To understand Shakespeare, listen to The Weeknd.
I'm not kidding. I play "Save Your Tears" for my students because the verses are in the exact poetic meter that Shakespeare is famous for - iambic pentameter. (Likewise, the witches of MacBeth could chant to Nirvana). I find that if linked to things a student is already familiar with, even a topic as famously dense as Elizabethan verse can be made comprehensible.
Understandability is one of the four guiding values I use in my teaching.
Below, you will find information about my education, courses I've taught, lectures I've given, and plays I've directed. If you'd like to download a full CV as a PDF click the link below.
The New School for Drama
New York City
grad. 2011
St. Olaf College
Northfield, Minnesota
grad. 2006
St. Olaf College
Northfield, Minnesota
grad. 2006
Adjunct Professor: Fall 2018 - Present (Spring 2022)
Faculty Associate: Fall 2019
Adjunct Professor: Fall 2018 - Fall 2019
Youth camp Instructor: July 2019
for the course "Acting Concentration for Stage and Screen Seminar"
School of Film, Dance, and Theatre - Arizona State University. Tempe, AZ 2020
a play by John Osborne
EMCC Performing Arts Center. Avondale, AZ 2021
for the EMCC company of "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre
EMCC Performing Arts Center - Avondale, AZ 2021
Bertolt Brecht
Copyright © 2022 Jonathan Ziese - actor and educator - All Rights Reserved.