BL’s First Annual Sophomore Shakespeare Showcase

The Sheridan Theater transformed into the Globe on Tuesday afternoon, and the sophomore class turned into an acting troupe for the First Annual Shakespeare Showcase. Working together within their English classes, sophomores acted out the entirety of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Each of the seven classes presented its own segment of the play, in different unique styles, which ranged from Star Wars to High School to WWI. Each student learned lines, helped plan staging, and brought in costumes and props.

The event marked the culmination of the Shakespeare unit, which began with the entire class journeying to Baltimore’s Chesapeake Shakespeare Company to take in a professional production of the play. Sophomore teachers A.J. Kohlhepp and Elizabeth Hopkins, who worked tirelessly to bring the Shakespeare Showcase into fruition, were pleased with the results.

“When I heard about this project from Dr. Kohlhepp, I was excited at the prospect of the students taking ownership of a section of the play,” said Ms. Hopkins, “Seeing them work through the lines and put their own spin on it was really rewarding.”

Will Holmgren ’25, who is in Dr. Kohlhepp’s F Block class, agreed: “We had a lot of creative ideas. It was fun to customize the scene and make it our own.”

For some students, like Robert Locke ’25, the performance was a first opportunity to act in front of an audience.

“It was important to me to put emotion into my actions and words. I didn’t want to just do it monotone,” he said, adding, “I was a little worried about it at first, but it ended up working out.”

The English department hopes that the Shakespeare Showcase might become an annual tradition, whereby every future Laker would have the opportunity to perform the immortal words of the Bard.