Longtime Collaboration Brings Shakespeare to Life

4/8/2026

For as long as upper school English teacher Lisa Green can remember, her AP English Literature class has partnered with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare (HVS) theater company, based in Garrison, New York.

Last month, Green and fellow upper school English teachers Michaela Pembroke and Stephanie Andreassi led their grade 12 classes in a collaboration with the Shakespeare company’s teaching assistants. The workshops supported their studies of both “Hamlet" and “The Taming of the Shrew.” The professionally trained actors coached students as they rehearsed and performed their own Shakespearean scenes.

Green said, “HVS is a wonderful professional theater company, and they also offer such inspired educational programming: They are playful and fun and inclusive, and they always make risk-taking and learning from failure part of the workshops.”

Annadele Dyott, who was grouped with Neena Atkins, Caleb Grasheim and Sarelle Ruby, played the role of King Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. The classmates worked together on the fishmonger scene where King Claudius, Queen Gertude and Polonius discuss Hamlet's madness before confronting him.

“Working with HVS brought interesting insight into the text that was otherwise just studied in the classroom,” Dyott said. “It also allowed us to connect with local arts organizations that we might not have had the opportunity to otherwise. I learned how different performance choices — like tone, use of props and body language — can completely transform the message of the scene.”

Green’s students worked on dramaturgy (the study of dramatic composition) logs to help them think more deeply about “Hamlet” during the theater group’s visit.

“It's a joyful, collaborative experience where students get to create something together,” Green said. “And it's great for getting students who aren't ‘theater kids’ out of their comfort zone by encouraging them to try something new.”

Green hopes the experience will inspire her seniors to see more live theater. Later this month, teaching assistants from Hudson Valley Shakespeare will return to campus to work with ninth grade English classes on “Romeo and Juliet.”