purchase Order, Check, Cash, or Credit Card. All Credit Card payments will have a 3.5% fee.
- Checks should be made out to Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum and remitted to the address below.
- Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum
- PO Box 1222, Topanga, CA 90290
- Office: 310-455-2322
Schedule a Classroom Enrichment Program!
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