Dr. Meredith Tuttle Stukey took her HIS299 class on a field trip to Decatur, Illinois so her students could experience watching a live performance of The Tempest, one of Shakespeare’s plays at Millikin University.
Stukey is an Assistant Professor of Global and European History at Eureka College. Stukey attended Eureka College as a student and is now in her second year at Eureka as a professor.
This semester, Stukey is teaching HIS299 World of Shakespeare for the first time and decided to take her students on a field trip.
In preparation for the field trip, Stukey scoured the internet for Shakespeare performances that were being shown for the fall semester that would be in a three hour radius of the campus. She had a pretty difficult time finding what she was looking for and wished that university performances would promote their plays more.
Since the majority of Stukey’s students had never seen a live performance of Shakespeare’s plays before, she chose The Tempest. She chose this because it was one of Shakespeare’s more lighthearted plays with some romance and overall thought it would be a good first performance to see.
Stukey drove the Eureka van to Decatur for the trip, and before the performance, they stopped at Qdoba for supper. Then the class arrived at Millikin University to see The Tempest put on by the college students.
Stukey hopes that her students enjoyed the live performance and to see how everything comes together.
“I hope that they enjoy it and that seeing Shakespeare perform live makes it truly come alive for them. I also want them to see how different each staging of Shakespeare can be and appreciate the artistry of the players” said Stukey through email.
From the trip Stukey wants her students to see that Shakespeare is still culturally relevant today and the importance it has in history.
Navada Roberts is a sophomore and commutes from Metamora, Illinois to Eureka College. She is majoring in psychology and minoring in criminal justice.
Roberts is a student of the HIS299 class, and this was her first time seeing one of Shakespeare’s plays performed live. She states that by seeing the performance in person, she learned more about the dynamics of the characters and how the whole story fits together.
“I learned more about the dynamics of each character and the way that they presented themselves. It was easier to visualize because I got to see it,” said Roberts.
By seeing the Shakespeare play in person, Roberts was able to connect it back to when the class read The Tempest in class and made it more enjoyable.
Roberts states that her favorite character in the play was the monster.
“The monster was my favorite, because she was really into her character, and even though I did not recognize the character, I felt like it totally added to the plot and just made it that more enjoyable,” said Roberts.
Roberts had a really memorable trip from the ride to and from and really appreciated the actors’ performance, props, and the set of the play.
Kacie Morris is originally from Montana, and she is a freshman at Eureka College. Morris took HIS299 because she is a history major and really enjoys Shakespeare’s plays.
Morris states that she learned how difficult a Shakespearean play can be to perform.
“It’s really difficult to do Shakespeare, and it is inspiring how the actors were able to memorize everything,” said Morris.
Morris goes on to say that the actors did a really good job of making some of the scenes moving and emotional when needed.
Her favorite character of the play was Prospero, the mother of one of the main characters. In Shakespeare’s original play, Prospero is the father and Morris liked that they decided to have the part be played by a female. Morris admired the performance of the actress and all of her lines that she had to memorize. Morris enjoyed Millikin’s rendition of The Tempest. She liked how it was a little bit different and modernized from the original play.
Morris expresses that her favorite part was getting to the theater, seeing the characters, and the setup of the stage
Morris explains that for her first time seeing a Shakespeare play in person, it was entertaining to watch it live.
“I liked getting to be able to see a real show in person, and getting to sit up close,” said Morris.
She enjoys reading Shakespeare but seeing the play in person really helped Morris to understand The Tempest better.
The students enjoyed their excursion to Millikin University and Stukey hopes that even more students will take her Shakespeare in the World course in the future. She states that Shakespeare is an influential and fun part of history and hopes to take more field trips in the future.
