In-School Residencies
Residency Models | Funding Your Residency | EALRs | Contact Us!
We define a Seattle Shakespeare Company residency as three or more class sessions of active, customized curriculum at your school. Professional teaching artists plan with the teacher to tailor each residency to fit the needs and objectives of the classroom.
Residencies are designed to inject vibrant, active exercises into lessons that unlock the text, themes, and actions of a Shakespeare play. Since every residency is customized, they can vary greatly. Washington State Essential Academic Learning requirements in the Arts can be satisfied in a Seattle Shakespeare Company residency.
Residency Models:
Play Introduction Residency
A short, 1- to 4-day introduction to a specific Shakespeare play. In just a short period of time, we will cover themes of the play, characters, and setting, and given/special circumstances of the play.
At Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, we sent eight teaching artists to teach four days of Romeo and Juliet to all 35 freshman English classes, from the Honors classes to the Special Ed programs! Every student learned about Shakespeare’s language and stories, stage combat, Elizabethan dress and dance, and scene studies from Romeo and Juliet. They followed up this residency with a visit from our touring production of the play.
Sample Romeo and Juliet Residency (4 days)
Day 1: Introduction to Shakespeare’s world and iambic pentameter
Day 2: Stage combat
Day 3: Elizabethan dance
Day 4: Scene studies from Romeo and Juliet
Play Intensive Residency
Take a Shakespeare play off the pages and put it on its feet! Acting, dancing, fighting — you name it. We work with a Shakespeare play in your curriculum the way that Shakespeare would have intended — as actors!
We get to know the characters, themes, and setting, and speak the language until it feels natural to students, even if they have never read Shakespeare before. Play intensive residencies typically last 3 to 6 weeks.
Shakespeare’s World Residency
This residency covers a variety of topics around Shakespeare’s life and work, plays and sonnets — giving students a fresh and comprehensive connection to Shakespeare’s world that will enrich their encounters with his work for life!
Showcase Residency
Students dive into Shakespeare several times a week over the course of a month, culminating in a showcase of scenes from Shakespeare. Master teaching artists work with classroom teachers to build a curriculum that focuses on scenes from two or more Shakespeare plays. Everyone is a leading actor!
One-Month
At Montlake Elementary, we worked with two classes of 4th grade students to put on scenes from two different Shakespeare plays – Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Four days per week for four weeks, our teaching artists would come to Montlake during Language Arts class and work with students on understanding their lines, staging scenes, learning dance and combat, and rehearsing the final showcase. At the end of the month, they put on a daytime showcase for the whole school and an evening showcase for parents.
Six Days over Three Weeks
At Spanaway Junior High, we visited two classes of 6th grade students on Tuesdays and Thursdays during their 90-minute block periods for three weeks. On other days of the week, the teacher would rehearse with students on her own and go over what they had learned with the teaching artist. They put on a showcase of scenes from Romeo and Juliet during the day for their whole school and in the evening for their parents.
One Week of Combat
At Issaquah High School, our teaching artist taught stage combat to a drama class for one period per day for an entire week. Students got to dig into combat and learn to tell a story of violence.
One-Day Scene Coaching
At Shorewood High School, a teaching artist went out for a single day to teach some acting basics and help coach scenes from Romeo and Juliet with a class of freshmen English students.
And More!
Seattle Shakespeare Company residencies can be tailor-made to fit your classroom and your objectives. Don’t see your ideal residency here? Call us! We can create a model that works for you. We do one-hour, one-day, one-month, and all-year models!
Call 206-733-8228 x212 or email email us for help planning your residency.
Funding Your Residency
Pricing for all of our residencies are $100 per teaching artist per hour (one teaching artist can teach up to 30 students).
For residencies longer than five days, we will develop a custom pricing scheme, but average prices are about $100 per hour.
EALRs
Seattle Shakespeare Company in-school residencies can be designed to satisfy a number of Washington State EALRs in the Arts and Communication. The following Arts EALRs are met by our longer and more comprehensive residencies.
Arts EALRs:
1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4,
2.1, 2.2, 2.3,
3.1,
4.2, 4.3, 4.4
Contact Us
To learn more about SSC in-school residencies, or to start the process of booking one today, please call the Education Department at 206-733-8228 x212 or email.