Jamie Donohoe’s senior English classes performed scenes from Hamlet from November 29 to December 3.

This project involved “taking a scene from Hamlet and doing some acting work, some script work, throwing on costumes, getting in tights, and having some fun with Shakesphere,” explained Donohoe.  Ever since Donohoe started teaching senior English his students have been acting out Shakespeare’s verse.

“There’s not really one performance that really stands out.” Donohoe said. “You see some students who are really quiet and all of a sudden they burst onto the stage and blow the class away.”

Students worked on scenes for weeks, learning lines and learning how to become the director of their own scene, according to senior Erika Horst. She said that memorizing the lines for her scene was not too difficult. “I would memorize a couple a day and add it on to those I already knew…sometimes I would say them in the shower,” she said.

Horst preferred this project to writing an essay. “It helped me really understand my scene I did specifically,” she said.

Senior Graham Sninsky said, “At first, it was a little disorganized because we’re really not that communicative.” According to Sninsky, it was hard to rehearse because of differences in the group members’ schedules. “We went first so it wasn’t like we lowered the bar, but we lowered the bar,” he said.

Senior Courtney Seyranian enjoyed the project. She said, “It wasn’t too hard to memorize the lines. We got together and rehearsed and that was fun. I think people thought it was funny, I hope they did!”