Passport
TO CULTURE
Teacher’s Resource Guide
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Photo copyright Andrew Murad, 2007
Shakespeare LIVE!
Julius Caesar
just imagine
The Shakespeare Theatre of
New Jersey’s educational touring company,
Shakespeare LIVE!, in Julius Caesar, 2007.
Generous support for
Schooltime provided,
in part, by
Arts Education and You
just imagine
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Arts Education Department presents the
14th season of the Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series.
With Passport to Culture, Verizon and NJPAC open up a world of culture to you and
your students, offering the best in live performance from a wide diversity of traditions
and disciplines. At NJPAC’s state-of-the-art facility in Newark, with support from
Verizon, the SchoolTime Performance Series enriches the lives of New Jersey’s students
and teachers by inviting them to see, feel, and hear the joy of artistic expression. The
exciting roster of productions features outstanding New Jersey companies as well as
performers of national and international renown. Meet-the-artist sessions and NJPAC
tours are available to expand the arts adventure.
The Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series is one of many current
arts education offerings at NJPAC. Others include:
• Professional Development Workshops that support the use of the arts
to enhance classroom curriculum
• Arts Academy school residency programs in dance, theater and literature,
and Early Learning Through the Arts—the NJ Wolf Trap Program
• After-school residencies with United Way agencies
Foundation
Kid Power!
Through energy efficiency and
conservation, kids can help preserve
our planet’s rich natural resources
and promote a healthy environment.
In association with statewide arts organizations, educational institutions, and generous
funders, the Arts Education Department sponsors the following arts training programs:
• Wachovia Jazz for Teens
• The All-State Concerts
• The Star-Ledger Scholarship for the Performing Arts
• The Jeffery Carollo Music Scholarship
• Summer Youth Performance Workshop
• Young Artist Institute
• NJPAC/New Jersey Youth Theater Summer Musical Program
Tip of the Day
Because electricity had not been
discovered yet, there was no lighting
in Shakespeare’s time—not even at
the Globe Theatre, where the original
production of Shakespeare’s Julius
Caesar was performed. Today, of
course, electricity lights our world.
Since most electricity is created
primarily from fossil fuels such as
coal, natural gas and oil, electricity
generation has an environmental
impact.You can help save electricity
by turning off lights when you leave a
room.
Students have the opportunity to audition for admission to NJPAC’s arts training
programs during NJPAC’s annual Young Artist Talent Search.
Detailed information on these programs is available online at njpac.org. Click on
Education. The Teacher’s Resource Guide and additional activities and resources for
each production in the Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Series are also online.
Click on Education, then on Performances. Scroll down to “Download Teacher Guide
in Adobe Acrobat PDF format” and select desired guide.
Made possible through the generosity of
the PSEG Foundation.
Permission is granted to copy this Teacher’s Resource Guide for classes attending
the 2010-2011 Verizon Passport to Culture SchoolTime Performance Series. All
other rights reserved.
CONTENTS
On Stage
3
In the Spotlight
4
Theater Talk
5
The Remarkable Mr. Shakespeare 6
Before and After Activities
7
Teaching Science
Through Theater
7
Delving Deeper
8
2
To Teachers and Parents
The resource guide accompanying each performance is designed
• to maximize students’ enjoyment and appreciation of the performing arts;
• to extend the impact of the performance by providing discussion ideas,
activities, and further reading that promote learning across the curriculum;
• to promote arts literacy by expanding students’ knowledge of music, dance,
and theater;
• to illustrate that the arts are a legacy reflecting the traditional values,
customs, beliefs, expressions, and reflections of a culture;
• to use the arts to teach about the cultures of other people and to celebrate
students’ own heritage through self-expression;
• to reinforce the New Jersey Department of Education’s Core Curriculum Content Standards in the arts.
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
Photo copyright Andrew Murad, 2007
On Stage
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s educational touring company, Shakespeare LIVE!, in Julius Caesar, 2007.
Shakespeare LIVE!’s production of
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
follows the epic story of the rise and
fall of Julius Caesar, one of the world’s
most notorious leaders. Set in a world
of political intrigue and strained
domestic relationships, the production
also explores the moral and political
dilemma of Brutus.
As the play opens, Cassius approaches
Brutus on the streets of Rome while
Caesar’s victory procession passes
them. They discuss the growing power
and ambition of Caesar. Cassius tries
to persuade Brutus, Rome’s foremost
aristocrat, to follow in his ancestors’
tradition of overthrowing tyrants.
Brutus, wracked with doubt and
uncertainty, agonizes over his decision.
Should he join the conspiracy to
assassinate Caesar, Rome’s conquering
hero and his trusted friend? Or, should
he allow Caesar’s tyrannical ambition
to overcome the very ideals that Rome
was founded upon?
To ensure that Brutus joins their cause,
the conspirators place forged letters in
his house. They are purportedly written
by Roman citizens who are worried
that Caesar has become too powerful.
Cassius knows Brutus will support
the peoples’ wishes. The conspirators
arrive, and Brutus commits to action.
He shapes an assassination plan while
trying to protect the morality of the
action.
In the Senate, the true danger and
power of Caesar as well as the brutality
of the Senators who stab him to death
are apparent. Antony, Caesar’s loyal
right-hand man, discovers his body and
utters a curse of war and destruction
on Rome. In his funeral speech, Antony
marshals and manipulates the crowd
to fierce mutiny and sows the seeds for
civil war.
Despite their noble intentions, the
conspirators fragment and fall apart.
Caesar’s adopted son and appointed
successor, Octavius, forms a coalition
with Antony and Lepidus. They
wage a battle against Brutus and
Cassius at Phillipi. After a series of
misunderstandings and powerful losses,
both men kill themselves to appease the
wrathful spirit of Caesar.
Though Shakespeare adheres to
historical record with unusual
scrupulousness in Julius Caesar, the
play is anything but a dry and stodgy
docu-drama about the idealized world
of ancient Rome. For a historical
story, the action of the play is
intensely personal, emotional and
often shockingly violent. The questions
Julius Caesar raises about politics
versus morality, power and patriotism,
manipulations and rhetoric, war and
terror are all still incredibly relevant
today. Additionally, as a tragedy about
the uneasy relationship between our
private hearts and the roles we play
in public and about our difficulty
understanding this relationship in
others, Julius Caesar is a play about
humanity in any era.
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
3
In the Spotlight
The acclaimed Shakespeare Theatre
of New Jersey, located on the campus
of Drew University in Madison, NJ, is
one of the leading Shakespeare theaters
in the nation. Formerly called New
Jersey Shakespeare Festival, it serves
nearly 100,000 adults and children
annually and is the Garden State’s only
professional theater company dedicated
to Shakespeare’s canon and other classic
masterworks. Through its distinguished
productions and education programs,
the company strives to illuminate the
universal and lasting relevance of the
classics for contemporary audiences.
The longest-running Shakespeare theater
on the east coast, The Shakespeare
Theatre of New Jersey will mark its 50th
anniversary season in 2011.
Alex Lippard (Director) also directed
the Off-B’way productions of The
Last Word and Sake with the
Haiku Geisha. Off-off Broadway,
he was the director of All We Can
Handle with Raul Esparza, Cupid &
Psyche, Frankie, Hedda Gabler, and
Moonchild for which he won the
Directing Award from The New
York International Fringe Festival
(FringeNYC), one of the largest multiarts festivals in North America. His
credits at The Shakespeare Theatre of
New Jersey include Fun with Rhys Coiro
and Machinal. broadwayworld.com
The company’s mission places a strong
emphasis on education. Among its
13 distinct education programs, the
most far-reaching is the Shakespeare
LIVE! educational touring company
that performs at schools and venues
throughout New Jersey, Connecticut,
Pennsylvania, and New York.
Alex Lippard
4
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
As the artistic director of Friendly
Fire, a not-for-profit theater company
based in New York City, Lippard
directed Hecuba starring Kristin
Linklater, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore with
John Douglas Thompson and Touch of
the Poet, one of The Wall St. Journal’s
top three revivals for 2008. Lippard,
who received a M.F.A. from Columbia
University and a B.A. from Yale
University, is currently co-writing
the book to a musical about Leona
Helmsley. Theater Talk
actor - a person who interprets a role
and performs in a play.
artistic director - the creative leader
of a theater or dance company. He or
she takes responsibility for the vision,
direction and management of the
company including casting, hiring and
repertory choices.
climax - the crucial moment or turning
point in the action or plot, usually near
the end of a story or play.
comedy - a story or play that treats
characters and situations in a funny or
amusing way; the opposite of tragedy.
costume designer - the person
who creates a visual concept for a
production through the design and use
of the clothing worn on stage by the
performers.
dialogue - the conversation in a play
between two or more characters.
director - the person who envisions
Photo copyright Andrew Murad, 2007
blank verse - a poetic form preferred
by English dramatists in the 16th and
early 17th centuries, usually defined as
unrhymed iambic pentameter.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s
educational touring company, Shakespeare
LIVE!, in Julius Caesar, 2007.
interpretation - a particular conception
of a role, scene or play.
lighting designer - the person who
creates a visual concept for a production
through the design and use of
illumination.
an overall concept for a production,
supervises all elements of the production
and guides the actors in their
performances.
mime (or pantomime) - actions or
ensemble - a theater company or cast
that works in a spirit of artistic equality
and cooperation.
monologue - a lengthy speech by one
iambic pentameter - in poetry, a line
playwright - a person who writes a play.
rhythm or meter made of five iambs.
One iamb has two beats or syllables: an
unstressed beat or syllable (˘) followed
by a stressed beat or syllable (´ ). The
most common meter found in English
poetry, iambic pentameter is the verse
form that Shakespeare most frequently
used for his poetic dialogue.
For example, in Julius Caesar,
Act III, sc. ii:
The evil that men do lives after them.
The good is oft interrèd with their
bones.
gestures without words used as a means
of expression.
actor.
producer - the person responsible
for mounting a production including
selecting the primary creative artists
and managers as well as providing the
financial resources.
props - (or properties) items used on
stage to help create a sense of place, e.g.,
an envelope, fan, flag, tea set.
scene - a division of a play, usually
part of an act, in which the action is
continuous.
scenery - painted canvas mounted on
wooden frames, drops, cutouts, etc.,
used in a theater to represent a place of
action.
script - the written text detailing what
happens and what is to be said during a
play or performance.
set designer - the person who
creates the on-stage environment in
which the play takes place, including
scenery, furniture and props and their
arrangement.
set - the arrangement of scenery and
props on stage.
soliloquy - a speech by one actor
alone on stage that divulges his or her
character’s innermost thoughts, feelings
and motivations without addressing a
listener other than the audience.
tragedy - a piece of dramatic literature
in which events move a central character
or characters to a fatal or disastrous
conclusion. In his Poetics, the ancient
Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first
to attempt to define the characteristics of
tragedy; the opposite of comedy.
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
5
The Remarkable
Mr. Shakespeare
wikimedia.org
at local grammar school.
1582: Marries Anne Hathaway.
1583: Daughter Susanna born.
1585: Twins, a boy, Hamnet, and a girl,
Judith, born.
1592: Moves to London. Writes Henry
VI, Part 1, his first play.
1595: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, his
acting company, has great artistic and
financial success.
1596: Hamnet dies at age 11.
1597: Buys New Place, the grandest house
in Stratford.
1599: Writes Julius Caesar. The openair Globe Theater, the home of many of
Shakespeare’s plays, opens in London.
1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies. King James
I is crowned. The Chamberlain’s Men
becomes The King’s Men, playing about 12
performances each year at court.
1609: The King’s Men begins performing
indoors at BlackfriarsTheater.
1610: Retires and moves to Stratford.
1613: Writes Henry VIII, his last play.
1616: Dies in Stratford.
Now playing at The Globe…
William Shakespeare in 1609
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is
considered one of the greatest writers of
all time and the greatest of all English
dramatists. Scholars and readers alike
have marveled that one man could have
such a comprehensive understanding of
the human psyche. He understood lovers,
tyrants, kings and queens, servants, clowns,
the lucky, the jealous, and the powerful.
He wrote 38 plays including tragedies,
comedies, romances, and histories, and 154
sonnets as well as other poetry. He created
a pantheon of unforgettable, timeless and
complex characters.
Shakespeare set his plays all over the
world, yet, it appears that he never
traveled out of his native England nor did
he have a terribly eventful life. He culled
and conjured his characters, plots and
settings in part from books and his great
fund of general information, but most of
all from his inspired imagination. Often,
6
genius goes hand in hand with a colorful,
and sometimes tortured, life. However,
this giant among dramatists lived, it
appears, a rather prosaic, undramatic
life. Shakespeare did not possess a vivid
personality; his friends found him genteel,
even self-effacing. He was also an extremely
practical, sober man of business. Perhaps,
his genius had no time to waste in the real
world, and William Shakespeare seems
to have put all his passion and drama
into his work, both as an actor and a
playwright. The Romantic poet and critic
Samuel Coleridge called Shakespeare
“myriad-minded.” He had a gift of insight
unsurpassed and the ability to get inside the
hearts and minds of all manner of men and
women.
1564: Born in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England, the eldest son of John and Mary
Arden Shakespeare.
1578: Completes seven years of education
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
In one of the few surviving contemporary
descriptions of Elizabethan theater,
Thomas Platter, a visitor to London from
Basel, Switzerland, tells about attending a
performance of the original production of
Julius Caesar in 1599 at The Globe.
On September 21st after lunch, about two
o’clock, I and my party crossed the water,
and there in the house with the thatched
roof witnessed an excellent performance
of the tragedy of the first Emperor Julius
Caesar with a cast of some fifteen people;
when the play was over, they danced very
marvelously and gracefully together as is
their wont, two dressed as men and two as
women.
Julius Caesar may have been the first
production mounted at the newly erected
Globe Theater, where Shakespeare’s
company, The Chamberlain’s Men,
performed, beginning in 1599. The troupe
appeared there until 1613, when the
theater’s roof caught fire from a stage
cannon blast during a performance of
Henry VIII and burned to the ground.
In the Classroom
Before the Performance
1. Discuss the elements of drama: character,
conflict, humor, etc. What makes a story
compelling? Discuss the basic differences between
comedy and tragedy. (1.1, 1.3)*
2. Have the class read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
The following website, Read Write Think’s “No
Fear Shakespeare,” is a resource of Verizon’s
Thinkfinity.org. The website, from Sparknotes,
provides the text of several Shakespearean plays,
including Julius Caesar, side-by-side with a
translation into modern English to help students
(grades 6-12) interpret Shakespeare’s works.
Nfs.sparknotes.com. (1.2, 1.3)
3. Have the students act out a monologue or
short scene from the Sparknotes modern English
translation of Julius Caesar. (See activity 2
above). Then, ask the students to act out the
same monologue or short scene in Shakespeare’s
language. (1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
4. Before attending the production, give each
student one line from Julius Caesar to listen for.
Discuss the meaning of the assigned lines and
encourage the students’ input in deciphering
Shakespeare’s meaning. Have each student perform
his or her line. Why is the line important in the
play? Does it advance the plot or give the audience
particular insight into a character or relationship?
(1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
After the Performance
1. Shakespeare LIVE! tries to make Shakespeare
accessible to everyone. Do students feel this goal
was achieved in Julius Caesar? How did the
audience relate to the story as it was being told?
Did the students in your class understand the plot,
its turns and language? Discuss what factors, other
than words, contribute to understanding what is
happening on stage. (1.1, 1.4)
2. Have the students write a review of Shakespeare
LIVE!’s interpretation of Julius Caesar. Be sure
they include specific information as well their own
reactions to the acting, the set and the costumes.
What about the production did they like? What
did they dislike? Have the students support their
decisions. (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)
*Number(s) indicate the NJ Core Curriculum
Content Standard(s) supported by the activity.
Teaching Science Through Theater (6-12)
By Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D.
Current or historical events can serve as inspiration for immersing students
into the creative process as they explore the elements of theater. They can
become familiar with the climate and culture of a time period, engage in
problem-solving and creative thinking and use diverse media sources and
information literacy skills as they research a topic. Given the importance
of the environment on the lives of today’s students, this is a topic worthy
of exploration. Studying environmental issues through theater is a way to
deepen students’ understanding.
By writing scripts, students can explore these issues. Climate change, ozone
depletion, air and water pollution, maintaining sources of fresh water,
threats to our oceans and coasts, shrinking wetlands, deforestation, food
supply, toxic chemicals, world hunger, and loss of biodiversity are major
environmental issues that face our society today. In the classroom, you
can use cooperative learning as the primary instructional strategy. Form
teams of four to six students and ask each team to select and research an
environmental issue. The information they gather will be used as the basis for
writing a script.
Researching the issue is an excellent way for students to hone their
information literacy skills. Good sources of information are libraries,
community resources, special interest organizations, diverse media, and the
Internet.
Once the research phase concludes, teams can begin to deepen their
understanding of the environmental issue. Have them discuss the issue’s
psychological and emotional impact. Then, they should think about the
story they will tell. What is the primary message they want to get across in
the script? What happens in the story? Who are the characters? Are they
interesting and inviting? Personal experience, imagination and improvisation
can be used as teams write their scripts. As a culminating activity, have all
the teams present their scripts for the class to critique, and ask the class to
decide which one will be produced.
Sharon J. Sherman, Ed.D. is Dean of the School of Education and Professor
of Teacher Education at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ.
The Teaching Science Through the Arts content of this guide is made possible
through the generous support of Roche.
Additional Before and After activities can be
found online at njpac.org. Click on Education, then
on Performances, then on Curriculum Materials.
Scroll down to “Download Teacher Guide in
Adobe Acrobat PDF format” and select
desired guide.
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar
7
Delving Deeper
Websites
ShakespeareNJ.org - website of
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
bardweb.net - The Shakespeare Resource
Center site, designed to assist students in
researching Shakespeare, his work and
his world.
shakespeares-globe.org - The website of
the reconstructed Globe Theater, opened
in 1996 on the site of Shakespeare’s
Globe Theater.
DVDs
Julius Caesar. Starring Louis Calhern,
Marlon Brando, James Mason, and John
Gielgud. Warner Home Video, 2006.
Julius Caesar. Starring Charlton Heston,
Jill Bennett. Republic Pictures, 2007.
Books for Students and Teachers
Boyce, Charles. Shakespeare A to Z: The
Essential Reference to His Plays, His
Poems, His Life and Times, and More.
Delta, 1991.
Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly
Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless
Guide to the Bard. Penguin, 1944.
Rozakis, Laurie E. The Complete Idiot’s
Guide to Shakespeare. Alpha, 1999.
Acknowledgments
as of 12/1/10
NJPAC Arts Education programs are made
possible by the generosity of: Bank of America,
The Arts Education Endowment Fund in Honor
of Raymond G. Chambers, Leon & Toby
Cooperman, The Horizon Foundation for New
Jersey, Amy C. Liss, McCrane Foundation,
Merck Company Foundation, Albert &
Katharine Merck, The Prudential Foundation,
The PSEG Foundation, David & Marian
Rocker, The Sagner Family Foundation, The
Star-Ledger/Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation,
Surdna Foundation, Verizon, Victoria
Foundation, Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company
and The Women’s Association of NJPAC.
Additional support is provided by: C.R. Bard
Foundation, Becton, Dickinson & Company,
The Frank and Lydia Bergen Foundation,
Allen & Joan Bildner & The Bildner Family
Foundation, Bloomberg, Chase, Veronica
Goldberg Foundation, Meg & Howard Jacobs,
Johnson & Johnson, Marianthi Foundation,
The MCJ Amelior Foundation, The New
Jersey State Council on the Arts, The George
A. Ohl, Jr. Foundation, Panasonic Corporation
of North America, Pechter Foundation, PNC
Foundation on behalf of the PNC Grow Up
Great program, The Provident Bank Foundation,
E. Franklin Robbins Charitable Trust, Roche,
TD Charitable Foundation, Target, The Turrell
Fund, Lucy and Eleanor S. Upton Charitable
Foundation, Walmart Foundation and The
Blanche M. & George L. Watts Mountainside
Community Foundation.
Schumacher, Allison. Shaking Hands
with Shakespeare: A Teenager’s Guide
to Reading and Performing the Bard.
Kaplan Publishing, 2004.
Spurgeon, Caroline. Shakespeare’s
Imagery and What It Tells Us.
Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Additional resources can be found online
at njpac.org. Click on Education, then
on Performances, then on Curriculum
Materials. Scroll down to “Download
Teacher Guide in Adobe Acrobat PDF
format” and select desired guide.
NJPAC wishes to express its thanks to Jamie
Brink, Associate Director of Education at The
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and to
Shakespeare LIVE! for permitting the Arts
Center to duplicate passages of its study guide
for Julius Caesar which was compiled and
arranged by the Education Department of the
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Writer: Andrea Masters
Mary Lou Johnston
Laura Ingoglia
Editor: Laura Ingoglia
Design: Pierre Sardain,
66 Creative, Inc.
66Creative.com
NJPAC Guest Reader:
Faye Holmes
NJPAC Teacher’s Resource Guide
Review Committee:
Judith Israel
Mary Lou Johnston
Amy Tenzer
Copyright © 2011
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
All Rights Reserved
For even more arts integration resources,
please go to Thinkfinity.org, the Verizon
Foundation’s signature digital learning platform,
designed to improve educational and
literacy achievement.
William J. Marino.……............................…………………………………………………………………….Chairman
Lawrence P. Goldman …....……..................…………………………………..President & Chief Executive Officer
Sandra Bowie………….……….....................……………………………………..Vice President of Arts Education
Sanaz Hojreh.……………..................….……………………………..Assistant Vice President of Arts Education
Uday Joshi.……………....................….………………………Director of Partnerships and Community Programs
Verushka Spirito……........................…………………………………………...Associate Director for Performances
Caitlin Evans Jones…………..........................………………………………….…Director of In-School Programs
Jeff Griglak......………......................……………….………………………………..……..Director of Arts Training
Natasha Dyer…….….........................Administrative Assistant/Office Manager for VP & AVP of Arts Education
Laura Ingoglia…………........................………………………....…………....Editor of Teacher’s Resource Guides
8
One Center Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Administration: 973-642-8989
Arts Education Hotline: 973-353-8009
[email protected]
Passport to Culture • Shakespeare LIVE! Julius Caesar