Folger Education Helps Uncover Shakespeare

By now, many of you readers have probably watched or recorded the first two episodes of “Shakespeare Uncovered” on PBS. As Caitlin Griffin wrote in her Blog entry on January 17, the broadcast details are:

January 25th, 9-11pm EST: ‘Macbeth’ with Ethan Hawke and ‘The Comedies’ with Jolie Richardson.

February 1, 9-11pm EST: ‘Richard II,’ with Derek Jacobi and ‘Henry IV,’ and ‘Henry V’ with Jeremy Irons.

February 8, 9-11pm EST: ‘Hamlet’ with David Tennant and ‘The Tempest’ hosted by Trevor Nunn.

But the good news is that each of the hour-long shows will be available for streaming at the Shakespeare Uncovered site after they are broadcast, so if you missed the Macbeth or Comedies episodes, stream away.

But what you probably don’t know is that several Folger Education folks served on WNET’s Education Advisory panel. I was lucky enough to be part of this panel along with Peggy O’Brien, Kevin Costa, Josh Cabat, and Sue Biondo-Hench. We were joined by Joan Langley from Oregon Shakespeare, Chris Anthony from LA Shakespeare Center, and Bill Heller from Teaching Matters.

In addition to previewing all six episodes and spending a day at WNET’s headquarters in NYC, several of our group created lesson plans for the PBS site. And Peggy O’Brien has written some fabulous Teacher Viewing Guides for all six episodes (as of now on the first two are available.)

The PBS site also has a two activities: “Which Shakespeare Character are You?” ( Apparently, I am Rosalind?) and “Anatomy of a Scene.”

So now we’d like to hear from you. Tell us what you think of the shows, and more importantly, how you might use the videos and lesson plans with your students.

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