Stage It Free Instructional Resources
Free classroom resources for teaching Shakespeare and drama! Explore free videos, Shakespeare scripts, and classroom resources designed to help teachers bring drama into the classroom. These resources are especially useful for students ages 9–12 and can be used whether or not you have a background in theater.
Vocabulary & Pronunciation
Shakespeare's language can seem intimidating to students—and sometimes to teachers. These short videos with one page downloadable PDFs introduce vocabulary and pronunciation from the four Shakespeare plays included in Stage It: Making Shakespeare Come Alive in Schools. Use them before reading or rehearsing a play to help students become more comfortable with Shakespeare's language.
Check back soon as Henry V, Julius Caesar, and Othello are in development.
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Explore key vocabulary and pronunciation from the Stage It adaptation of Hamlet. This resource can be used before students begin reading or rehearsing the play.
Words starting with the letter A:
Vocabulary: Adieu, Alas, Anon, Assail, Aught, Augury, Aye
Words starting with the letters B-H:
Vocabulary: Bout, Chalice, Doth, Ducat, Hath, Hebenon, Hither
Words starting with the letters I-M:
Vocabulary: In’t, List, Matin, Methinks, Mountebank
Words starting with the letters N-P
Vocabulary: Nay, Ne’r, Perchance, Petard, Prithee
Words starting with the letters S-T:
Vocabulary: Squire, Thee, Thine, Thither, Thou, Thus, Thy, ‘Tis
Words starting with the letters U-Y:
Vocabulary: Unto, Wanton, Wherein, You
Free Shakespeare Scripts
Looking for a Shakespeare script you can use with students without making a purchase? Explore these free, classroom tested adaptations of Shakespeare plays. They are designed to make Shakespeare's language, characters, and stories accessible to young performers. Script collaborators through the years include April Cantor, T. Scott Lilly, Andrea Seigel, Jen Shirley, and Jennifer Wintzer. Many thanks to each of them for sharing their talents!
The downloadable PDFs are easiest to use in the classroom when photocopied back to back. More are forthcoming!
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Macbeth — Free Adapted Scripts
This adapted version of Macbeth provides a manageable introduction to Shakespeare's story and characters for younger performers.
Download free scripts below
This scripts are provided as a free classroom resource.
Shakespeare’s original Macbeth has been adapted into six digestible Acts. If you decide to do all six Acts, the approximate running time for the culminating performance is between 40-55 minutes.
Click on each Act below to download:
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Romeo and Juliet — Free Adapted Scripts
Below are two different adapted versions of Romeo and Juliet. One version is the whole play condenced into one Act and the second version is the play in three Acts.
Different versions are provided to allow flexibility in the time required to stage them.
The scripts are provided as a free classroom resource.
Click on the Act below to download if you want a play about 6-8 minutes running time:
Click on the three Acts below if you want a play of about 20-minutes running time
Want more resources?
Stage It: Making Shakespeare Come Alive in Schools provides teachers with a step-by-step approach to using Shakespeare and drama with students ages 9–12.
The book includes four abridged, royalty-free Shakespeare plays—Hamlet, Henry V, Julius Caesar, and Othello—along with acting scripts, contemporary-English versions, vocabulary support, lesson guidance, rehearsal strategies, and other classroom resources.
If you need a resource and don’t see it anywhere on this site, please email the author with your request.