Joan Langley, Director of Education

Joan Langley is the Director of Education and of the OSF Institute at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Interview Excerpts

ON ENGAGING STUDENTS

So, we do – you know, if a teacher wants — is teaching Hamlet and they want to do, “To be or not to be,” well, then they need to get their kids up on their feet, speaking the line.  All together.

One of our big things is to not put kids on the spot.  Because I think when we think of getting our kids up on their learning Shakespeare, we think of individual students reading, or becoming those characters.  And for the majority of students that’s just – that’s intimidating and they don’t want to do that.  Except, of course, the kids that are interested in speech and debate or drama.  They’ll be happy to do it.  But the majority of the kids find that intimidating.  So how can we have multiple voices?  Kids not speaking by themselves so that they’re more comfortable inhabiting the language?  And therefore engaging them so that they are interested in pursuing Shakespeare.  Pursuing their reading, their understanding, their learning – their viewing of it, hopefully.

ON TEENAGERS AND TECHNOLOGY

JOAN LANGLEY: I can’t go up and down the street without seeing teenagers with stuff in their ears.  And not that that’s necessarily new – how they’re getting it is new.  But if they’re not plugged in there, they’re on the phone, or they’ve got their, you know, Palm Pilot – oh, that’s passé, I’m not even up on it all! – but, and sometimes it’s multiple modes.

I know I have teenagers at home that are on the phone, they’re watching TV, they’re playing video games – they’re doing stuff simultaneously, they’re being stimulated multiple ways.  And I feel – I’m just sort of, I feel like I’m in the soup right now, trying to figure out, given that, how do we need to change our approach to connecting those kids to Shakespeare’s language.  Because it can’t be the same as it was five years ago, or two years ago.  Things keep changing and we need to be addressing the kids where they are now.  Not expecting them to come to us.  If that makes sense.  I’m not quite sure what that means yet but I feel like – like I said, I feel like it’s working its way through my brain.  I’m just trying to figure out, “How can we best reach those kids?”  Who, even turning everything off is a big thing to ask.

ON COMMUNICATION THEN AND NOW

JOAN LANGLEY: Well, one of the things I always say to students is, “Of course we find Shakespeare’s language a reach.  Just in the same way as if we had a time machine and we transferred Joe Blow Elizabethan here and put him in front a music video – he would be as overwhelmed by the myriad of images as we are by the language.  Because we’re sophisticated in a completely different way than they were then.  And it doesn’t mean it’s not worth reaching for and working toward – because it’s – it’s a gift.  In the same way that Joe Blow Elizabethan, over time, would become sophisticated and able to process images as rapidly as we are.”  So, it’s just different.

STEVE ROWLAND:  That’s interesting.  I never really thought – do you think the average Elizabethan citizen was just much more sophisticated in dealing with language?

JOAN LANGLEY:  Absolutely.  Absolutely.

STEVE ROWLAND:  Can you explain that to me a little more?

JOAN LANGLEY:  Well, when you think about all the ways that we get information now – and not just through technology but through books, through newspapers, magazines; all the ways that – you know, obviously the Internet, etc. etc.  – TV, radio.  But back then, how did they get information?  They got information through live, human contact.  Through going and finding out what was going on by talking and listening, talking and listening.  So – and, that’s how they were social, as well.  So, I think the average person’s vocabulary was larger than ours is now.  Again, we – we communicate efficiently – I think – now.  And word play was – was something people – people valued and had a lot of fun with.  And that’s not necessarily something that – although, you know, that’s not – I mean, I think rap music, part of that, is playing with language.  So that there avenues in which we do that today.  But I think it was – I suspect it was more prevalent back in Shakespeare’s day.