Mfarhanonline Social Media News: William Shakespeare, the bard behind some of the greatest works in the English language, is coming to a Facebook page near you. Weekly Reader has teamed up with the Ophelia Project and White Plain’s High School to re-enact one of Shakespeare’s plays on Facebook from April 26 to 29. Much Ado About Nothing will be presented on a special page through status updates, posts, pictures and videos. The students helped create separate pages for their characters complete with pictures, in-character bios and likes. The project is meant both as an educational resource and a tool to combat cyber bullying. People have long modernized Shakespeare by dressing actors in current clothing and trying to adapt the sometimes dense, complicated language. This project marks a quantum leap in format, as well, updating not only the characters but the way in which they interact. The play will be set in modern day, with dialogue and issues that are relevant to students. The play revolves around issues of hearsay and verbal abuse, making it a perfect segue to talking about online abuse. Cyber Bullying Facebook has become the de facto home base for our online identities. This is even more true for younger generations that have grown up with the popular social network as a constant in their lives. Day-to-day interactions, dramas and jokes often play out across Facebook and other social sites. Those online identities, however, are just as vulnerable to the same bullying and abuse as the people behind them. The problem is exacerbated by the relative anonymity of the Internet. Facebook has also been the site of much cyber bullying, and they’ve made efforts to provide a slew of tools and resources available to report abuse. This project, which Facebook is helping to promote, marks another step forward. Much Ado About Nothing deals with the dam! age caus ed by false information and pain of bullying. The play follows two couples fighting against ill will and spurious gossip. The plot should resonate with almost anyone who has spent a lot of time on the Internet. (Flocabulary, a hip hop education resource, turned out a (surprisingly entertaining) video to help explain the plot, embedded below.) The latest reports from the Cyberbullying Research Center estimate that anywhere from 10 to 40% of teens experience cyber bullying. It’s a problem that President Obama has rallied against and a key component of the Ophelia Project’s role in the production. During the show, it will provide live updates regarding the social aggressions faced by characters in the play. Douglas Cronk, the director of White Plains High School’s original performance of Much Ado in November of last year, has noticed the growth of cyber bullying: “I know that in our area a number of schools have experience things like smut lists and other things,” he said. “A list of young people and who they’ve been with. They’re usually not true but they have a strong impact on the kids.” The Project Following last year’s performance, White Plains was approached by Weekly Reader ‘s literary magazine, READ, to present the play in a way that would engage students nationally. Weekly Reader has a bit of a history trying to make classic literature more palatable to younger audiences. It’s hard enough to get students (or anyone) to read a book let alone a play written in what sounds like a different language. They’ve adapted about 11 classic books into websites in the past five years, said Ira Wolfman, Weekly Reader’s Senior VP, including Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales , which they turned into a site that plotted out the various stories in a colorful, interactive way. It’s all an attempt to get students excited about literature while instilling positive messages. In that sense, Much Ado ‘s integration with social m! edia is a logical next step, even if the team is still trying to figure out how to do it. The students from White Plains worked with Weekly Reader to “reprise” their roles online. They created in-character profiles , took pictures, and filmed some scenes in advance. It was up to Ira Wolfman and writer Jeff Ives to figure out how to take the classic play and make it work on Facebook. Starting on April 26, the two will be writing out the status updates from the character profiles as if they were happening in real time while trying to interact and respond to any viewer comments or reactions. The script will be peppered with content featuring students like Daniela Poppe who plays one of the lead roles of “ Hero .” A natural singer, she auditioned for the High School play not knowing it would take on such a vibrant afterlife. “I think it’s a very creative idea,” Poppe said. “I think it’s a great way to make Shakespeare more, how do you say, comprehensible to teenagers, kids, and especially kids who don’t enjoy Shakespeare right away.” She acts with Griffin Taylor who portrays “ Benedick .” Taylor, also a singer, sees a huge potential for the online play to make a difference. “I’ve heard plenty of stories of how kids were harassed or hurt by things that were said because it’s so easy to put up a little status or say something,” he said. Putting the play on Facebook was a perfect way of not only addressing cyber bullying but tackling it at its source. “To be in a place where cyber bullying actually happens; you’re advertising at the scene of the crime.” Next Step Despite its ambitions, the project is still has a lot of question marks. Wolfman said he was excited to start but admitted that he wasn’t sure how many people would be watching or how they would handle comments from users. Although Weekly Reader publications reach approximately 200,000 teachers in the U.S., there has been some push-back! to its attempt to digitize books. “Some teachers said ‘If you do this stuff, I’m cancelling my subscription,’” Wolfman said. “There are other who said, ‘Yes, please do more.’ We know it’s a problematic issue but there are some teachers that realize that technology is not in opposition to literature; it can actually amplify it.” To that end, the entire play will be posted on a separate Tumblr blog through screenshots taken through the performance. Th idea is that teachers and students can go back to the “show” and use it as a resource in the classroom. If it succeeds, Wolfman said he was open to trying more adaptations in the same style. For his part, Cronk hopes the next round can more actively feature the students and explore their creativity. If Much Ado even gets close to its goals, it could have huge implications for how Facebook can be used to educate students both about classic literature and attached causes like cyber bullying. “I had no idea that it would blossom like his,” Taylor said of his role. “I mean, we had a great run in November and even that was enough to be completely overwhelmed with. And then with this project? I had no idea it would become something so special.” Do you think it will work? Let us know in the comments below. Interested in more Social Good resources? Check out Mfarhanonline Explore , a new way to discover information on your favorite Mfarhanonline topics. More About: cyber-bullying , education , facebook , Literature , much ado about nothing , non-profit , ophelia project , Shakespeare , social good , social media , white plains high school For more Social Good coverage: Follow Mfarhanonline Social Good on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook Subscribe to the Social Good channel Download our free apps for Android , Mac , iPhone and iPad Social Media reviews series maintain by Mayya
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