THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – June 1, 2010 - Master teachers from the Folger Shakespeare Library of Washington, D.C., will lead workshops for third- through 12th-grade teachers at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks in August.

A session for elementary school teachers will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 5. A workshop for middle and high school teachers is slated from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6.

Hosted by the Kingsmen Shakespeare Company and the CLU School of Education, the interactive Shakespeare Set Free workshops will provide an interdisciplinary text-based and performance-based approach to teaching students of all abilities. Based on the innovative “Shakespeare Set Free” book series, the workshops draw from the student festivals held for the past 25 years at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the repository of the world’s largest collection of the Bard’s works.

The program is based on the tenets that the best way for students to learn Shakespeare is by performing and that all students can study and enjoy his works. Teachers who have participated in the workshops have created festivals and other performance opportunities for students throughout the country.

Each session is limited to 30 teachers.

This is the first time the Folger workshops have been offered at CLU.

The $115 fee covers the workshop, lunch, a ticket to one of the Kingsmen Shakespeare Festival 2010 shows and a tool kit. The kit includes lesson plans, techniques for introducing Shakespeare’s language, activity ideas and a DVD. The Kingsmen Shakespeare Company, the professional theatre company of CLU, is presenting “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Winter’s Tale” in July and August.

To register for the workshops, go to http://www.kingsmenshakespeare.org. For more information, call (805) 493-3014.