Summer Shakespeare at Notre Dame began like most great success stories do – with a dream and a notebook filled with ideas to make that dream come true.

"In a funny way, it all began in London," says Paul Rathburn, an emeritus English professor at Notre Dame.

In London, Rathburn introduced his course "Shakespeare in Performance." He stressed that Shakespeare belongs in the theatre as much as it does in the classroom. This theory would become the foundation upon which Summer Shakespeare was built, though the successful program has gone through many stages of development since its conception.

The close proximity of Shakespearean performances to the classroom in London allowed Rathburn to schedule his syllabus around 10 plays. The students would head to the West End in London, Oxford or Cambridge to see the particular play they had studied. After the performances, Rathburn invited the professional Shakespearean actors to come to his classroom.

"Some of the greatest Shakespearean actors in the world came into our classroom to explain why they portrayed their characters the way that they did," said Rathburn. The students had the opportunity to discuss Shakespeare with many renowned artists, including Anthony Hopkins. "The students could actually ask Anthony Hopkins, `Why did you do this particular thing in Scene Three?' What an experience."

When Rathburn returned to Notre Dame, he wanted to continue the course that he classifies as not straight Shakespeare, not straight theatre, but a combination of both. Unlike in London live Shakespearean plays were not readily and consistently available on campus. He looked to other venues, including Chicago and Stratford, as well as regularly showing films of Shakespeare's plays.

"And then a light bulb went off," he said. "It's great to see professional actors performing the play, but there is another step to bring students closer to the plays." Instead of just having a student study the character of Desdemona, Rathburn wanted students to become Desdemona.

Rathburn began asking his students to perform four times during the semester, and brought in actors from the London Stage to critique the roles that the students had been preparing for five weeks.

"In 25 years, you might remember that you took a class in Shakespeare at Notre Dame. But you will never forget the time you stood up and became Desdemona if you put your heart into it. I am convinced it is the best way to teach Shakespeare to students," said Rathburn.

Rathburn invited a professional director to help team teach his class to give the students two unique views on Shakespeare in text and in performance.

"What would be the next step?" he asked. "Let's do some of our own plays, let's produce plays."

The toughest aspect of producing a play at Notre Dame is securing Washington Hall for a performance during the school year. Rathburn needed at least six weeks of rehearsals. As the only theater on campus, Washington Hall was simply not available for that duration. Rathburn had noticed, however, that during the summer, Washington Hall sat dark and quiet.

"I decided to light it up," he said.

He did so by introducing Notre Dame to Summer Shakespeare.

Summer Shakespeare combines everything Rathburn had introduced into his classroom for 10 years into a large scale, high quality production that is accessible to both the Notre Dame community and those surrounding the campus.

Students can audition for the summer program, which counts as six credits towards English or Film, Television and Theater. The program supplies half of the cost of tuition and on-campus housing for the students. Those chosen for parts spend the first two weeks in the classroom studying the play in great detail.

The professional actors arrive after the students have thoroughly learned the play. The cast takes over Washington Hall with the cooperation of the FTT department. They spend seven hours a day, six days a week rehearsing. Students are involved in acting, understudying for professionals, costume design, lighting or set design, directing and numerous other aspects of the production. Each professional actor works closely with one student as a mentor.

"Training with a professional actor is indispensable," says David Hartwig, this year's company manager who also acted in last year's production. "I learned more about acting than I ever had, and I have been acting since I was five."

With generous donations by alumni and other supporters, as well as the cooperation and encouragement of the University's administration, Summer Shakespeare's inaugural production of "Taming of the Shrew" hit the stage in the summer of 2000. According to Rathburn, "Taming of the Shrew" always sells tickets well, and so is an ideal opening play. The next summer "Much Ado About Nothing" received national recognition. Seasoned actors began to apply for the professional roles as acclaim grew.

In the summer of 2002, Summer Shakespeare's production of "The Tempest" continued to bring attention to the program, including a plug by Regis Philbin on his morning talk show.

"I loved learning so much about Shakespeare, about performing Shakespeare," said sophomore Elizabeth Grams, who worked as assistant stage manager on "The Tempest" and will play a fairy in this summer's production.

This summer, the program will present "Midsummer Night's Dream," which will feature 10 Notre Dame students on stage.

The Summer Shakespeare program's educational mission benefits the participating students, but Rathburn stresses that another integral element of the mission statement is equally important.

"This is for the community. A quarter of a million people live in a small radius around Notre Dame, and we want to invite them to come onto campus," said Rathburn. "It is healthy for Notre Dame to look out to the community, and it's also good for the community."

Summer Shakespeare uses the four local television and 11 radio stations to reach the public and casts one local person in a small role in the play.

Local residents of all ages are also invited to participate in ShakeScenes, an outgrowth of the original program. In an effort to contest the shrinking budgets for the arts in schools around the country, ShakeScenes invites grade school, high school, or local college students can participate in the outdoor festival in which groups act out scenes from the plays. Summer Shakespeare pays a teacher a fee to become coach to the young actors, who rehearse the scene, develop costumes and perform on campus. Family members can watch the 25-minute performances for free. Rathburn hopes ShakeScenes will continue to grow until the event fills the campus with community members who would otherwise never have come to Notre Dame.

Though it began as a small dream, Summer Shakespeare has become a nationally recognized program. "I'm stunned when I think of how far we have come. And I do mean `we,'" said Rathburn, emphasizing that credit for the program's success must be distributed across campus to administration and across the country to the alumni who have contributed.

Summer Shakespeare is part of the Shakespeare Initiative, a larger University effort to make Notre Dame a prominent place in the study of Shakespearean performance. The Shakespeare initiative will ensure that something Shakespeare will happen 12 months out of the year.

Another important promoter of the Initiative will be McMeel Chair holder Peter Holland. Holland studied at Stratford-Upon-Avon and is an internationally renowned Shakespearean scholar with particular interest in the performance of Shakespeare. Holland will join the Notre Dame community in the fall of 2003 and will work with the Summer Shakespeare program, as well as the FTT program and the artistic director of the new Performing Arts Center in order to promote Shakespeare on campus.

The library is also expanding its collection of Shakespearean literature, including historical documents, and the new Performing Arts Center will provide stages upon which students can perform Shakespeare during the year and at Summer Shakespeare. The Initiative is bringing in guest speakers and lecturers throughout the academic year to heighten interest. Well-known actors such as Claire Bloom, Brian Bedford, Michael York and Christopher Plummer will perform and speak on campus, actors from the London Stage will visit classrooms and Shakespearean scholars will lectures throughout the year.

"Shakespeare uses themes and ideas that are still just as relevant today, if not more so," said Hartwig. "To understand drama today, you have to understand Shakespeare because he created `real' characters, three-dimensional characters, or is you look at ghosts, sometimes four-dimensional. He is unrivaled in dramatic history."

Notre Dame is also bringing in quality theatre performances with Rathburn's help in an effort to get the student body more involved in the performing arts. On March 7 and 8, the Guthrie Theater will present, "The Stuff of Dreams," an original play by Bill Corbet, on its world premiere tour.

"Guthrie is an incredibly high quality level of theatre," said Hartwig. "It is bar-none the best regional theatre in the county and it gives students another opportunity to see fantastic theater on campus."

Members of the Guthrie Theatre will arrive on campus on March 6 and professors can invite them to visit their classes to talk about anything the professor desires. The two performances will be at Washington Hall at 7:30 p.m. and tickets for students are $7, which Rathburn hopes will entice students in spite of the spring break exodus.

"One sentence sums it up," said Rathburn. "In terms of theatre, the Shakespeare Initiative is clearly the most exciting development in the history of the University of Notre Dame."

An important part of the Initiative, Summer Shakespeare will only grow larger as it gains nationally recognition.

And it all began with a dream and a notebook.

"To have a dream is great," says Rathburn, "but to have it come true."

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