Kindergarten students at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science acted out a scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Thursday, March 9, 2017 as the culmination of Artist In Residence Elizabeth Ware’s work with the students. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kindergarten students at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science acted out a scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Thursday, March 9, 2017 as the culmination of Artist In Residence Elizabeth Ware’s work with the students. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kaleidoscope students channel the Bard

  • By KAT SORENSEN
  • Saturday, March 11, 2017 9:40pm
  • News

All the world’s a stage, and on Thursday afternoon, the students at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science were the players.

After two weeks with Artist in Residence Elizabeth Ware, the students performed a series of excerpts from Shakespearian plays including “Hamlet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

Each grade, beginning with kindergarten, presented a “snippet of Shakespeare,” led by Ware. The younger classes focused on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Puck speaking to the fairies. Other classes transformed themselves into the “weird sisters and brothers” from “Macbeth” and recited the famous lines “double, double, toil and trouble.”

The older grades presented “Hamlet” and “Romeo and Juliet.”

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Utilizing wooden swords, fifth-grade students performed the first scene of “Romeo and Juliet,” dueling one another as Ware guided their steps from the side of a makeshift stage made in the school’s gymnasium.

“It’s hard for kids to coordinate, but the energy, history and education that the teacher shows to the audience is great,” said Ben Pettingill of Kenai. “It’s pretty cool, art creates personality.”

The “Hamlet” actors recited some of the play’s more famous lines, including “suit the action to the word, the word to the action,” which helped drive Ware’s lessons to the students during her two weeks at Kaleidoscope.

“(The line) is part of Hamlet’s advice to the players and we just drill that over and over again and try to have as much action as we can,” Ware said. “Of course, with the little ones, it’s nearly impossible, but in a half an hour, they learned six lines of Shakespeare.”

Ware, who lived in Anchorage for 25 years but now resides in Portland, Oregon, was a producer and feature actor with the Indiana Shakespeare Festival for 10 years. She started her Artist in Residence at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science at the end of February.

“One of the reasons that I like to teach Shakespeare to young people is that, if they can find out it’s fun, it demystifies it,” Ware said. “So, once they can do some action with it, they realize it’s not written in old english, that it is (plain) english.”

Reach Kat Sorensen at kat.sorensen@peninsulaclarion.com.

Artist in Residence Elizabeth Ware plays the role of Tatiana in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” while first-grade students from Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science acted as faeries on Thursday as the culmination of Ware’s work with the students. (Photos by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Artist in Residence Elizabeth Ware plays the role of Tatiana in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” while first-grade students from Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science acted as faeries on Thursday as the culmination of Ware’s work with the students. (Photos by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

More in News

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
King salmon fishing on Kasilof to close Thursday

If any king salmon is caught while fishing for other species, they may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

Un’a, a female sea otter pup who was admitted to the Alaska SeaLife Center in June 2025, plays with an enrichment toy at the center in Seward, Alaska. Photo courtesy of the Alaska SeaLife Center
SeaLife Center admits 2 seal pups, 1 orphaned otter

The three pups join the Alaska SeaLife Center’s ‘growing’ patient list.

James Wardlow demonstrates flilleting a salmon with an ulu during a smoked salmon demonstration, part of Fish Week 2023, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Refuge to celebrate all things fish during weeklong event

Fish Week will take place July 16-19.

President Zen Kelly speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School board finalizes budget with deep cuts to programming, classrooms

Multiple members of the board said they were frustrated by the state’s failure to fund education.

Former KPBSD Finance Director Liz Hayes speaks during a Kenai Peninsula Borough School District budget development meeting at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
School district finance department earns national awards

The two awards are based on comprehensive reviews of the district’s budget and financial reporting.

Children leap forward to grab candy during a Fourth of July parade on South Willow Street in Kenai, Alaska, on July 4, 2025. (Photo courtesy Sarah Every)
Celebrating the 4th in the streets

Kenai comes out for annual Independence Day parade.

Fire crews respond to the Bruce Fire, July 4, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Alaska Division of Forestry)
Firefighting crews respond to wildfire outside Soldotna

The 8-acre fire and two “spot fires” of less than one acre each are located near Mile 102 and 103 of the Sterling Highway.

Robert Weaver was last seen at the Doroshin Bay public use cabin on June 25, 2025. (Photo provided by the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge)
Updated: Refuge ends search efforts for missing man

Robert Weaver was last seen near Skilak Lake on June 25.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in