Addison Trail seniors Hailey Chiovino (pictured above, left) and Petya Haralanova (pictured above, right) have been participating in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s fourth annual Chicago Shakespeare Slam since September – and the public is invited to view their final work.
The Chicago Shakespeare Slam is an event that encourages teens to engage with Shakespeare’s compositions in a fun and exciting way. Chiovino and Haralanova worked with students from high schools throughout the Chicago region to create a collaborative, filmed production of “Hamlet.” Although the program took place virtually this year because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, participants were still able to have a tremendous experience through a series of filmed workshops, live video conference gatherings and more.
According to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater website at www.chicagoshakes.com/education/student_programs/shakespeareslam, “Each team will rehearse, perform and record its contribution to the SLAM community’s unique staging of ‘Hamlet.’ Woven together with narration, the recorded scenes will tell the story of a ‘Hamlet’ that is inextricably bound to their own stories, as our students’ lives collide with history in the making.”
Two full-length films that include each school’s performance will air on Jan. 13 and 14. The Addison Trail students will be featured at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13. To watch the production, go to www.chicagoshakes.com/slam2020. The performances will present a gender-bending, racially diverse, student-directed and planned journey through “Hamlet.”