Q&A: Peggy O'Brien

In this interview, Peggy O’Brien, the Folger’s Founding Director of Education, shares a first look into the new lineup of adult classes offered through the Folger Shakespeare Library’s The Humanities Lab program.

The first class, Shakespeare 101, is designed to make learning about Shakespeare accessible, engaging, and—most importantly—fun for everyone, no matter your level of experience with Shakespeare’s works. Keep reading to get a sneak peek into the interactive, hands-on learning opportunities that await.

Q&A

Who is the ideal participant for Shakespeare 101?

Shakespeare is for everybody, so the exciting thing to me is that these classes are for everybody. And that for the first time, the Folger is offering classes and workshops for general adult audiences. I hope that we have folks who are fans of this guy, and also those who may have had a wretched time with Shakespeare. Or folks who might think “What’s the big deal about Shakespeare anyway?” I’m looking forward to Shakespeare skeptics and Shakespeare fans. coming with all levels of knowledge, all levels of skepticism, and all levels of experience or inexperience . . . and that makes for exciting sessions for everybody.

In these workshops, you are bringing in some aspects of the Folger Method that you’ve been developing and sharing with educators and classrooms of students for decades. How does the Folger Method work for adult learners of Shakespeare?

In the very first workshop, participants will learn that this is not a lecture. We will cover Shakespeare’s biography and the story of Emily and Henry Clay Folger for sure at some point—that will take ten minutes. Instead, we’ll start with Shakespeare’s language—because while lots of people feel that Shakespeare’s language can be a real barrier . . . guess what? It’s really the way in! Some people may have gotten a hint of working with language already if they’ve “blessed” and “burned” each other in the Shake Up Your Shakespeare interactive exhibit in the Folger’s Shakespeare Exhibition Hall. We’ll continue to experience Shakespeare mostly actively, in several different ways, all of which are rooted in current scholarship and research . . . because we’re the Folger!

How will the Folger’s exhibition halls and collections inform The Humanities Lab classes?

In the upcoming Shakespeare 101 workshop, we’re going to look at Shakespeare through different lenses. The first lens is language, as I said. Another is scholarship, and we’ll get a sense of how scholars and researchers continue to offer us new ways to consider these old plays. Another lens is the historical context around how these plays came to be. We will spend time in the Exhibition Halls with a particular focus on the First Folios, how they were printed, and learn what was happening in those printing houses anyway.

What do you want people to take away from the experience?

We would be honored if people bring their whole selves and their interest in learning something new, and dive in. Don’t just bring yourself with an English accent to learn Shakespeare. Bring your curiosity, and then we’ll go from there. That’s the grounding for everything we do as lifelong learners. And after the class wraps, if our participants are saying, “Gosh I had no idea about that” or “This makes me want to learn more about that,” then we are off to a good start.