Teacher-researcher, Katherine Macro spent six weeks observing an eleventh-grade Advanced Placement and Composition class at Sunnybrooke Central High School to examine the teacher's use of creative drama to teach Shakespeare. In this article, Macro describes ways the instructor used theater-based instructional strategies, especially a staged reading and tableaux, to develop a classroom community and foster understanding and deeper analysis of Shakespeare's texts. Macro conducted observations, interviewed the teacher and his students individually and in groups, and collected audio and video recordings of lessons, and artifacts from the classroom. She then analyzed and coded these data, looking for themes to characterize the way creative drama functioned for both the teacher and the students within the study of the play.