Situated in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse has delighted hundreds of thousands of audience members from all over the world.
The Blackfriars Playhouse is open year-round for performances of Shakespeare’s plays and contemporary works in productions hailed by The Washington Post as “shamelessly entertaining.”
Find out more about the American Shakespeare Center by going to https://americanshakespearecenter.com/
Students will explore what some of Shakespeare’s most interesting plays suggest about the nature of power: how both heroes and villains establish and use their authority, how they shape their own identities and destinies, and how they serve and/or undermine justice. You will also read other works that will contextualize your understanding of Shakespeare’s portrayal of power by deepening your appreciation of the culture of this period.
Assignment: Research-informed Analytical Essay
Length: 2000+ words
# of Sources: 4 (minimum) + the play
Citation Style: MLA
The books listed below are required reading for your course.
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth: Texts and Contexts by 
Hamlet by 
Julius Caesar, A Longman Cultural Edition by 
