Shakespeare's Birthday Open House

Sunday, April 25

Noon to 4pm

Free; charge for some food and drink

Enjoy jugglers and jesters, music, song and dance, stage combat workshops, and more. It’s the one day of the year when the Folger reading rooms are open to all—plus, birthday cake for everyone!

Other Birthday festivities include:

• A cake-cutting ceremony in honor of Shakespeare presided over by Queen Elizabeth I at 3:30pm on the front lawn of the Folger.
  
  
• Renaissance music, song, and dance throughout the Folger.
  
  
• Shakespeare Portrait Contest with winners announced at the day's end.
  

• Stories of life in 16th-century England.
  
  
• Onstage at the Folger, Shakespeare lovers performing their own bit in "Spontaneous Shakespeare" hosted by our very own Mistress of the Revels, Cam Magee.
  
  
• Hear the winners of this year's student Sonnet Contest.
  
  
• Free children's activities and Elizabethan crafts, including:

Shakespearean fortune-telling;

quill pen writing;

brooch-making;

felt pendant-making;

potpourri-making; and

garland-making.

 

• Don't miss the Folger's Secondary School Shakespeare Festival performances.
  
  
• Tours of the reading rooms—this is the one day of the year the reading rooms are open to the public. View Flemish tapestries from the 16th Century, paintings from scenes of the Bard’s plays, and the famed "Seven Ages of Man" stained glass window.
  
  
• Explore the Elizabethan Garden filled with plants popular in Shakespeare’s time and mentioned in his plays and Shakespeare-inspired statues by American artist Greg Wyatt. Docent-led tours plus a plant sale!
  
  
• Scavenger Hunt available for the current exhibition in the Great Hall.
  
  
• Mementos on sale at the Folger Gift Shop.