More High Schools Should Be Doing Shakespeare.

(Photo: Ripon High School’s Much Ado About Nothing)

by Chris Peterson

Dear high school theatre directors: when was the last time your school performed Shakespeare? If the answer is “not recently,” ask why.

Maybe the language feels intimidating. Maybe you worry students will not connect to it, or that audiences would rather see something familiar. I get that. Shakespeare can feel like a risk when you are trying to build a season that keeps students excited.

But high school students are more ready for Shakespeare than many adults think. I know because I was one of them. I was not some Shakespeare kid walking around quoting iambic pentameter. But sophomore year, I appeared in The Comedy of Errors, and it changed the way I understood theatre.

Suddenly, Shakespeare was not dusty literature from a classroom. It was confusion, timing, physical comedy, mistaken identity, and the joy of being ridiculous while still having to be precise. That show made me feel like I belonged onstage in a new way.

That is what Shakespeare can do for students. It asks them to slow down, listen harder, speak clearly, and understand what they are saying. They cannot coast on charm or volume. They have to make choices and think.

And the material still connects. Teenagers understand love that feels urgent, the pressure of reputation, the mess of identity, and the feeling that adults are not listening. You do not have to force Shakespeare to matter to young people. You just have to help them find the human being underneath the language.

Too often, high school theatre stays with what feels safe. Big musicals and familiar comedies have their place, but students also deserve work that stretches them. Shakespeare does that.

It gives actors a different kind of confidence. It teaches them how to hold a room with language and move past the fear of sounding foolish. It can also sharpen the whole program if the director trusts the students with the challenge.

And yes, some of them will struggle at first. Good. That is part of the point. The answer is not to lower the bar before they get a chance to reach it. The answer is to guide them through the hard part.

Cut the text if you need to. Choose a version that fits your students. Set it wherever you want if it helps unlock the story. But do not skip it because you assume they cannot handle it. They can.

High school theatre should not only give students what is easy to perform. It should give them work that makes them braver and more aware of what they can do in front of an audience.

So put Shakespeare back on the table. Your students might surprise you, and they deserve the chance.