Senior English Classes View “Women of Will”

Davis recounted how she brought Women of Will to Hopkins theater: “the event started as a spark of an idea after I saw the play a year ago at Southern Connecticut State University where Elm Shakespeare is in residence.” Davis detailed that she had “been working with Elm Shakespeare for years in my Shakespeare and performance class.” She thought that the Elm Shakespeare play “felt like an essay on stage, different from the average play” because the actors often break the fourth wall and include their own interpretations and analysis. Since Elm Shakespeare is “a local theater company” Davis thought it would be possible for them to perform at Hopkins.

English teacher Alexandra Kelly explained the amount of planning and faculty the performance required. After Davis brought this idea to the English 12 team, Kelly said, “Mr. Smith, Mr. Addison, and Mr. Baxter in the Business Office put together the contract for the space. Mr. Kenton handled the lighting and other effects [and] spent the day with the actors and their stage manager to get the performance ready for our space.”  

Many seniors reported mixed opinions when it came to viewing the performance. Emilia Adams ’26 said “I think the premise of [Women of Will] was interesting, but the execution was off.” Adams explained, “I think it was a little weird to have the same actors playing a bajillion different roles…you have them being father and daughter one second and then they are teenagers making out.” Conversely, Vera Okyere ’26 said, “I really enjoyed Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.” Okyere thought that “the stage directions and the lighting techniques really showed [her] new dimension of Lady Macbeth.”

Seniors also expressed that the two-hour showing felt too long. Arjun Agarwal ’26 said, “it was a little hard to pay attention at times.” Similarly, Mikoto Araki-Siegenfeld ’26 admitted, “I was passed out from all the way until Macbeth” and that she thought “[Women of Will] was a bit tedious because it felt like everything was repeating itself.” Mukherjee noted that “it was a great performance,” but that she “did fall asleep for a lot.”

English teachers and seniors described how Packer’s analysis of Shakespeare's women influenced their interpretations. Dylann Delgado ’26, enrolled in Shakespeare and Justice, described his understanding of the women in Shakespeare’s plays: “I liked how [Shakespeare] developed the women from stale to morally good to somewhat evil to morally good again.” Moupriya Mukherjee ’26 explained how Packer compares to what she is reading in her elective, Love in Shakespeare’s Plays. “[Packer] talked a lot about how [Shakespeare] wrote more well rounded women as time passed and how they transformed from one dimensional caricatures to real people.” Mukherjee said, “It's interesting to notice this in the plays we’re reading right now.” Brad Ridky, who teaches Love in Shakespeare’s Plays, thought that “it's fascinating to see how progressive Shakespeare was” in Packer’s performance. Ridky added that there “are strong glimmers of a playwright who was pushing his audiences to think past [stereotypes of women].”

Senior English teachers commented on the importance of viewing the Women of Will. Kelly, who teaches the elective Women in Shakespeare, said her class has been “considering the relationship between gender and power this term, so it was fascinating to get to look at our characters through the lens of Tina Packer's arguments.”  Kelly further noted that “seeing theatrical productions live allows viewers to experience the narrative more viscerally than simply reading the words on the page.” English teacher Hughes Fitzgerald, who teaches Race, Identity, and Power in Shakespeare, agreed with Kelly: “Performances like [Women of Will] are useful because at its core, Shakespeare is meant to be seen and not read.” Daniel Drummond, who teaches Shakespeare and the Problem of Justice, thought that “anytime we bring folks to campus whose passions and jobs reveal a range of possibilities for our own students, it's probably a win.”

Ridky and Davis agree that Women of Will and performances like these allowed the community to share meaningful experiences together. Ridky said, “I just love being in the theater with each other, sharing a real experience of genuine intellectual creativity that's not on a screen. I think that's important for us to foster as much as we can.” Davis agreed, “it's special to have these experiences…and whether it's the best thing you have ever seen or something you are laughing about later, it's a collective memory that you all hold on to.”