FLYNN CENTER PRESENTS

IMPROVISED

SHAKESPEARE

We appreciate and value your feedback.

Click here to evaluate our study guides.

Click here for Teacher Feedback Forms for the performance.

Click here for Student Feedback Forms for the performance.

Click here for Parent Forms to help parents engage with their children around the show.

Welcome to the 2015-2016 Student Matinee Season!

Today’s scholars and researchers say creativity is the top skill our kids will need when they

enter the work force of the future, so we salute YOU for valuing the educational and

inspirational power of live performance. By using this study guide you are taking an even

greater step toward implementing the arts as a vital and inspiring educational tool.

We hope you find this guide useful. If you have any suggestions for content or format of

this guide, please contact sms@flynncenter.org.

Enjoy the show!

This guide was written & compiled by the Education Department at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts with inspiration from the Improvised Shakespeare Company website and Teachers Guide.

Permission is granted for teachers, parents, and students who are coming to Flynn shows to copy & distribute this guide for

educational purposes only.

The Flynn Center recognizes that field trip resources for schools are extremely limited, thus matinee prices for

schools are significantly lower than prices for public performances. As a non-profit organization, the Flynn is

deeply grateful to the foundations, corporations, and individuals whose generous financial support keeps

matinees affordable for schools.

This performance is generously sponsored by Anonymous Friends.

Thank you to the Flynn Matinee 2015-2016 underwriters: Andrea’s Legacy Fund, Champlain Investment

Partners, LLC, Bari and Peter Dreissigacker, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Forrest and Frances Lattner

Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Tracy and Richard Tarrant, TD Charitable Foundation, Vermont Concert Artists

Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, Vermont Community Foundation, New England Foundation for

the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Flynn Jazz Endowment.

Additional support from the Bruce J. Anderson Foundation, Green Mountain Fund, Walter Cerf Community

Fund, the Vermont Arts Council, the Susan Quinn Memorial Fund, and the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

The Performance & the Story

The Production

Things to Think About Before/During/After the show

The Company: Improvised Shakespeare Company

The Background of Improv

The Art of Improvisation

iO Theater

Resources

The Inspiration: Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Bio

Reflection Questions

Improv & Language

Glossary of Shakespearean Terms

Activities: Actor’s Nightmare & Exit Line

Activities to Deepen Understanding

Writing a Play

Elements of Playwriting

Reflect on the Performance

Bring the Art Form to Life

Art Form: Theatre

Words Come Alive Activities:

Moving Through Space, Echo, & Freeze

Your Visit

The Flynn Center

Etiquette for Live Performance

Why is Etiquette Important?

Common Core Standards

The Common Core broadens the definition of a “text,” viewing performance as a form of text, so your students are experiencing and interacting with a text when they attend a Flynn show.

Seeing live performance provides rich opportunities to write reflections, narratives, arguments, and more. By writing responses and/or using the Flynn Study Guides, all performances can be linked to Common Core:

CC ELA: W 1-10

You can use this performance and study guide to address the following Common Core Standards (additional standards listed by specific activities):

CC ELA: RL 1-10, RF 1-4, SL 1-2, L 3-5

Before you see the show:

What qualities or skills do you think the performers

need to be strong improvisers?

How do you think ISC trains to perform? Since they

can’t read a set script, what do you think a rehearsal

looks like? How do they practice?

As you watch the show:

The most basic building block of any narrative-based

performance is the story. Sometimes the story is

worked out ahead of time, but in the case of

improvisation, the story is developed on the spot.

Watch for moments in the performance when the

story might go in one of several directions. How do the

performers make choices about the story? How do

they keep the audience interested in the story as it

unfolds?

Each of the characters in the play act as several

different characters. What physical and vocal shifts do

they make to help the audience understand who they

are as each character?

After you see the show:

Blocking means the movement of characters around

the stage. In this performance it is all made up on the

spot! Did you notice any blocking choices that seemed

surprising? Did the blocking seem natural? Were

there any moments when the positioning of the

characters on stage helped to define their

relationships or roles? How did the performers adjust

their movements to highlight certain actions or other

characters on stage?

The Production

The Improvised Shakespeare Company offers truly one of a kind performances! Here’s how it works: the

company receives a suggestion from the audience (in the form of a title for a play, yet to be written). Based

on that one suggestion, the talented improvisers of The Improvised Shakespeare Co. create a fully

improvised play in the Elizabethan style. Not only has each of the players brushed up on his “thee’s” and

“thou’s” but they’re also experts in the language, rhythm, poetry, and themes of Shakespeare’s works. The

players combine their skills, knowledge, and comedic genius to bring you a show filled with off-the-cuff

comedy in the style of the Bard himself.

So what can you expect? Well it’s hard to say exactly since the show hasn’t been written yet, but any

performance might contain power struggles, star-crossed lovers, sprites, kings, queens, princesses, sword-

play, rhyming couplets, asides, insults, persons in disguise and all that we’ve come to expect from

Shakespeare. The performance could reveal a tragedy, comedy, or history. Nothing is planned-out,

rehearsed, or written. Each play is completely improvised, so each play is entirely new. What’s certain is that

you’re sure to have a blast!

The Company

The Improvised Shakespeare Company was

founded in 2005 and has been performing every

Friday at the iO Theater in Chicago for over five

years. The Improvised Shakespeare Touring

Company was created in 2006 to take their

unique performances on the road and expand

the ISC’s reach beyond Chicago and in 2007 The

Improvised Shakespeare Company Workshop

was created to teach readers of all ages how to

create their very own Elizabethan prose and

verse.

Today the Improvised Shakespeare Company

has performed in schools, colleges, performing

arts centers, and festivals all over the world

including the Piccolo Spoleto Fringe Festival, the

Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, and the

prestigious Just for Laughs festival

in Montreal. The ISC has been honored with a

New York Nightlife Award and has been named

Chicago's best improv group by both

the Chicago Reader and the Chicago Examiner.

The company was recently

named “Ensemble of the Year” by the Chicago

Improv Festival.

Learn More About ISC!

http://www.improvisedshakespeare.com/

What’s the iO Theater?

Formerly ImprovOlympic, the iO was formed in 1981 and has become

the premiere center for comic creativity today. Over 5000 people have

trained and performed at iO’s Chicago and Los Angeles theaters,

including Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Tina Fey and many, many more.

The iO’s founders, Charna Halpern and Del Close shared a vision to

expand out of the competition-style, short-form improvisation popular

in the 1970’s, and develop a deeper, more robust form of

improvisation. They believed that an improv based on trust, one in

which performers have the utmost respect for one another, leads to a

richer experience. They felt that if the performers treated each other

like geniuses and artists, they could live up to that potential on stage.

This philosophy and the famous notion that agreement is vital on stage

(the “yes, and—” school of improv) helped the iO to quickly become

recognized as a prime destination for the world’s most talented

comedians.

Charna, Del, and the dedicated faculty of iO have spent their lives

fostering the further development of improvisation as both an art form

and a philosophy. iO’s Training Center spreads their vision to 500 new

students every year, and iO alumni continue to thrive in the

entertainment industry and all walks of life. The sharpest minds in

comedy continually experiment with the form and delight audiences

seven nights a week at the iO theaters.

To learn more about iO, its founders, its vision, and its current

happenings, visit http://ioimprov.com/chicago/.

The Art of Improvisation

What exactly is “improvisation”? Improvisation, or “improv”, is a form of live performance in which everything is

dreamed up and created in the moment. The plot, the characters, the dialogue, everything is completely

spontaneous. It is a unique art form in that each performance exists only one time. No two performances are

ever the same and an improvised performance can never be repeated. Sometimes improv is comedy-based and

other times it mixes comedy and drama. Improvisation, like all forms of theatre, is collaborative but

improvisation takes the idea of collaboration to a different level. In improvisation, the collaboration happens

mainly between the actors or players and also between the players and the audience. There is little to no set,

lighting, sound, or costumes, and no script to guide the way, so the players must really all be invested in working

together, or the whole thing falls apart.

Two of the most basic and most important components of all acting are listening and reacting. These

components become absolutely critical in improvisation where the actors have no idea what the next line or plot

twist will bring. The actors have to listen not only to the lines being spoken but they must also “listen” to physical

choices being made—the physical and facial expressions of the other players help each actor to stay on the same

page and continue to move the story along as a group.

Improvisers have a sort of mantra when it comes to reacting thanks in large part to the founders of the iO

Theater. The mantra is: “yes, and—”, meaning that an improviser must always take what he/she is given in the

moment and work with it. A good improviser never denies or negates what another player has said, even if the

other player says something that goes against what the first player was thinking or doing. The answer (spoken or

not) is always, “yes, and—”. Only by accepting rather than denying, can the improvisation grow and move

forward.

Connecting with improvisation—How did the performers respond and

react to one another? Could you sense that they were listening to one

another? How?

Resources

Caruso, Sandra. The actor's book of

improvisation. New York : Penguin

Books, 1992.

Isolates specific aspects of acting and

includes appropriate situations to

facilitate growth in each area.

Spolin, Viola. Theatre Games for the

Classroom. Northwestern University

Press, 1986.

Widely-respected as a leader in

improvisational techniques and games,

this handbook for teachers offers 130

theatre games and exercises as well as

strategies for exploring and connecting

to other curricular areas.

William Shakespeare is certainly the most famous playwright of the English-speaking

world and perhaps he is the most famous writer period. Despite this distinction, we

actually know very little about his life. Here’s what we do know:

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, a small town in England, on April

23, 1564. Records from the Holy Trinity Church show that he was baptized there on

April 26th of the same year. His parents’ names were John Shakespeare and Mary

Arden. John was a glover and leather merchant.

Cut to eighteen years later… An 18-year old Shakespeare marries 26-year old,

pregnant, Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. In May of the following year, Anne

gives birth to their first daughter, named Susanna. A few years later (1585), the couple

has twins, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet dies at the age of 11 on August 11, 1596.

The next record we have of Shakespeare and his whereabouts is seven years later (1592) when he

turns up in London. By 1594, Shakespeare has become an actor with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men

(later called The King’s Men) and he is also writing for the group. Other members of the popular

acting troupe are Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, who has built a

reputation as a leading tragic actor. The Lord Chamberlain’s Men find support from the royalty

and are made very popular by the theatre-going public.

In the mid-1590’s, the Plague forces theaters to close their doors in London. Shakespeare and the

rest of the troupe spend this time making plans for the Globe Theater which is to be located just

across the River Thames from London proper. The Globe opens its doors in 1599.

During Shakespeare’ s time in London, Queen Elizabeth I reigned and the theatre scene was

thriving. The Globe Theater attracted theatre-goers from all walks of life and The Lord

Chamberlain’s Men became one of the most popular attractions in the city. Shakespeare became a

successful actor and writer. It is believed by many that Shakespeare died on his birthday in 1616

at the age of 52. He had published at least 37 plays and 154 sonnets as well as numerous lyric

poems. His plays covered a number of subjects and styles including comedies, tragedies,

romances, and historical plays. His work was extremely popular in his day and now over 400 years

later, he still reigns supreme as the most produced playwright in the world.

Shakespeare is still produced more than any other playwright in the world!

Reflection Questions

Why do you think

Shakespeare’s style and body of

work still seem relevant to today’s

audiences?

What is it about the themes,

ideas, or style that still feels current

and exciting today?

alas: this word is used to express sadness or

regret. “I wish to ask her to the prom. Alas, she

is going with another.”

anon: soon; in a moment.

bodkin: dagger.

century: one hundred. “I have a century of

assignments to finish.”

cut-purse: thief.

don: to put on. “I shall don a hat for the

ballgame.”

dram: a little bit; a small amount.

forsooth: in truth; truly.

gaskins: loose-fitting breeches.

gleek: a taunt; an insult.

harpy: a mythical creature with the head of a

woman and the wings and talons of a vulture;

this creature usually symbolizes revenge.

henceforth: from now on; from this time

forward. “Henceforth, I shall never forget to

floss.”

jack: a man with mean and lousy manners.

kicky-wicky: girlfriend or wife (used in a merry

way).

knave: a scoundrel; or a young boy; or a male

servant.

livings: possessions.

loggerhead: numbskull.

love-shaked: lovesick (as though someone is

shaking with a love fever)

mountebanks: a con-man who sells fake

medicine.

ninny: a fool; a simpleton.

oft: often. “How oft I think of thee.”

perchance: perhaps; possibly; maybe. “Perchance we shall

meet again.”

prithee: please. “Prithee pass the salt.”

posy: a short line of poetry, often inscribed inside a ring.

remembrances: memories; or love-tokens, keepsakes.

saucy: naughty.

slug-abed: a lazy person.

smilets: little smiles.

spongy: drunk; soaked with alchohol.

surmount: exceed; surpass.

taper: a candle.

‘tis: it is.

trimmed: dressed up.

tristful: sad; sorrowful.

truepenny: an honest, trustworthy fellow

unbend: relax.

untaught: unmannerly, ignorant.

villanies: evil qualities.

visage: face; appearance.

vizard: a mask.

wherefore: why?

yesternight: last night.

yonder: over there.

zenith: the highest

point of something.

zephyr: a gentle breeze

Improvising in the style of the Great Bard is no simple task. In order to make it really sing, the players must

have a deep understanding for the shape of Shakespeare’s works, the ways that he structured his plots, the

spectrum of characters and personalities that peopled his plays, and much more. Perhaps one of the most

basic elements that must be mastered is the language. Take a look at this glossary of common

“Shakespearean” words, and then try some of the fun, basic improv exercises with your class.

The glossary and exercises found on this page are provided by The Improvised Shakespeare Company and

Kids’ Entertainment.

DELVE INTO THE LANGUAGE WITH ACTIVITIES

The Shakespearean Actor’s Nightmare:

Two students are given Shakespearean texts which they

will be allowed to use in the scene; one is not. The stu-

dents with texts may only speak in the scene using lines of

dialogue from the text. The student without a text must

respond to the other players without set lines, making

sense of their dialogue within the scene.

Exit Line:

A player is given a reason to exit the stage. The player

must then exit creating a rhyming couplet to justifying

their exit before they leave. For example, if a student is

told that they must leave the stage because they are being

chased by a bear, they might say, “Farewell my friends,

stay I do not dare. I must leave in haste, for I’m chased by

a bear!”

Writing a Play

Actively improvising on stage may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but

writing is really a form of improvisation as well. Essentially, the ISC

writes a new play every time they perform. In order to make their

performances work, they must adhere to some of the basic concepts

of playwriting. Below is a brief explanation of the main components of

any play. Using this list, have students brainstorm the basic outline of

a play—they should be sure to include a description of how their play

fulfills each of the major elements. Individually, or in groups, have

students write either a short play (5-10 pages) or a scene from a larger

play based on their brainstorms.

Character—Each of the characters in the play should have a clear

motive (something they want to get or achieve) and they must take

steps towards their goal.

Conflict—Conflict in a play can also be thought of as another way of

saying “obstacle”. The conflict in the play happens when something or

some event gets in the way of the characters as they attempt to meet

their goals. The conflict is what holds the audience on the edge of

their seats! Often the conflict comes from the characters in the play

having opposing goals.

Setting—When and where does your play take place? A very specific

setting can help to inform who the characters are and what the

conflicts might be. However, it is also possible to offer a vague setting

and leave it open to audience interpretation.

Plot—The plot is really the combination of the characters and the

conflict. Your plot will be determined by who your characters are,

what they want, and what is standing in their way. As they try to clear

the obstacles, the action and dramatic tension will ramp up. As they

achieve their goals (or not), the story will settle and resolve and we

will see how the characters carry on after the results of the action. All

of this rising and falling action is the plot.

Dialogue—Dialogue is what the characters say to one another onstage. The

dialogue informs the audience of what is happening and what the characters

are thinking. An important but sometimes more subtle element of dialogue is

the fact that different people speak differently, so different characters should

sound different in terms of their speech patterns or the words you choose for

them.

Theme—The theme of the play is the larger idea or question that you want the

audience to be left with after the play is over. A theme is something which can

be taken out of the context of the play and applied to everyday experiences.

Your theme might come in the form of a statement or it might be in the form of

a question. There may even be more than one theme in your play. The most

important thing about the theme of the play is that it is something that the

playwright is interested in or excited about. This excitement or interest will

allow the theme to come out naturally in the play/story without the writer

having to push or feed the audience too much.

Using the elements of playwriting as

your guide, explore the performance of

The Improvised Shakespeare Company.

What characters did you see in the

ISC performance and what did they

want?

How were the characters different

from one another? How did the

actors show the audience those

differences? How did the different

characters affect the overall plot?

What was/were the major conflict(s)

in the performance? What was the

moment of the most tension (or the

climax) of the play? How did the

action resolve after that moment and

what became of the various

characters?

Did you get a sense of the setting for

the play? How did you know where

the characters were?

What theme or themes did you pick

up on in the performance? What

moments in the play were the most

exciting/funny/moving? Why?

The Art Form: Theater

What is theater? Webster’s dictionary says, “a dramatic performance.” Drama is any kind of performance that

presents tells a story through character, action, and dialogue. Some say that theater portrays life—either as it is or

as it might be. But one of the things that makes theater different from real life is that things can happen in theater

that cannot happen in real life—in other words, things that appear to be magical. Mythical creatures of all kinds

appear in the dramatic performances of cultures around the world.

It is believed that people have been acting out stories forever. In all cultures around the world people performed

for each other by acting out stories they knew by heart because they’d heard them or seen them acted out by

others, or because the event happened to them. It wasn’t until about 2,500 years ago (500 B.C.E.) that some Greek

playwrights wrote down the conversations they wanted others to say. These are believed to be the first written

plays and mark the beginning of the western theater as we think of it today.

READ & EXPLORE: Click here for a more in-depth description of theater history and language and terminology.

Moving Through Space: Stock Characters

In creating their improvisational plays, the actors of

Improvised Shakespeare become characters drawn from

Shakespeare’s wide variety of plays, often changing roles

many times. Give your students the challenge of becoming

different stock characters with the following exercise.

Ask your students to find their own space in the room. Explain

that you will describe different stock Shakespearean

characters and, as you do, students are to transform

themselves into those characters and move around the space.

Encourage students to consider changing their postures, facial

expressions or gestures between the different characters.

Choose characters from the list below, providing

opportunities for all students to play both genders as the

actors of the ISC do.

Once all students have had a chance to become these

characters, tell them that they are now going to change from

one character to another as you call them out. Instruct them

to do this by exiting a few feet as one character and then, as

you count 1-2-3-4-5, enter as another, repeat until they have

had the opportunity to repeat the characters a few times.

Ask students: What part of your body did you

change the most as you transformed into different

characters? How did you keep track of the different

characters?

Male

• Braggart soldier

• Bumbling rustic

• Young lover

• Paranoid king

Female

• Young, innocent woman, courtly

• Ambitious and manipulative queen

• Working class, bawdy woman

• Witty, independent thinker

WORDS COME ALIVE: Arts Integration Activities Providing the opportunity to actively explore the world of the show helps students become more engaged and

connected audience members, thinking about artists’ choices and approaching the performance with enhanced

curiosity. For more information about our arts integration activities, click here, call 652-4548, or email

schoolprograms@flynncenter.org.

Junior Show Choir: “The Lion King” Flynn Youth Theater Company, “Into the Woods”

ECHO: Adapting Shakespearean

Phrases

The actors of The Improvised Shakespeare Co.

spontaneously create their improvised lines in

many ways. One of their approaches is to change

famous Shakespearean quotes to adjust to the plot

of the play they are creating. To give students a

chance to play with words this way, ask them all to

first say the quote from Hamlet as it is: ”The lady

doth protest too much, methinks.” Then ask for

volunteers to say this line with different emotions

(e.g. angrily, laughingly, sarcastically, coyly). After

each student recites the line, ask the other

students to echo or mimic the specific way it is said.

After saying the line in several ways, brainstorm

words to replace “lady” and “protest” (e.g. “The

horse doth chew too much, methinks.”) Invite

students to create new versions of the line and say

the new lines with appropriate feelings.

Divide the students into small groups, and assign

each group one of the famous quotes below. Ask

them to come up with 5 different ways to change

the content of the line and a new expression or

emotion with which to recite their new line.

Ask for groups to volunteer to present their

discoveries.

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?

To be or not to be: that is the question.

Now is the winter of our discontent.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

Ask students: What situations came to mind when

you heard certain adapted lines? What character

(s) do you imagine saying those lines? If you were

in an actor in this company and the line was said

to you, how might you react to it?

FREEZE: Improvised Scenes

The actors of the ISC are well-seasoned improvisers, able to

take an audience suggestion and spontaneously create a play

together. Give your students the opportunity to experience

the challenge of improvising freely. Begin by having the

students write down invented titles of plays on small pieces of

paper. Collect these papers and put them in a basket. To

warm up their imaginations, ask students to stand and find

their own spaces inside the room. Pull a title from the basket

and state the title aloud. Ask your students to individually get

into frozen positions of characters that they think would be in

a play of this title. Repeat this exercise several times.

Next have students sit down to form an audience. Ask two

volunteers to randomly pick one title from the basket,

announce it, and without talking, get into frozen positions of

characters they think would be in that play. Instruct one

character to come to life, look at the position of the other

actor and then respond to the character with the title in mind.

The other actor then comes to life and they improvise

together. After a minute or so, say “Freeze!”. Choose one

volunteer from the audience to tap one of the frozen

characters on the shoulder and assume that character’s

position. Then say “Unfreeze!” and the actors continue the

play with the same title previously stated. The new actor can

choose to literally take the place of the character s/he is

replacing or introduce a new character to the evolving story.

Continue with this pattern for a few actor switches, and then

instruct one pair to end the play. Play this theater game again

using new titles, as attention allows.

Ask actors in improvised play: What surprised you about this

process? What was easy? What was hard?

Ask students in audience: What did you notice about the

different choices the actors made? What acting skills did you

see before you?

The Flynn Center

The Flynn has been at the center of Vermont's cultural

landscape for over 80 years—from its earliest days as a

vaudeville house through five decades as a movie theater to its

present life as the region's leading performance center and

arts education organization. Today, the Flynn Center for the

Performing Arts is recognized internationally for its significant

artistic, educational, and community outreach activities;

superb technical capacity; beautiful historic setting; and world-

class presentations. At the Flynn, we celebrate a rich legacy of

connecting our community with the arts. The Flynn is

recognized for its stellar artistic programming in theater, dance, and music; and for educational programs

that reach far into the community to advance teaching and learning. For more about the Flynn, click here.

DISCUSS BEING A

MINDFUL AUDIENCE

MEMBER:

How is going to see a live

theatre performance

different from seeing a

movie, going to a

concert, or watching TV?

In small groups, come up

with a list of positive

audience behaviors, and

behaviors that would be

disruptive to performers

and other audience

members. Come

together and create a

master list.

Etiquette for Live Performances

The Essentials

Listen, experience, imagine, discover, learn!

Give your energy and attention to the performers.

At the end of the show, clap for the performers’ time and energy.

Eating, drinking, and chewing gum are not okay.

Talk only before and after the performance.

Turn off wireless devices. No photos, videos, texting, or listening to music.

Why is Etiquette Important?

A good live performance is a powerful communication

between audience and performer. The more the audience

gives to the performer, the more the performer can give

back to the audience. The performer hears the audience

laughing, senses its sympathy, and delights in the

enthusiasm of its applause. Furthermore, each audience

member affects those sitting near him or her, in addition to

the performers onstage. Technological devices (cameras,

phones, etc.) have become so prevalent in our daily lives,

but using these devices is distracting to the performers

onstage and other audience members trying to watch the

show. Even the light from checking the time, or the buzz of a phone on vibrate can pull

the people around you out of the experience. Cell phone frequencies can even interfere

with the microphones in the production, and taking photos can be unsafe for performers.

Additionally, an artist has the right to decide what photos and videos go out into the

world. Phones keep you from being present and fully engaged with the show. Thank you

for turning devices completely off!

We can’t wait to see you at the theater!

Teachers, a few reminders:

Fill out the Seating and Travel Survey, so we can best accommodate your group’s needs in regards to dismissal,

bussing, students with different needs, etc.

Share your experience with us! Use the feedback links, or share your students’ artwork, writing,

responses. We love to hear how experiences at the Flynn impact our audiences.

Explore other student matinees at the Flynn this season. We’ve still got seats in some shows and we’d love to

help you or other teachers at your school enliven learning with an engaging arts experience!

We have some new initiatives to deepen student connection and experience!

Pre or Post-Show Video Chats: Help students build enthusiasm or process their

experience with a free, 5-10 minute video chat before or after the show! We

can set up Skype/Facetime/Google Hangouts with your class to answer

questions about the content, art form, and experience. Contact Kat,

kredniss@flynncenter.org to set up your chat!

Autism and Sensory-Friendly Accommodations: The Flynn Center has been

working diligently to break down barriers for audience members with

disabilities, with a particular focus on those with sensory-sensitivities. Social

stories, break spaces, sensory friendly materials, and more are available for all

student matinees. Feel free to let us know ahead of time if any of these would

be useful, or ask an usher at the show!

Make your field trip the most meaningful learning experience it can be with a preparatory

Companion Workshop in your classroom!

An engaging Flynn Teaching Artist can come to your school to deepen students’ understanding of both content and form

with an interactive workshop, enriching kids’ matinee experiences. Funding support is often available. To learn more, check

out this link. To book a workshop, click here. Questions? Contact Sasha: schoolprograms@flynncenter.org or (802)652-

4508

Re-stock your teaching toolkit and reignite your passion with upcoming professional

development opportunities for educators!

Get certification renewal credits, invigorate your teaching, and learn new teaching strategies that can be tailored to most

curricular material. Sponsored by the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center

November 12, 4-6PM: Workshop with Improvised Shakespeare—Chicago’s Improvised Shakespeare company leads a two

-hour workshop specially designed for Middle and High School teachers. This workshop is sure to be rapid-fire fun that

gives you new tools to get kids’ creative and critical thinking juices flowing! 2 credit hours

November 18, 9-3PM: Engaging Active Learners Conference—Now in its 7th year, we are proud to offer a full-day

conference on arts integration for Vermont educators! In collaboration with the Creative Schools Initiative, we’re thrilled to

welcome five of the nation’s top experts on arts integration to the Flynn to work with educators. In addition, choose from

a variety of content- and grade-specific teacher break-outs and hands-on workshops, and snag resources to take back to

your school. Come be part of the conversation and leave inspired! 6 credit hours

Register Now!

Hello from

the Flynn!