Shakespeare Day 2023

Shakespeare Day is an all-day event filled with activities to engage students with William Shakespeare, his life, his accomplishments, his works and most importantly, who he truly was. The activities this year consisted of Stump the Bard, Capulet Ball, Improvisation/charades with the English teachers and the Gamm Theatre, and lots of arts of crafts. After completing three events, students were rewarded with some snacks, pizza and pastries. We learned later that this part of the day may have been a difficult portion of planning for the teachers organizing the event. Ms. Noren, the coordinator and organizer of Shakespeare Day, spoke with us on the preparation and organization of this portion of the day.  She explained that a lot of planning and preparations must go into every Shakespeare Day in order to make it such a success.  

After speaking with Kamryn DeAngelis, a sophomore who participated in Shakespeare Day about her favorite part of the event, it is clear to see that although the snacks may have been difficult to organize for the teachers, it was definitely a hit among the students,“ I thought it was cool that after you completed three different things you got treats…”

Stump the Bard was also a hit among the students. Another Sophomore we spoke to, Raziele Weedon, gave us their input on this activity, 

“Oh my God, absolutely ‘Stump the Bard’. ‘Stump the Bard’ was my favorite favorite favorite favorite of the entire day, it was really funny.” 

Stump the Bard is a Q & A event with Shakespeare himself, (a.k.a. one of our English teachers, Mr. Belanger), where asking difficult questions is encouraged and stumping Shakespeare is the goal. We had the opportunity to ask Mr. Belanger/Shakespeare, what preparing for his crucial role as Shakespeare was like for him.

 “…Shakespeare day for me is not really much of a challenge. I like doing a million things at once, I like answering a lot of questions, it is a performance, which I like as well. I’d say the biggest challenge actually was…just dressing up…” It is clear to see that Mr. Belanger enjoyed his role as Shakespeare very much, and really took his responsibilities for the day proudly and confidently. 

We also asked the students what their feelings on the day were, what they liked, what they felt could have been improved and what they would like to see again in the future.  Here are some responses: 

“It was really fun. I don’t wanna say there could’ve been more activities…I really liked the library setup and how there was just like a bunch of board games and stuff…I feel like teachers were too egging of the students because I know, like, a lot of students were overwhelmed, so I feel like if we kinda were let to do our own thing more it would’ve been a lot funner for everybody. Personally though, I enjoyed it a lot.”

“I thought it was fun, it was a nice way to get kids out of class so they could move around…it was like a break in their day. It was just nice.” 

It is clear to see that students saw Shakespeare Day as a very positive experience and cannot wait to experience it again next year and the following year as well. The teachers were just as enthusiastic when it came to the topic of revisiting this newfound tradition again next year.  Some teachers said: 

“Yeah, of course! Of course I would do it again. I’ve been Shakespeare during Shakespeare Day quite a few times now, so I would continue doing it again.” 

“If we do it, yes. If we do Shakespeare Day, I will definitely be in charge of it…” 

There was only one common struggle seen by the teachers, 

“…I want to hear from the students if they enjoyed it, yes. It was a lot of work for the English department, so we have to see if the effort was worth…And I had a big field trip last week so I haven’t had a chance to even poll students, ‘what did you like about Shakespeare Day?’, ‘what would you add to Shakespeare Day?’. It would be nice to get some student input.” 

“I think we need to ask students what they enjoyed about the day and get some feedback from students on what they enjoyed doing. I’ve tried to ask students informally, ‘what did you like?’, ‘what did you participate in?’…”

It is clear to see that there were many highlights of the day for both students and teachers. We asked around to see what the thoughts were, 

“Seeing all the students have a good time.” 

“The overall mood and atmosphere was great. It seemed like the kids had a good time, the other events worked really well, they liked the bingo, they liked a few other things. I would say the school atmosphere was good.”, 

“…it was cool, it was new.”  

“…this was my first Shakespeare day since we didn’t do one last year. I’m definitely excited, it was a lot of fun.” 

“My favorite part of participating in the Shakespeare Day activities was the moments that I was Shakespeare, just answering questions, and it was kind of cool to answer questions…someone asked what Shakespeare’s favorite color was. I don’t really know what his favorite color was, but it was interesting to say that it was green because he was so good with money, for example. So, just giving that type of an answer was interesting.” 

This event was a brand new event before the COVID-19 pandemic and started 2 years before it hit, impacting every aspect of everyday life for all, including the high school students at Toll Gate. The last day before all students at Toll Gate High School went into distance learning was Shakespeare Day 2020. Ms. Noren was there that day, and was in charge of Shakespeare Day and its activities. She was once more put in charge of the Shakespeare Day production as well as the activities this year, Shakespeare Day 2023. 

“…that was the day that Governor Raimando closed down the schools and…she thought it was going to be a two to three week pause, everyone did. So, we ended that day, around 1:30, the governor had a press conference, and a bunch of us ducked into the rooms and were watching what she said on the Promethean Board, and then after that it was dismissal and the rest is history, we were out on DL. [Distance Learning]”.

Ms. Noren shared this heartfelt memory when asked what grade level showed the most excitement for this year’s Shakespeare Day. This year’s seniors had major nostalgia from their last day in school as freshman in the year 2020. For some, Shakespeare Day may be seen as a simple way out of class filled with fun activities or even a learning experience about Shakespeare and his accomplishments. But for our teachers and seniors, this brought back memories from their last normal experience as freshmen in high school. Shakespeare Day is not solely about information or forcing students to find interest in Shakespeare. It’s about helping students see Shakespeare and his world from a different perspective,

 “…Shakespeare wanted his work to be fun, he never intended people to sit in classrooms and take tests on it and write essays. He wanted people to enjoy, to feel some pathos, some emotion, highs and lows, the tragedy, the comedy, so it’s nice to bring the fun into it.”. Shakespeare wanted reality, emotion and knowledge, and truth. As he once said, “If we are true to ourselves we cannot be false to anyone.”. If the mission is to discover reality and truth, Shakespeare Day should be the spark to start the fire of truth. Let’s keep this fire going. Let’s revisit Shakespeare Day again next year, and the year after and so on. Let’s discover our reality. 

If you are a student reading this article, help out the English Department by clicking this link and give us your honest feedback and opinions on the event.