All of the second level IB Literature classes will be traveling to the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. on Feb. 8 to see the play, Hamlet.

This trip will include both the standard and higher level classes, as both classes include Hamlet in their curriculum. The seniors will watch the play prior to studying “Hamlet” in class.

This is so that they will be able to have the additional background to the plot and become familiar with Shakespeare’s writing as well.

“Shakespeare already is pretty dense,” IB Literature HL teacher Sasha Duran said. “So I find that in the past that Hamlet is the one that is hardest to get through because students can’t quite envision what is supposed to be going on.”

Another purpose of the trip is that over 100 students will have a chance to view live theatre and experience an event they otherwise might not attend.

Preparations for the trip began last school year. Duran partnered with fellow English teacher Leslie Chekin to push the project off the ground. The company provided Duran with a contract during the fall and since December, she has started to collect money for the trip.

“She [Chekin] put me in contact with the Educational Coordinator at Shakespeare Theatre Company,” Duran said. “I said we needed approximately this many tickets and that we would be interested in doing this.”

Duran has also been contacted by other members of the educational department with additional information such as workshops for teachers, classroom materials and invitations for previews.

“It has been interesting to see that there is an entire department devoted to education at the Shakespeare Theatre Company,” Duran said.

The field trip is scheduled to occur after the seniors complete their Individual Oral Commentaries requirement for IB as well as a final paper for the novel Beloved. The trip will transition the focus of the class from essays and poems to the works of the second semester.