BOOKS

Shakespeare & Violence Prevention
A Practical Handbook for Educators

“In this guide, Giguere details a practical and proven method of utilizing Shakespeare as a teaching tool. This is an important contribution to studies in both applied Shakespeare and violence prevention, and it will be impactful in the hands of both practitioners and educators.”

—Dr. Lezlie C. Cross, The Guthrie Theater

Shakespeare and Violence Prevention is a handbook that guides educators through an exploration of Shakespeare’s potential to address the public health issue of youth violence. Amanda Giguere presents Shakespeare’s plays as a tool to understand, address root causes of, and prevent violence in our own communities.

Framed by examples from Giguere’s work with the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program, an interdisciplinary outreach project for K–12 schools developed at the University of Colorado Boulder, the text offers helpful entry points, digestible research, and practical exercises to align a violence-prevention curriculum with Shakespeare’s plays.

The seven plays to date of Yasmina Reza, one of France’s most prominent female playwrights, are popular both in France and abroad. Despite her commercial success, her plays have often been ignored in academic circles, and few scholars have attempted to explore the mechanics of her playwriting. This text seeks to unpack the essentials of Reza’s style and to explore each play as a component of Reza’s theatrical oeuvre. The result is a fuller understanding of her theatrical poetics and her development as an artist.

This abridged version of the classic play, Cyrano de Bergerac, is appropriate for young audiences. Adapted for a 5-actor cast, with a run-time of approximately 50 minutes, this fast-paced, rhyme-filled play is perfect for classroom use or theatrical production. The text also includes resources for curricular connections and additional context.