It is notoriously difficult to teach dramatic texts in the classroom. One is tempted to treat them as if they were texts for reading: the technology of the book is awfully good at delivering words, whereas other aspects of theatrical production become weak or unwieldy when removed from the performance space. In this article, Friedlander describes the Shakespeare Project at Stanford, which he devised, in the late 'eighties, to bring a broader spectrum of the theatrical experience into the classroom. At that time everything was running on a Mac Plus, based on HyperCard, and linked to a videodisc player and monitor. The monitor would show recordings of scenes from Shakespeare and other playwrights; the computer screen would provide annotations, and make it possible for students to work with the images in various ways. Also included were a hypertext library "with a dynamic index system," a collection of interactive tutorials, and a program for writing "multimedia essays." The most ambitious and original application was something called "TheaterGame," which helped students to learn blocking (the movements of characters onstage) by animating little cartoon guys whose activities could be synchronized with the dialogue. Friedlander concludes this article with recommendations for designing computer-based pedagogy. His ideas are refreshingly commonsensical, compared to the hot air emitted by so many writers on this topic. The Shakespeare Project addresses a real problem, and it sounds as if it actually works. Or maybe it just looks good on paper. (Steve Schroer.)
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Michael Hancher

Department of English, University of Minnesota

URL: http://umn.edu/home/mh/ebibss1.html

Comments to: mh@umn.edu

Created 21 May 1995

Last revised 17 September 1996