2019 KATY MORRIS SHAKESPEARE SYMPOSIUM
ABOUT
Katy Morris Shakespeare Symposium occurs on the Southeastern Oklahoma State University campus in Durant, Oklahoma. The Symposium is named after the late Katy Morris, a lover of Shakespeare and an avid supporter of the arts.
The symposium's mission is to extend upon Katy Morris' passion for Shakespeare and rural education by providing a memorial Shakespeare Symposium that celebrates the depth and breadth of Shakespearean scholarship by promoting its universality to rural teachers, students, and community members in the southeastern quadrant of Oklahoma and beyond.
Since its inception, the Katy Morris Shakespeare Symposium has brought rural schoolteachers together with Shakespearean scholarship in order to keep the Bard alive and kicking in 21 st century education. These teachers leave the symposium with education beyond their college degrees, with theatrical and classroom applications, and multiple lesson plan ideas tointegrate Shakespeare into and beyond the standard curriculum and across disciplines. The Symposium joins with the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival and the Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s Department of Art, Communications, and Theatre to bring in notable scholars and artists who can share their expertise and talents with the teachers, students, and community members of a large and rural region of Oklahoma, often cutoff from access to such humanities due to location and culture.
THIS YEAR
On Tuesday, June 4th, the 8th Annual Katy Morris Shakespeare Symposium was attended by 15 current and future educators involved in 8 school systems (Bray-Doyle, Colbert, Durant Middle, Durant High, Pauls Valley, Sherman, SE and Wagoner); these educators personally served over 2,341 students in the 2018 -2019 academic year. The symposium provided five in-depth academic and applied workshops designed to prepare teachers to teach the miracle of Shakespeare. With titles such as “Moving with Shakespeare”, “Spicing up Shakespeare”, and “Living the Dream”, accompanied by three networking opportunities for all 15 attendees, the Shakespeare Symposium started off with a kick!
We are thrilled to announce that the event was a complete success! An anonymous survey is given to the workshop attendees to turn in at the end of the event. The survey covers 10 key elements involved in the production of the symposium. All 13 attendees filled out and turned in their surveys and the total was 669 out of a possible 650 points (a few took it upon themselves to award bonus points), with no score below a 4, resulting in the Katy Morris Shakespeare Symposium 2019 earning a score of 103%.”
The Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival is incredibly grateful to these outstanding individuals and their contribution to the phenomenon that surrounds making art. Many thanks to Shakespeare Symposium Coordinator, Kathleen Hardgrove for all the preparation and effort that made the Shakespeare Symposium a success! The OSF Company will carry on with their jaw-dropping Summer 2019 season, continuing the 40-year tradition of Keeping the Dream Alive!
