Tools, Not Rules: Empowerment Through Exploration
In Amanda Giguere’s Applied Shakespeare classroom, learning looks less like a lecture and more like a collaboration—one that invites students to move, explore and discover meaning together.
Stepping into the dance-studio-turned-classroom (a place where street shoes are traditionally removed) students can be found barefoot and engaging in a round-table discussion—the room ringing with raucous laughter. The informal structure is by design, as Giguere believes in allowing her students space to engage with each other.
“Theater is a very open-ended art form where you show up as you are and you're welcome, no matter what your experience level, no matter what you've been through that day,” said Giguere. “Even though we didn't choose the shoes off, it's a nice metaphor for how you just come into the space and be relaxed.”
Giguere, who teaches workshops during the Applied Shakespeare program’s Summer Intensive—a course offering hands-on master classes led by CU Boulder faculty and Colorado Shakespeare Festival guest artists—as well as the online standalone course Teaching Shakespeare, has had the opportunity to work with a multitude of students—many of whom do not have a traditional theater background.
“Some students are licensed teachers. We've had lawyers do this program in the past, as well as corporate strategists. We've had people who just have a general interest in Shakespeare,” said Giguere. “As a result, every student is intersecting with the plays in their own unique ways. This whole discipline of Applied Shakespeare is about how we collide with the plays and what the plays can do for us today.”
Drawing on the rich experiences of her students, Giguere’s teaching approach is thus collaborative, allowing students to discover how Shakespeare’s teachings can apply to their own lives.
“I am a big believer in tools, not rules,” said Giguere. “Everything we're covering is meant to expand what folks take away and employ. There's no right way to teach Shakespeare. I'm a really firm believer in that. So the way that I've structured [the Summer Intensive] this week is a series of offerings, like games and exploring how we might cut a play, but there are no hard and fast rules.”
An essential part of the discovery process for students is the capstone, a project due at the end of the certificate program in which students create a presentation, workshop, paper, solo performance or script that intersects Shakespeare with a topic, specific population or social issue of their choosing. During the Summer Intensive, students have the opportunity to workshop their ideas with Giguere and other Applied Shakespeare faculty.
“Every student in the Applied Shakespeare Certificate program produces a capstone project,” said Giguere. “They all have something that is unique to them, whether it’s putting together a proposal for a class they might teach or a play they might write, or a program they might run in their communities. After hearing about [the students’] capstone projects this week, I'm so excited for all the ways that these students are going to go and do things with Shakespeare in their own communities. It's like the best kind of infection possible where they can go back to their communities and start sharing what they learned here.”
For Giguere, seeing her students carry Shakespeare into their own communities is proof that the playwright’s words still speak to modern audiences, highlighting the necessity of programs such as Applied Shakespeare.
“People are hungry to make the world a better place and that's what I find attracts people to this Applied Shakespeare program,” said Giguere. “We're not just studying Shakespeare for the sake of studying Shakespeare, we're thinking about the kinds of applications these plays have. We're not just studying plays in a classroom, we’re getting students up on their feet, we're sharing these plays with communities. We're trying to address issues that are important to us.”
“It's part of a really exciting trend where we want to do meaningful work. We need more people doing that work. We have them in the program and it's so exciting to see the network grow.”
As for students questioning whether the Applied Shakespeare program is right for them, Giguere insists that the program isn’t about having an encyclopedic knowledge of Shakespeare—it’s about curiosity and collaboration.
“ShakesFEAR is very real, but doesn't help anyone,” said Giguere. “If you're interested in learning more about Shakespeare, but you're a little worried that the language is too hard or it's too complicated or high above you, Shakespeare is for you. You are enough coming into this program with your expertise in being you.”
Learn more about the Applied Shakespeare program or schedule an appointment to discuss the program and your interests.