Romeo, Oh Romeo

It’s a very humbling experience teaching Shakespeare to high schoolers. When you’re fifteen or sixteen, you really don’t care too much about what your teacher says on a good day. Now imagine it’s the middle of the week. It’s 7AM. You had hot cheetos for breakfast and your blood sugar levels are low. Then. Two women dressed in all black with a trunk (yes, a literal trunk) full of props come in at an eleven and start trying to make English cool. One of those women was me. And that sixteen year old kid, did not like me. Or maybe she did. It was hard to tell with the airpods in her ears. 

In November of 2022, I was working as a resident artist for a theater company in Waterbury, Connecticut. As a resident artist, I was teaching workshops in local elementary, middle, and high schools. We toured a workshop that taught fifth graders about folklore – that was a lot of fun. The kids loved it. We had scripts and costumes and props and they just went nuts performing in front of their peers. We toured another about mythology and, sure, it wasn’t the coolest things for kids to do, but it was cooler than school work so they liked it. My favorite workshop was one developed during COVID. It  had strong messages of how to deal with big feelings. It was really sweet to talk to kids about how to handle their feelings. I was surprised with how many children in Connecticut knew about meditation. We also had a workshop that would teach high schoolers Shakespare. It was about an hour and a half and contained seven scenes from Shakespeare’s work, five of which were just the students performing them. We rehearsed the workshop at the theater a few weeks beforehand. It was a beast of a script to memorize but once I knew my lines (and figured out how to use the scrolls which of course we had scrolls) I really enjoyed rehearsing it. I was looking forward to teaching it to a class. Then came the week of the workshop and I saw our call time was close to seven in the morning because the first class would be around seven twenty. Oh. Boy. 

My manager and I loaded up the company van with our prop trunk and began the drive to the high school. It wasn’t far, maybe like fifteen minutes. We didn’t really talk that morning because it was early. We got to the school and parked. Once inside, we spoke with the teacher whose class we’d teach in and coordinated the rest of the day. I sipped on my coffee as I avoided making eye contact with teenagers who were taller than me. 

The first part of the workshop is just me and my manager. We discuss who Shakespeare was, why his work was so important, and how language develops over time. Then we perform a scene with help from the students in the classroom. It’s from “King Lear”. My manager and I have already memorized it so the students are just acting out some of the dialogue. When I ask for a volunteer, a small, skinny arm immediately goes up. I called on him. I asked him name. Julio, he tells me with a smile. I think, “okay, I can do this. He’s clearly excited to perform”. I tell him what he has to do as evil Queen Reegan and Julio nods his head. I check in with my manager and she’s ready to go with her volunteer as well. I turn to the audience and introduce my scene partner. Once the word “Julio” leaves my mouth, the entire classroom erupts in laughter and the teacher scolds my volunteer. That is apparently not his name. Teenagers:1. Holly:0.

We perform another scene that’s memorized (The Merchant of Venice) and I stumble over my lines multiple times. I can feel the interest leave the room. I honestly don’t blame them. Shakespeare is weird. But I love it. I love it so much. I convince myself that if I show them how much I love it, they’ll be interested. Or at least put their phones away. Then we head into “Romeo and Juliet”. We do a scene with Lord and Lady Capulet and Juliet. It goes over fine. We managed to get some kids to volunteer. They read the scripts we gave them. We talked about the scene. No one understood a word from the play. We move on. The next is the balcony scene. If you don’t know “Romeo and Juliet”, this is a very iconic and special scene. It’s the first scene where we see the two main characters begin to fall in love. Romeo, the main dude, runs to Juliet’s, the main gal, house and shouts from the ground up to the balcony in her bedroom that he’s interested in her. Shakespeare uses imagery like roses to compare Juliet’s beauty to and claims love can pierce through brick walls. “Romeo and Juliet” is my favorite Shakespare so even though I know these kids could care less, I’m going aaaaaaall out. 

I have to explain to our Romeo what he’s saying in the scene and how he might want to act it out. A kid in the back raises his hand and I call on him. I get his name, pray it’s correct, and start talking. He looks overwhelmed but is certainly game to try. He and another classmate perform the scene. And it goes. Well. Actually, really well. They don’t stumble over the language. They seem to have a solid understanding of the script. It was nice. I smile to myself as I remind myself it could also be the magic of one of my favorite scenes of all time. When they finish, we all applaud and send them back to their seats. 

The rest of the workshop goes by rather quickly. We do “Macbeth”, “Hamlet”, and “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream”. We get volunteers, kids laugh at each other, and then the bell rings. There’s a collective sigh as our workshop is over and the kids can all go. When they’re all cleared out, the teacher comes over to applaud us. We talked about how great everyone was and I can’t help myself. “The balcony scene was SO good!” I blurt out. The teacher smiles and nods emphatically. She then tells me that the kid who played Romeo rarely talks in class. She said that was the first time she’s ever seen him do anything like that. She didn’t think he’d volunteer at all.  

I am by no means claiming I had any affect on a teenager in Waterbury. Rather, he had a profound impact on me. I am proud of myself for not giving up. For not surrendering to the embarrassment for loving something so nerdy. Who knows why he chose to get up that day and absolutely nail Romeo from the balcony scene. It could’ve been my passion and how much fun I was clearly having. Could’ve been because maybe he thought he’d get some extra credit for volunteering. He could’ve lost a bet with a friend in the class and he had to go up as punishment. Whatever his reason, I’ll never forget that feeling of warmth I felt in my heart after that workshop. Teenagers:1. Holly:1.