Bustling with students, the Little Theatre was filled on May ninth. Students were rushing to put their costumes on, practicing their lines at the last minute, and grabbing their props. Then, they were ready to perform.

Instead of typically sitting and reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Borger-Germann’s English 10 Honors classes performed short scenes. Students worked for three weeks picking a scene and then rehearsing it. Each group chose a theme for their scene.

“Somebody might do an 80s theme, or somebody might do a Safari jungle theme, so then they’re taking the play and kind of putting it in a different setting,” Borger-Germann said.

Lauren Hudachek ‘16 and her group decided to do a typical high school scene. Her group had a girly-girl, stoner, nerd, jock and a Goth.

Borger-Germann’s approach to Shakespeare is different than most curriculums, where she incorporates a performance aspect.

“I think Shakespeare is really hard to understand,” she said. “It’s a play that’s meant to be performed. I feel like students learn best if they can do, and not just read.”

Memorizing scenes can be difficult for students, but when students practice their scenes for weeks, it becomes natural for them.

“Yes, they do memorize their lines. I encourage them to. I suppose they don’t have to technically, but I really encourage them to. It’s hard not to memorize your lines when you rehearse them all day, every day for three weeks,” Borger-Germann said.

Borger-Germann does the play every year, and she gets excited to see the different ways her students portray their scenes.

“One year I had somebody set it in an arcade, and they took refrigerated boxes and made arcade machines. People will make bushes and trees. They make their stuff out of cardboard. We don’t have the luxury of an actual set and an actual theatre. We’re in the Little Theatre, it’s small. But it’s fun,” Borger-Germann said.

Even with the nerve of performing, especially in front of their peers, students always express excitement from performing a scene, setting it up, in general, all by themselves.

“I meet with each group for two days, and I help them with their blocking. In that time I’m coaching them on the meaning of their lines. But the rest of it, they’re coming up with it. The little tricks and jokes they do, that’s all them,” Borger-Germann said.

As an actor herself, Isabel Cody ‘16 was excited to act out her scene.

“Mrs. B is just a really great director,” Cody said. “I had a lot of fun.”