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Act 1, Scene 1:
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  1. O, for a Muse of fire!
  2. Suggested activities:
    A quick overview
  3. Activities for ensemble play
  1. Yes!
  2. Group Sculptures
  3. Mirrors
  4. Sculpture Gallery
  5. Presents
  6. Have You Seen My Kitty?
  7. Magic Hat
  8. Hotseat, or, The Press Conference
  1. “I’ll follow you!”: A choral speech
  2. Three Worlds
  3. Two-character exchanges
  4. “Now I am alone”: The soliloquy
  5. Group voice: Sharing a character
  6. Showdown: Oberon vs. Titania
  1. Planning the Project: What do you want your students to achieve?
  2. Planning the Project: Making room for Shakespeare
  3. Planning the Project: The Final Performance
  4. A sample sequence
  5. Laying the foundation, establishing some rituals
  6. Preparing for the journey: A checklist
  7. We shall not cease from exploration

Materials needed:
Open space, room to stand in a circle without being jostled

Time needed:
5-10 minutes

Students participating:
everyone at once, teacher too!

This is a fun and simple warm-up, mostly used to loosen everyone up and quicken reflexes.
  1. One person stands in the center of the circle. The others stand shoulder to shoulder, with just a bit of space between each person, with as round a circle as possible.

  2. The person in the center is looking for his or her lost kitty. The kitty-searcher starts with one person, goes up to them, looks them in the eye, and says, “Have you seen my kitty?”

  3. The person asked the question responds, “I don’t know, ask her (or him),” pointing to whomever is on his or her right.

  4. The kitty-searcher immediately moves on to that person and repeats the question. This rather absurd pattern continues throughout the game. But….

  5. The fun comes in here: While this is happening, and the kitty-searcher is making eye contact with each person as they go around the circle, others are playing a little game. Anyone can do this: You look across the circle and make eye contact with another, while the kitty-searcher is at the other side of the circle. On the nod of a head, you quickly run across the circle and switch places.

  6. The kitty-searcher is secretly waiting for such an opening, and races to beat one of the two people to an open spot in the circle. If the kitty-searcher fails to do so, he or she must resume the questioning from the spot where it was abandoned.

  7. What happens, after a while, is that people in the circle get bored. They want some adventure. So they begin taking more risks, cutting it closer and closer in their attempts to outsmart the searcher. Eventually, someone will be beat out by the kitty-searcher, and left in the center. Then this person becomes the new searcher and picks a spot in the circle and begins asking, “Have you seen my kitty?”.

  8. As the game grows, more than one set of people can switch sides. It become a comic free-for all in the circle. Remind the students to not run into each other – it takes some skill to maneuver quickly and gracefully. End the game just before the fun and energy peak.