PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES
HOW DO ACTORS AND DIRECTORS MAKE CASTING CHOICES TO EXPLORE GENDER AND POWER DYNAMICS IN SHAKESPEARE’S THE TAMING OF THE SHREW?
(Common Core Code: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.7) Before seeing Kiss Me, Kate, students explore Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and analyze the play’s sexual politics. PREPARE
Ensure your students are familiar with the background of The Taming of the Shrew summarized on page 6-7, and lead a discussion on “Generations of Gender Norms” on page 12. Remind them that in Shakespeare’s time, men played all male and all female roles. Next, do a group reading of this The Taming of the Shrew scene (found HERE) and provide a glossary on vocabulary and unfamiliar expressions in the text.
CASTING
Tell the group you will be exploring how casting choices affect the interpretation of this play. Break students into groups of 3, attending to the gender identification of students, so that there is a mix of all-female, all-male, and mixed groups. One student in each group will be the director and the other two will play KATHARINA and PETRUCHIO.
REHEARSE PERFORM
Have students rehearse the scene, working on their feet and exploring basic staging. Encourage the directors and actors to explore the power dynamics in this scene. Set clear ground rules about how students should handle the “striking” action (if at all) based on their maturity.
Choose a few groups to show their scenes, looking at a diverse range of gender casting (female/male, female/female, and male/male or cross-gender). As they watch, students should pay attention to how the gender of actors impacts the meaning of the scene.
REFLECT
How do the interpretations differ, based on the gender of the actors? What do they think Shakespeare’s play says about power dynamics between men and women?
HOW DOES A COSTUME DESIGNER CREATE COSTUMES FOR A SHOW-WITHIN-A-SHOW THAT REFLECT BOTH LAYERS OF A CHARACTER?
(Common Core Code: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.9)
Before seeing Kiss Me, Kate, students explore the characters in both the musical (which takes place on a very warm day in Baltimore in 1948) and in The Taming of the Shrew, and discover the design challenges and possibilities of the production.
PREPARE
As a class, read the “Spotlight” on page 2 of this guide, and the summary of The Taming of the Shrew on pages 6-7. (You may also read the Artist Statements on page 18-19). How are Kate and Shrew connected? Are there similar characters in each?
DESIGN
Assign each student one major character in Kiss Me, Kate (found HERE) on the Kiss Me, Kate Activities Character List and have them design two costumes (using the figure templates found HERE) for that character: one that shows them in their 1948 street clothes, and one in the costume of their Shrew character.
SHARE
Host a gallery walk. Have students display both of their designs, and discuss: What do we know about this person based on their street clothes? What is their personality and their status in life? How has this designer carried those ideas over into their Shrew costumes?
20 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
FOR EDUCATORS
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