Shakespeare Laboratory

Grades 6-12

A deeper dive into storytelling and literacy — bringing the world of William Shakespeare to life through writing, performance, storytelling, and creative expression.

The 92NY Shakespeare Laboratory residency program brings Shakespeare to life for New York City students through performance, storytelling, writing, and creative collaboration.

Designed to make classical theater accessible, relevant, and deeply engaging for young audiences, the program pairs students with professional teaching artists for a multi-week residency that blends literary exploration with hands-on creative practice. Through close reading, scene work, improvisation, acting, and public speaking, students engage directly with Shakespeare’s language, themes, and characters while building confidence, communication skills, and creative agency.

Rather than approaching Shakespeare as a distant academic text, the residency invites students to experience the work as something immediate, emotional, and alive. By combining classroom learning with performance-based exploration, students encounter timeless themes such as identity, love, conflict, power, and belonging in ways that feel connected to their own lives and communities. The program’s collaborative, artist-led model encourages active participation and creative interpretation, creating meaningful entry points for students across learning styles and levels of familiarity with theater.

The residency culminates in a live in-school performance by professional actors followed by an interactive Q&A with the cast. The result is not simply a student matinee or classroom workshop, but an immersive theatrical experience that invites students to see Shakespeare, and themselves, in an entirely new way.