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Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and Ten Kids Gave Me that Hollywood Couldn't
What happens when an idealist volunteers to introduce Shakespeare to a group of unruly kids? Bedlam. Tears. And hard lessons learned. Convinced that children can relate to Shakespeare's themes power, revenge, love Mel Ryane launches The Shakespeare Club at a public school. "Teaching Will" is a riotous cautionary tale of high hopes and goodwill crashing into the realities of classroom chaos.
Every week Mel encounters unexpected comedy and drama as she and the children struggle toward staging a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Woven through this fish-out-of-water tale is Mel's own story of her childhood aspirations, her acting identity, and the heartbreaking end of her onstage career.
In the schoolyard, Mel finds herself embroiled in jealousy and betrayal worthy of Shakespeare's plots. Fits of laughter alternate with wiping noses as she and the kids discover a surprising truth: they need each other if they want to face an audience and triumph. "Teaching Will" is an uplifting story of empowerment for dreamers and realists alike."
Every week Mel encounters unexpected comedy and drama as she and the children struggle toward staging a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Woven through this fish-out-of-water tale is Mel's own story of her childhood aspirations, her acting identity, and the heartbreaking end of her onstage career.
In the schoolyard, Mel finds herself embroiled in jealousy and betrayal worthy of Shakespeare's plots. Fits of laughter alternate with wiping noses as she and the kids discover a surprising truth: they need each other if they want to face an audience and triumph. "Teaching Will" is an uplifting story of empowerment for dreamers and realists alike."
234 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
226 people want to read
About the author
Mel Ryane
1 book3 followersMel Ryane was born to tell stories.
She became a professional actor during her teens in her native Canada, then followed her career to New York City and theatres across North America. After applying her skills to coaching actors on major studio and network projects (including Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" and the hit TV show "Seinfeld"), Mel was accepted into the Directing Workshop for Women at the prestigious American Film Institute. She subsequently wrote a screenplay that advanced to the quarterfinal round in the Motion Picture Academy's Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition.
Mel began her career in writing narrative prose after volunteering to create a program where she taught Shakespeare to children at a local elementary school. Her memoir about the experience, TEACHING WILL: WHAT SHAKESPEARE AND 10 KIDS GAVE ME THAT HOLLYWOOD COULDN'T was published by Familius in 2014 and was called "lively" and "funny" by Publishers Weekly and "hilarious...a bravura performance" by Kirkus Reviews.
Mel continues to teach, having traveled the U.S. and Canada with her workshop, "Page to Podium: Reading Your Work Aloud," in which she introduces actors' techniques to help writers self-edit as well as effectively present their work in front of audiences.
Her writing has also been published in the L.A. Times. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their dog Linus.
She became a professional actor during her teens in her native Canada, then followed her career to New York City and theatres across North America. After applying her skills to coaching actors on major studio and network projects (including Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" and the hit TV show "Seinfeld"), Mel was accepted into the Directing Workshop for Women at the prestigious American Film Institute. She subsequently wrote a screenplay that advanced to the quarterfinal round in the Motion Picture Academy's Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition.
Mel began her career in writing narrative prose after volunteering to create a program where she taught Shakespeare to children at a local elementary school. Her memoir about the experience, TEACHING WILL: WHAT SHAKESPEARE AND 10 KIDS GAVE ME THAT HOLLYWOOD COULDN'T was published by Familius in 2014 and was called "lively" and "funny" by Publishers Weekly and "hilarious...a bravura performance" by Kirkus Reviews.
Mel continues to teach, having traveled the U.S. and Canada with her workshop, "Page to Podium: Reading Your Work Aloud," in which she introduces actors' techniques to help writers self-edit as well as effectively present their work in front of audiences.
Her writing has also been published in the L.A. Times. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their dog Linus.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 9, 2023
Delightful and Hope filled memoir of an actress who starts a Shakespeare Club at her local public elementary school. Funny and heartbreaking. Like all great memoirs, it reminds us of the resiliency of human beings and the power that each one of us has to make things better for those around us.
December 24, 2015
From the back of the book:
"What happens when an idealist volunteers to introduce Shakespeare to a group of unruly kids? Bedlam. Tears. And hard lessons learned. Convinced that children can relate to Shakespeare's themes—power, revenge, love—Mel Ryane launches The Shakespeare Club at a public school. Teaching Willis a riotous cautionary tale of high hopes and goodwill crashing into the realities of classroom chaos.
Every week Mel encounters unexpected comedy and drama as she and the children struggle toward staging a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Woven through this fish-out-of-water tale is Mel's own story of her childhood aspirations, her acting identity, and the heartbreaking end of her onstage career.
In the schoolyard, Mel finds herself embroiled in jealousy and betrayal worthy of Shakespeare's plots. Fits of laughter alternate with wiping noses as she and the kids discover a surprising truth: they need each other if they want to face an audience and triumph. Teaching Will is an uplifting story of empowerment for dreamers and realists alike."
This is a wonderful book. And far more complex and layered than one might expect from the publisher's blurb. Yes, it's a memoir about an actor at a crossroads, choosing to teach Shakespeare to kids in a public school, but it's also about finding oneself and one's purpose through literature and -- no less importantly -- in other people. Ryane -- who I happen to know and admire immensely, even more after reading this book -- uses the schoolroom to frame the memoir, to guide us, as she guides her lucky students, into the world of Shakespeare, and uses that world as a mirror in which to reflect our own memory (using hers as a prompt) and our preconceived notions of self and our relationships to those around us.
The voice is wonderful, totally free of pretension, but always thick with empathy and compassion. Her willingness to look at her own blind-spots, her own fear and failings as they are revealed through her interaction with the children is impressive. And she's hilarious. I laughed out loud time and again. The reader feels as though s/he's listening to a tale being told by a master teller and it's a great gift. The passages in which Ryane takes us out of the schoolroom, into her own past are poignant and perfectly situated. They add great depth.
The structure is a bit quirky, with straightforward memoir capped off in every chapter by a snippet of "Children's Writes", such as this one (sic throughout):
"Dear jirnal,
Queen Elizabeth was a good queen. She was so nice people love her. William Shakespeare went to London because I like his plays. William Shakespeares son died when he was 11 year old. But William was in London his wife wrie a litter to him was that his son died."
These are follows by little bits called "Lesson Plan" as here, which follows the child's writing above:
"Ask, ask, ask. Three years later, during a casual conversation with another teacher, I learned that Daniel could barely read and had been failed upward. He hadn't been rolling around, laughing in joy. The boy had been in a state of terror."
It's a bold structure, and one that might have looked too clever in the hands of a lesser writer, but Ryane pulls it off, using each one as an opportunity to poke the reader right in the heart.
Reading this book I learned new things about Shakespeare (which I hadn't really expected), about teaching, about connection, and about meaning. Well done.
Recommended for, well, just about anyone.
"What happens when an idealist volunteers to introduce Shakespeare to a group of unruly kids? Bedlam. Tears. And hard lessons learned. Convinced that children can relate to Shakespeare's themes—power, revenge, love—Mel Ryane launches The Shakespeare Club at a public school. Teaching Willis a riotous cautionary tale of high hopes and goodwill crashing into the realities of classroom chaos.
Every week Mel encounters unexpected comedy and drama as she and the children struggle toward staging a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Woven through this fish-out-of-water tale is Mel's own story of her childhood aspirations, her acting identity, and the heartbreaking end of her onstage career.
In the schoolyard, Mel finds herself embroiled in jealousy and betrayal worthy of Shakespeare's plots. Fits of laughter alternate with wiping noses as she and the kids discover a surprising truth: they need each other if they want to face an audience and triumph. Teaching Will is an uplifting story of empowerment for dreamers and realists alike."
This is a wonderful book. And far more complex and layered than one might expect from the publisher's blurb. Yes, it's a memoir about an actor at a crossroads, choosing to teach Shakespeare to kids in a public school, but it's also about finding oneself and one's purpose through literature and -- no less importantly -- in other people. Ryane -- who I happen to know and admire immensely, even more after reading this book -- uses the schoolroom to frame the memoir, to guide us, as she guides her lucky students, into the world of Shakespeare, and uses that world as a mirror in which to reflect our own memory (using hers as a prompt) and our preconceived notions of self and our relationships to those around us.
The voice is wonderful, totally free of pretension, but always thick with empathy and compassion. Her willingness to look at her own blind-spots, her own fear and failings as they are revealed through her interaction with the children is impressive. And she's hilarious. I laughed out loud time and again. The reader feels as though s/he's listening to a tale being told by a master teller and it's a great gift. The passages in which Ryane takes us out of the schoolroom, into her own past are poignant and perfectly situated. They add great depth.
The structure is a bit quirky, with straightforward memoir capped off in every chapter by a snippet of "Children's Writes", such as this one (sic throughout):
"Dear jirnal,
Queen Elizabeth was a good queen. She was so nice people love her. William Shakespeare went to London because I like his plays. William Shakespeares son died when he was 11 year old. But William was in London his wife wrie a litter to him was that his son died."
These are follows by little bits called "Lesson Plan" as here, which follows the child's writing above:
"Ask, ask, ask. Three years later, during a casual conversation with another teacher, I learned that Daniel could barely read and had been failed upward. He hadn't been rolling around, laughing in joy. The boy had been in a state of terror."
It's a bold structure, and one that might have looked too clever in the hands of a lesser writer, but Ryane pulls it off, using each one as an opportunity to poke the reader right in the heart.
Reading this book I learned new things about Shakespeare (which I hadn't really expected), about teaching, about connection, and about meaning. Well done.
Recommended for, well, just about anyone.
June 30, 2017
I was excited to read this book because, as a high school teacher, I hoped to gain skills to teach my own students; however, I was mistaken in my hopes. I was thoroughly horrified at Ryane's lack of understanding of children, control of her life, and ability to present Shakespeare in a cohesive way. She gave no detail about how she adapted the play for elementary school or how she helped them learn their parts, aside from purchasing highlighters and insisting on free writing in journals she also purchased. If you are looking for a book to help you learn to teach Shakespeare effectively, don't read it.
In contrast, if you are looking for a book to make you feel more competent when dealing with children, this is the book for you! Ryane accurately depicted the chaotic feel of working with children and the varying emotions that come with it. Her characters were startlingly accurate reflections of children, almost to a horrifying degree. I enjoyed seeing her progress in terms of dealing with them and learning along he way. It was refreshingly not a "Freedom Writers" tale of a competent ingenue teacher making a difference, but a realistic one who struggles just like everyone else and touches individuals in the process.
I could have dealt without some of her personal narration; it was as if she couldn't decide if she wanted this text to be a teaching resource or a memoir. A lot of deeper issues, like her relationship with her mother, were relatable, but left underdeveloped. Overall, I got through it quickly, but I am not sure it bettered me as a reader or teacher.
In contrast, if you are looking for a book to make you feel more competent when dealing with children, this is the book for you! Ryane accurately depicted the chaotic feel of working with children and the varying emotions that come with it. Her characters were startlingly accurate reflections of children, almost to a horrifying degree. I enjoyed seeing her progress in terms of dealing with them and learning along he way. It was refreshingly not a "Freedom Writers" tale of a competent ingenue teacher making a difference, but a realistic one who struggles just like everyone else and touches individuals in the process.
I could have dealt without some of her personal narration; it was as if she couldn't decide if she wanted this text to be a teaching resource or a memoir. A lot of deeper issues, like her relationship with her mother, were relatable, but left underdeveloped. Overall, I got through it quickly, but I am not sure it bettered me as a reader or teacher.
August 26, 2014
Teaching Will: What Shakespeare and 10 Kids Gave me that Hollywood Couldn’t, by Mel Ryane chronicles Ryane’s first attempt to run an after school Shakespeare club in an L.A. public school. Ryane’s candid and loving reflections of herself and her students grab the reader in the very first pages. I cheered for Ryane and these kids throughout the book, hoping they would all stick it out to the end.
As a teacher, I appreciated Ryane’s discovery of just how difficult it is to get a group of children to do just about anything. With no formal elementary teaching experience, Ryane learned on the job and made such profound revelations along the way. Her love for these children and the craft of acting is present on every page, from the parties she used to encourage the kids to keep with it, to the sad moments when she had to tell a child the club was not for them. This book illustrates the difficult decisions a teacher must consider every single day. Few of them have anything to do with lesson plans but rather how to speak (and listen) to a child to help her learn and grow from the experience. I recommend this book to any teacher or parent. You will shake your head knowingly as you read, but you will also be touched by the tenderness with which Ryane navigates her way through the classroom.
Brava, Ms. Ryane!
As a teacher, I appreciated Ryane’s discovery of just how difficult it is to get a group of children to do just about anything. With no formal elementary teaching experience, Ryane learned on the job and made such profound revelations along the way. Her love for these children and the craft of acting is present on every page, from the parties she used to encourage the kids to keep with it, to the sad moments when she had to tell a child the club was not for them. This book illustrates the difficult decisions a teacher must consider every single day. Few of them have anything to do with lesson plans but rather how to speak (and listen) to a child to help her learn and grow from the experience. I recommend this book to any teacher or parent. You will shake your head knowingly as you read, but you will also be touched by the tenderness with which Ryane navigates her way through the classroom.
Brava, Ms. Ryane!
November 30, 2015
I think the fact that I plowed through this book in just two days says a lot. It's easy to read, and it keeps you wanting to read. The pacing is done really well, and you get through a year of time in just a couple hundred pages. There's always something new happening, some new issue arising that has you feeling right there with the author, "Oh no, what to do about this?!" Ryane captured the craziness and struggles of teaching very well, and has so many of the same issues as all early teachers do, and also ended up at the same conclusion: it was hell, and there's no way I'd give it up. Despite the struggles, Ryane ends the book mentioning her next year with a new group. This book was insightful and terribly funny, with just the right amount of painful cringing moments. I highly suggest it, especially to any other teachers who will recognize themselves in so many moments of Ryane's early struggles, despite their subject area. I won this book from a giveaway right here on Goodreads, and I am so glad I did!
January 20, 2021
For me at this time (as I'm diving into leading children in a Shakespeare Study) this book was 4 stars. I think had I read this at another time or if I wasn't a teacher and actress who is currently studying Shakespeare at the moment, I would rate it a 3 stars. Probably would not recommend this text to most of my reading friends.
Positives:
The situations are believable and the actions of the children and a new teacher/coach feels very probable.
Lots of connections for me: teaching, directing, Shakespeare... reminds me of first experiences as a teacher... when I would make hasty decisions only to regret them later.
Cons:
The interaction between the author and the students in the drama club was not inspiring. For a majority of the text, she was like a substitute teacher who doesn't really care for her students.
The author flips from telling the drama club story to random personal stories from her past: including horrible directors, traumatic childhood experiences, and even a Halloween story. The flashbacks didn't connect in a meaningful way to the drama club story and just made everything feel disjointed for me.
Positives:
The situations are believable and the actions of the children and a new teacher/coach feels very probable.
Lots of connections for me: teaching, directing, Shakespeare... reminds me of first experiences as a teacher... when I would make hasty decisions only to regret them later.
Cons:
The interaction between the author and the students in the drama club was not inspiring. For a majority of the text, she was like a substitute teacher who doesn't really care for her students.
The author flips from telling the drama club story to random personal stories from her past: including horrible directors, traumatic childhood experiences, and even a Halloween story. The flashbacks didn't connect in a meaningful way to the drama club story and just made everything feel disjointed for me.
February 1, 2021
I really wanted to like this book more but it was sometimes a chore, Mel Ryane is not a natural writer and I wish there had been some stronger support for her in ironing out some of the writing.
The subject matter, teaching children about Shakespeare is sweet and fun, but gosh this was a bit of a trudge.
The subject matter, teaching children about Shakespeare is sweet and fun, but gosh this was a bit of a trudge.
June 18, 2022
She describes the optimism of how you think things will go when you first start teaching and the shock when the reality sets in very well.
October 1, 2025
Was super keen to read this book which might’ve contributed to the slight let down I felt. Thought her life story being randomly interspersed was quite unnecessary
August 26, 2014
Teaching Will is a beautifully written, funny and unexpectedly poignant story that should be on the must-read list for teachers, actors, writers, and anyone who has or works with children.
Mel Ryane, a classically trained actress with no formal teacher training, decides to volunteer at her local public school by forming a "Shakespeare Club" to teach third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders the works of the Bard. The task seems gargantuan: many of the kids come from non-English-speaking homes, quite a few are there simply to avoid after-school activities or care-givers they dislike even more, and discipline appears to be a non-existent concept. As Ryane becomes increasingly frustrated by their chaotic attempts at rehearsing A Midsummer Night's Dream and her inexperience as a teacher, she questions her motivations and level of delusion. Intertwined throughout is the heartbreaking story of the rise and fall of her own acting career. The two threads are skillfully woven, showing us the depth of her commitment to the theatre and how acting transformed her as a child and young adult; a transformation she would love to pass on to her unruly charges, if only she could get them to listen to her for longer than three seconds.
The story builds beautifully as she chronicles the weekly challenges: from musical-chairs casting to playground bullying to her ongoing search for new ways to cajole, bribe, and ultimately inspire the kids into compliance. But as these budding thespians grow to accept and respect her guidance (and each other), the magic Ryane had hoped to impart to her Shakespeare Club members comes back to her a hundred-fold.
Ryane's voice throughout Teaching Will is smart, honest, and laugh-out-loud funny. Her willingness to reveal her own shortcomings and naiveté in taking on such an ambitious project provides many of the funniest moments in the book, as do the Club members' curiosity about Elizabethan times and Ryane's connection to them:
Ryane: "Shakespeare lived over four hundred and forty years ago."
Club member: "Did you know him?"
Unlike the kids, my attention was unwavering from the very first meeting of the Shakespeare Club—so much so that I read the entire book in one sitting, a rare occurrence for me (and tears were shed, I admit it). What Ms. Ryane and her band of merry players manage to achieve by the end of the story is extraordinary; what Ryane achieves in the telling is no less so: a richly-textured, compelling memoir brimming with humor and humanity.
Mel Ryane, a classically trained actress with no formal teacher training, decides to volunteer at her local public school by forming a "Shakespeare Club" to teach third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders the works of the Bard. The task seems gargantuan: many of the kids come from non-English-speaking homes, quite a few are there simply to avoid after-school activities or care-givers they dislike even more, and discipline appears to be a non-existent concept. As Ryane becomes increasingly frustrated by their chaotic attempts at rehearsing A Midsummer Night's Dream and her inexperience as a teacher, she questions her motivations and level of delusion. Intertwined throughout is the heartbreaking story of the rise and fall of her own acting career. The two threads are skillfully woven, showing us the depth of her commitment to the theatre and how acting transformed her as a child and young adult; a transformation she would love to pass on to her unruly charges, if only she could get them to listen to her for longer than three seconds.
The story builds beautifully as she chronicles the weekly challenges: from musical-chairs casting to playground bullying to her ongoing search for new ways to cajole, bribe, and ultimately inspire the kids into compliance. But as these budding thespians grow to accept and respect her guidance (and each other), the magic Ryane had hoped to impart to her Shakespeare Club members comes back to her a hundred-fold.
Ryane's voice throughout Teaching Will is smart, honest, and laugh-out-loud funny. Her willingness to reveal her own shortcomings and naiveté in taking on such an ambitious project provides many of the funniest moments in the book, as do the Club members' curiosity about Elizabethan times and Ryane's connection to them:
Ryane: "Shakespeare lived over four hundred and forty years ago."
Club member: "Did you know him?"
Unlike the kids, my attention was unwavering from the very first meeting of the Shakespeare Club—so much so that I read the entire book in one sitting, a rare occurrence for me (and tears were shed, I admit it). What Ms. Ryane and her band of merry players manage to achieve by the end of the story is extraordinary; what Ryane achieves in the telling is no less so: a richly-textured, compelling memoir brimming with humor and humanity.
April 15, 2015
I've loved Shakespeare since my high school English teacher introduced me to "Hamlet." I also love reading memoirs. This memoir, by a former actress who decides almost on a whim to host a Shakespeare club at her community grammar school, is right up my alley. I enjoyed Ryane's transformation over the course of one year from the naive belief that she could impart a love for Shakespeare to all her charges to the more realistic hope that some of them might get something useful from the club's activities. Here are there, I think Ryane indulged in a bit of score-settling related to her past, which felt a bit out of place in a memoir that is advertised as being about (and mostly is about) her first year leading Shakespeare club. That being said, I sympathized with Ryane's journey and cheered for her kids as they discovered the Bard.
October 15, 2014
This is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written book about Mel Ryane (the author), a retired actor who volunteers to create The Shakespeare Club at a Los Angeles public school, for students from grades 3-5. The club is voluntary, and initially ten girls and two boys sign up for it. The nineteen chapters, with intriguing titles such as "Everyone Has a Price," "A Rock and a Very Hard Place," "What Shakespeare Meant by Hamlet," and "Cryin' Bad," reveal the progress of the club from the beginning of the school year to its culmination: the Club's production of Midsummer Night's Dream. Ryane's reporting of her year, interspersed with memories of her own childhood, makes for a rewarding nonfiction story about how even the youngest most educationally-deprived students can relate to art.
December 9, 2014
A great read
Filled with heartwarming stories, Mel Ryane has written a fun and insightful book on the process of inspiring young minds through the arts. In this case, William Shakespeare. Told with a great sense of humour mixed with dose of heartbreak and a wagonload of frustration. She stumbles her way through her weekly Shakespeare Club to being rewarded with kids who learn their own power through iambic pentameter. I loved how this terrifying experience of working with these far from disciplined kids brought her to memories of her own acting career and family life. Beautifully told. Laugh out loud moments. A great read. I highly recommend this book.
Filled with heartwarming stories, Mel Ryane has written a fun and insightful book on the process of inspiring young minds through the arts. In this case, William Shakespeare. Told with a great sense of humour mixed with dose of heartbreak and a wagonload of frustration. She stumbles her way through her weekly Shakespeare Club to being rewarded with kids who learn their own power through iambic pentameter. I loved how this terrifying experience of working with these far from disciplined kids brought her to memories of her own acting career and family life. Beautifully told. Laugh out loud moments. A great read. I highly recommend this book.
January 3, 2015
A fun and entertaining story about teaching and Shakespeare with the children under 10 factor, Teaching Will sends the reader through the ups and downs, highs and lows of spreading a passion to other people and the outcomes of that desire. Ryane sends the reader through a chronological aspect showing how not only did the kids learn what she wanted to teach them but she learned as well during the process.
A great reader for teachers and those passionate in both acting and the Shakespearean genre.
A great reader for teachers and those passionate in both acting and the Shakespearean genre.
April 26, 2015
Ryane’s writing is funny and self-depreciating. She took on a big responsibility and didn’t reliaze how hard it would be to teach Shakespeare, or how much she would learn from the kids. In class, she learns about setting class rules, earning/losing rewards for behavior, identifying students who could lead the rest of the class, and trying not to take inattention or lack of enthusiasm personally. In life, she learned about believing that she had something to give and choosing not to quit.
November 26, 2014
What a great concept, volunteer at the neighborhood school to organize a Shakespeare club for elementary school kids. The author, never having worked with children before, did not know what a tremendous undertaking this would be. The children, never having acted before, did everything they could to undermine their own success. In the end, it was totally worth it for everyone. Great book.
March 25, 2015
So inspired by the experience of Mel Ryane! This was a great read. Anyone struggling to get anything done, a production, an upstart, should read about the strength and resolve Mel Ryane undergoes throughout this memoir. Uplifting and everyone's empowered by the end.
June 24, 2016
Truly awful. She never seems to grow. The children do but that seems more because of Shakespeare and just because they're resilient.
Author is angry and doesn't have any love for the children. There can be too much honesty!
No insight into teaching, Shakespeare or children.
Author is angry and doesn't have any love for the children. There can be too much honesty!
No insight into teaching, Shakespeare or children.
November 10, 2014
I loved this. Funny and poignant. A great gift for the teachers and second-act-seekers on your Christmas list.
March 4, 2015
A great book about a "teacher" who struggles to find her way with a group of kids, teaching them about Shakespeare.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews