Ignite your students' imaginations immediately by engaging them in conversation. Have a discussion about what movies they love, who their favorite actors are, and which stories move them the most. Once everyone has spoken, tell them about similar scenes in theater. Talk about theater history. Shakespeare's plays provide a large spectrum to interest the boys. Engage them and convey how exciting live theater is, drawing parallels with their own tastes in entertainment.
Engage the boys in some theatrical exercises to keep their energy high. Tell them to stand in a circle and that each person has to go around the circle and produce a sound and movement on their own. This sound and movement begins with boy number one then passes to boy number two, to the left. Boy number two re-creates boy number one's sound and movement, then creates his own. Boy number three recreates the sound and movement for both boys one and two, then his own. This continues until someone forgets a sound and movement, or until you get to the final person in the circle.
Bring in masks for the boys to use. Explain the history of masks in Greek theater, and encourage each boy to pick out a mask he'd like to use for the day. Tell them to study the mask and think of what character the face might resemble. Is it a villain, or a hero? Is the character fat and slow-moving, or quick and agile? Set them loose in the room to embody their characters. Then they present each character one by one at the end of class.
Guide them through a status exercise, in which you nominate each boy as a different number. The boy with the highest number has the highest status, and the person with the lowest number has the lowest status. Encourage the boys to figure out what this means by acting it out. You should notice boys worshiping the highest person, and being disgusted by the lowest. Then, switch everyone's numbers. Discuss what they learn from the exercise.
Fill a hat with various Shakespearean insults (found in Resources). Tell each boy to pick his insult, and stand them in two lines facing each other. Encourage them to yell their insults as loudly and as forcefully as they can. Boys tend to love this exercise, because they get to call each other really silly names. This is a fun introduction for them to start speaking Shakespeare.
Organize an after-school rehearsal time, and employ parents to help you with costumes and sets. Pick a play the boys will enjoy, such as Henry V or Timon of Athens. The characters in these plays are mainly, if not all, men. Depending on the boys' maturity levels, you can explore casting boys as girls as well. Having the boys memorize text and perform it in front of people is a wonderful experience that will influence them for years to come.