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Act 1, Scene 1:
Getting Started
Guide to Educator
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For the K-3 teacher
For the 4-8 teacher
Shakespeare and
the TEKS
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A Guide To The Plays
"A Most Rare Vision"–
Student and educator
voices
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Materials needed:
A small “stage” area; can be at front of classroom; one chair

Time needed:
10-15 minutes

Students participating:
everyone at once, teacher too!

This activity is best used once students know the characters of the play somewhat.

1. Draw names out of a hat or using whatever classroom method works best (popsicle sticks out a jar, etc.).
2. The student whose name is drawn first goes and sits in the chair; they should be visible by everyone in the room.
3. Ask the student which character they want to portray. Explain that their character is holding a press conference for the media to explain their side of what’s happening in the play. For example, if you are working on Midsummer, and a student chooses Hermia, you would pretend that Hermia has left the story in the middle and has been whisked to this press conference.
4. You, as Press Secretary or agent, introduce the guest. “Ladies and gentlemen, my client Hermia is here to answer your questions. She can only stay for a short time. First question?”
5. The other students must create identities as reporters. They can be from any media organization or magazine or newspaper or TV network, real or made-up. They can use their real name or make one up.
6. The press gallery all yells at once: “Miss Hermia, Miss Hermia!” as at a presidential press conference. “Hermia” points at one reporter. He or she must give a name and affiliation. “Hello, I’m Lois Lane from The Daily Planet,” or, “I’m Bubba Schmo from the Athens Register.” Then the question, which can be based on the play, or random (try to discourage too many random ones, it can get out of control!): “Why do you like Lysander better than Demetrius?”, or, “Why is your dad so against Lysander,” or, a Winedale favorite, “What’s your recipe for lasagna?”
7. The person in the “hotseat” must stay in character, and try to answer as they imagine Hermia would.
8. After a few minutes, everyone gets the idea. Draw another name for the next interviewee.
9. Students love this game and will want to play it for hours, so be prepared to set a time limit and tell everyone, if your name wasn’t drawn this time, we’ll try to get to you next time. Keep a mental tally of who is asking questions, and if necessary, take over the selection of the people selected for questions so that everyone gets a turn.