Shakespeare Is Coming to Wisconsin!!! Dear Teachers: 2016 has been designated “The Year of Shakespeare in Wisconsin,” commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of this poet and playwright whose writings continue to inspire, impact, and influence our lives today. Shakespeare’s legacy is alive and well in Wisconsin; his works are still studied in schools all over the state, and his plays are still performed in venues that range from backyards to garages to school gyms and auditoriums to the stages of American Players Theatre in Spring Green. Events and activities are planned in Wisconsin this fall that celebrate how Shakespeare’s works inspired music, art, books, operas, films, and even an ice cream flavor, “To Bee or Not to Bee,” at Babcock Hall on the UW-Madison campus! To culminate this celebration, one of the original surviving copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio from the Folger Shakespeare Library will be on display at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison from November 4 to December 11. The Folio, one of the rarest books in the world, will be opened to Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. UW-Madison was selected as the host site in Wisconsin for this national traveling exhibition of a Shakespeare First Folio. The Chazen Museum of Art and the UW-Madison Libraries partnered to bring this treasured book to Wisconsin. The First Folio, published in 1623, is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, many of which were not published during his lifetime. Two of Shakespeare’s fellow actors compiled thirty-six of his plays in the First Folio to preserve them for future generations. Accompanying the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare exhibition will be a collection of international Shakespearean theatrical posters in an exhibition entitled, Presenting Shakespeare: Posters from Around the World.

“Tis much when sceptres are in children’s hands…” I Henry VI Teaching about the First Folio and Shakespeare’s Works: Lessons and Resources To help you celebrate the Bard and bring his works into your classroom, your school, and your district, there are lesson plans and teaching resources from the Folger Shakespeare Library. Even if you are unable to bring your students to the First Folio exhibition, these sure-fire lessons are active and meaningful ways to connect you and your students with Shakespeare’s language and with the First Folio. The Folger Shakespeare Library also created resources and plans for family programs. Each lesson was developed by Peggy O’Brien, Director of Education at the Folger Library, and her team and tested by teachers in classrooms all over the country. The lessons follow the Folger approach of using active language experiences to engage students in Shakespeare’s words and works.

Lessons for Middle and High Students “Textual Mayhem: Comparison of Folio and Quarto Versions” To dig into the fun and mystery of textual variations, students compare the Q1 and F1 versions of scenes in Hamlet and the Q1 and F1 versions of a scene in Romeo and Juliet. Activities in these lessons include choral reading, performance, and completion of a Venn diagram. “Good Night, Juliet! Finding Voices in a Soliloquy” This activity helps students understand how soliloquies are debates, arguments, discussions and/or discoveries “between self.” Students script Juliet’s “Farewell” soliloquy as a debate and perform a choral reading. (Note: This activity can be adapted to Hamlet’s “To be” soliloquy.) “Goodbye, Macduffs! Editing a Scene” While most productions of Shakespeare’s plays are cut versions of the text, cutting rarely happens in a classroom. In this activity, students will cut a scene from Macbeth in half. This kind of editing demands careful close reading and real understanding of the text.

Other lessons in The First Folio Teaches Teachers include: “First Folio Basics: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and the Big How (or The Mechanics of Printing in 1623)” “Folios and Quartos: Distinctions and Differences” “Speaking the Speech Together: ‘To Be’ x 3” “The Word’s the Thing: Word Festival” “Hearing the Differences: Dumbed-down Shakespeare and the First Folio” “Famous Last Words: Dramatic Death Lines” Resources for Middle and High School Teachers

Lessons for Elementary School Students The Folger Library created three one-hour family programs, Families and the First Folio! Each of these programs follows the Folger approach of using active language experiences to engage children and families in Shakespeare’s words and works. In each program, there are several short activities that can be used in elementary classrooms. “Have Fun with Hamlet” This program introduces children and their families to Shakespeare’s language through activities featuring lines from Hamlet. The long and short language activities encourage physical action. Younger children perform the “To be” stomp, and older children engage in the “To be” debate. “Words, Words, Words!” This program introduces children ages 9-12 and their families to Shakespeare’s language through activities featuring words, lines, and a speech from Hamlet. Children play with Shakespeare’s language using compliments and insults. In groups they create a scene with Hamlet’s “What a piece of work is man” speech. “Create a Folio” This program introduces children and their families to Shakespeare’s First Folio and includes a language activity based on Hamlet’s “To be” speech. Children create their own First Folio following the path that the author, the compositor, the printer, and the publisher used in Shakespeare’s time. Resources for Elementary School Teachers

Engaging with the First Folio and Shakespeare’s Works: Tours and Events Group Tours: You can arrange docent-guided group tours of the exhibitions for your students. Group tours of First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare from the Folger Shakespeare Library and a related exhibition, Presenting Shakespeare: Posters from Around the World, will be scheduled to begin at quarter after the hour, beginning at 9:15 a.m. (9:15, 10:15, etc.—the last tour begins at 3:15 p.m.). A tour consists of viewing and discussion of the First Folio and examples of posters from two centuries of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly posters for Hamlet. The tour takes about 1 hour. Group tours are offered, by appointment, Tuesday through Friday, for dates beginning Tuesday, November 8 and running through Friday, December 9. The exhibitions can accommodate up to 40 students per hour. Groups will be divided, with one docent assigned to every 12-13 students. At the time of the appointment, the group leader may request that additional time (15-30 minutes) be added at the end of the First Folio visit to view another part of the Chazen collection. To arrange a tour, contact Anne Lambert, the Chazen’s curator of education at 608-263- 4421, at least one month in advance of your desired date. Due to expected high demand, the exhibition tour spaces will be filled on a first come, first served basis. When you contact the museum, please be prepared to give the following details: your desired tour date, start time, and length (1 hour, or more?), school name, total number of students, grade level of students, and all contact information for a group leader (the person who should receive the confirmation), including phone number(s), email, and USPS address at school). Please have an alternate date/time in mind. Museum admission is free, and the tours are free. The Chazen Museum of Art is located at 750 University Avenue, Madison, on the UW‒Madison campus. Teachers are invited to individually view the exhibitions. The Chazen Museum of Art Gallery hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Chazen is CLOSED MONDAYS AND THANKSGIVING DAY.

Events: Please visit the Chazen Museum of Art website for a list of events taking place this fall at the Chazen to celebrate the First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare exhibition. http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/visit/events-calendar/event/first-folio-the-book-that-gave-usshakespeare/ Please visit the UW-Madison Libraries website for a list of events taking place around Wisconsin this fall to celebrate Shakespeare and his plays. This list is updated as events are added. https://shakespeare.library.wisc.edu/

Workshops for Teachers: Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) will offer two educator workshops related to First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare. These workshops will take place during the run of the exhibition, one on Thursday, November 10, and one on Saturday, November 19, at the Chazen Museum of Art. For details and registration information, please contact Laurie Fellenz, MMSD Arts Education Coordinator after September 15, 2016 at: [email protected] We hope that you and your students will join in the Shakespeare festivities. Sincerely, The K-12 Education Team Ronald Parker, Chairperson [email protected]

First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, on tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library, has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and by the support of Google.org, Vinton and Sigrid Cerf, the British Council, and other generous donors.