The Macbeth Initiative
Macbeth leaps to life in our Page-to-Stage Residency:
Students join a Tennessee Shakespeare Company professional Teaching-Artist to get on their feet and investigate the world of Macbeth. In this class, students will:
Speak the text and perform characters from Macbeth, making sure each student has a chance to be included
- Physicalize the rhythm of Iambic Pentameter through stage combat activities
Recognize the major conflicts facing the characters, leading students to ask themselves about their own choices
As an optional addition to the program, Educators can join TSC in a teacher-training session that offers practical tips for activating Shakespeare’s text! The TSC Education Team offers a toolkit of games, exercises, and scenes that encourage teachers to invite students into the world of Macbeth in ways that are personally meaningful, active, and fun. This playful, engaging training will allow for a joyful, exploratory experience with your students as they discover Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Performance of Macbeth
Students will experience the play as Shakespeare intended: as a live, theatrical event.
Our 90-minute performance captures the dramatic whirlwind of events and choices that cause Macbeth’s downfall. Inspired by Shakespeare’s original touring groups, our small cast plays all the roles with clear costuming and acting choices to identify each character. Macbeth is performed against a simple set to highlight Shakespeare’s text. Your students will love hearing the play and having their imaginations broadened. This Macbeth is an aural revelry and shows how words can indeed prove the “be all and end all.”
Bring Macbeth Initiative to your school! We have limited availability.
Email SarahHankins@TNShakespeare.org to reserve your spot today!
What students and teachers are saying about TSC’s Macbeth Initiative:
- “I learned that Shakespeare is more applicable to our everyday life than I thought before. The themes in his plays still play a role in our lives.” – Initiative Student
- “I learned how important visual performances are to strengthen your knowledge of the play.” – Initiative Student
- “I believe experiences like this are vital to our young people. Not only in academics but in an appreciation of the performing arts.” – Leslie Steele, Bartlett HS
- “Bringing Shakespeare to life for students has a huge impact on students’ understanding of the text, as well as their enjoyment and appreciation of Shakespeare’s works.” – Rene Curley, Cordova HS
93% of students found themselves more engaged in the study of Macbeth due to participating in TSC’s playshop.
91% of students felt more academically prepared to continue their study of Macbeth due to TSC’s Playshop.
Marquis Dijon Archuleta
Macbeth, 2024
This program is funded in part by a Shakespeare in American Communities Grant through the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest.
