The fall semester of the 2012-13 school year marked the seventh annual production of CPS Shakespeare! at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Each year, this transformational program invites CPS students and teachers from across the city out of the classroom and into the rehearsal room to create an original Shakespeare production. Students work alongside their teachers in a five week intensive rehearsal process, all under the guidance of a team of professional CST artists, culminating in two performances in CST’s Courtyard Theater. The program develops students’ literacy skills as it builds confidence, and empowers our city’s teens to approach life’s challenges with bravery and self-assurance.

This year, twenty students and eight teachers from nine CPS high schools logged more than one hundred after school hours to stage their own adaptation of Hamlet. Working under the guidance of renowned New York director Kirsten Kelly, the ensemble members brought their personal perspectives to interpret the story of Shakespeare’s legendary conflicted prince. For the first time in the history of the program, the students took their exploration to a new level, translating sections of the text into modern-day Spanish. Several of Shakespeare’s most well-known passages—including the famous soliloquy, “¿Ser o no ser?”—were brought to new life through their imaginative interpretation. CPS Shakespeare! Hamlet was realized in a full-scale production on the Courtyard stage November 2 and 3, and was welcomed with pride and praise by a total audience of more than 800 who joined in celebration of these students’ dedicated work.

Prior to the opening performance, CST Director of Education Marilyn Halperin accepted the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Shakespeare Steward Award on behalf of Chicago Shakespeare. The Theater’s Education Department was recognized for its innovative teaching of Shakespeare in American classrooms and service as a partner to Chicago Public Schools for more than two decades. CST is the first arts organization to be a recipient of this prestigious national award.

Read what some of the students and teachers of CPS Shakespeare!  had to say about their experience.

View a map of Chicago Public Schools that participated in CPS Shakespeare! in 2012.

Learn how the CPS Shakespeare! program transforms students’ views of education—and themselves.