Shakespearean Rhapsody

Emily Schoenbeck is a sixth-year PhD candidate in English Literature in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota (UMN). The focus of her studies: Shakespearean drama and film adaptation.

Along the way, she’s become a frequent instructor for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)—three times as an OLLI Scholar and another three as a volunteer.

In 2021, while teaching online writing courses, Schoenbeck felt eager to connect with a community of students wanting to learn more about Shakespeare. That’s when she learned about the OLLI Scholars program, which provides UMN graduate students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to gain valuable experience by teaching OLLI members—most of whom are 50-plus years of age—and earn a stipend.

“I had no idea how much Shakespeare background knowledge my OLLI students were going to have,” she says.

What she found was enthusiastic students who were curious and eager to learn. “I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of knowledge my OLLI students brought to the subject. Many of them were already well-read in Shakespeare, and those that weren't had deep wells of knowledge ... that they were happy to connect to the subject.”

This kept Schoenbeck, and her OLLI students, coming back for more.

A Unique Approach

In June, Schoenbeck taught Shakespeare in the Park. Her other OLLI courses include: Shakespeare's Summer of Love, Shakespeare’s Greatest Scenes, and Shakespeare’s Roguish Princes, Daring Lovers, and Terrible Tyrants, all of which delve into what one might expect from courses about the English playwright and how his work has stood the test of time.

Another hallmark of being an OLLI Scholar, is the rare opportunity to develop the curriculum being taught. And so, as an astute interpreter of the discipline, Shoenbeck approached her subject from alternative points of view.

For example, Shakespeare's Apocrypha examines plays in the Bard’s portfolio that have questionable authorship, inviting students to crack the case: “Is it or is it not the work of Shakespeare?”
 

And while revenge plots, scorned fathers, and cross-dressing lovers sound like Shakespeare, Schoenbeck challenges students to think again. In Everybody But Shakespeare, they read work by some of the greatest playwrights of the Renaissance in order to learn who inspired, challenged, and emulated Shakespeare. They are then asked: “Was Shakespeare really the best?”

“I love getting to test out different lecture ideas with a group of students who are so responsive and eager to share their takes on the subject,” says Shoenbeck.

OLLI member Peter Gorman confesses that while he has never studied English literature or Shakespeare, he has long wanted to do so in order to “carry on an intelligent conversation” with his daughter, who has a career in the dramatic arts.

He says of Schoenbeck: “She certainly knew her subject and certainly was able to convey her subject, but she was a pro at keeping us interested. ... I enjoyed her more than any teacher I've had since I took Constitutional law as an undergraduate at age 20, more than 50 years ago.”

Too Old to Learn?

In Act II, Scene II of King Lear, the king’s loyal servant, the Earl of Kent, disguised as the peasant Caius, says to his assailant, “Sir, I am too old to learn.”

The engagement of those in Schoenbeck’s classes defies many of the stereotypes about older adults, and perhaps even her own questions about what teaching older adults might be like. In an interview with the Minnesota Daily, she shared some initial concerns prior to teaching her first OLLI course.

Those concerns were soon replaced with a different type of challenge: “Some of these people are ... gonna put me to shame if I had to be like in an academic debate with them.”

What’s clear is that well-designed, quality teaching, and a receptive and intellectually hungry audience, fueled a connection that was made time and time again.

“Ms. Schoenbeck came alive at her podium, making brief pantomimes of the dialogue we were reading, stopping periodically to tell us what was going on in England (and elsewhere in Europe) at the time,” says Gorman. Acknowledging Schoenbeck’s sense of humor, he adds, “She also kept a ‘body count’ on a sheet of poster paper on a tripod to demonstrate how many of the characters were dying in the play.”

“I guess it makes me more excited about the idea of getting old,” says Schoenbeck. “So often when we think of age, we start to think of all the things I’m gonna lose ‘cause I won’t be young anymore. And being with them [OLLI students] is just such a comfort ... like life just kind of keeps getting better.” 

The Takeaways

Schoenbeck will graduate this fall, and is currently preparing to defend her PhD thesis “The Millennial Shakespeare,” which examines how online communities create digital adaptations of Shakespeare's plays that express concerns such as, online misogyny, domestic abuse, and environmental degradation.

Her parting advice for future OLLI Scholars: “Be prepared for questions. One of my favorite things about OLLI students is how engaged they are with the lectures.”

When asked what she tries most to impart to her students, Schoenbeck's response is rife with the reflection, experience, and aspiration of an up-and-coming professor: “Learning is a joy, and learning in community is one of life's greatest joys.”
 

Sir John Gilbert, Detail: The Plays of William Shakespeare,1849, oil on canvas.

Portraits courtesy Peter Gorman and Emily Schoenbeck

Would you or someone you know make a great OLLI Scholar? You can learn more about the application process and deadlines by visiting OLLI’s Intergenerational and Intercultural Programs web page. 

You can support UMN graduate students and post-doctoral researchers through the OLLI Scholars Program Fund.