2027 Festival: Tuesday, March 16; Thursday, March 18, Thursday, April 1; and Tuesday, April 6
For more than 40 years, the Folger Secondary School Shakespeare Festival has brought thousands of middle and high school students to the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Elizabethan-style Theatre to perform Shakespeare. It is a cherished tradition that brings together learning, creativity, community, and joy.
This festival is made possible in part through the generosity of the Chorzempa Family Foundation.
Why a Shakespeare Festival?
The Festival connects students with Shakespeare and with one another through performance. As they rehearse, edit, and stage scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, participants strengthen their critical thinking, collaboration, and confidence.
At its heart, the Festival is about introducing Shakespeare’s language through speech and performance. Students learn by doing—exploring the text through discovery, creativity, and joy.
The process matters most. The Festival is not about polished performances or acting experience. It is about student voice, exploration, and shared learning.
Above all, the Festival is joyful and non-competitive. No prior experience performing Shakespeare is necessary.
How can students participate in the festival?
Groups are welcome from English classes, drama classes, afterschool programs, school clubs, homeschool groups, or any other learning community. Whether this is your first time teaching Shakespeare— or your first year teaching altogether— you are welcome here.
Students take the lead. Performers, musicians, editors, directors, and stage managers collaborate to create a 15-minute Shakespeare performance that reflects their own ideas and creative vision.
Performances must use Shakespeare’s original language, but creative adaptations are welcome. Groups have presented bilingual performances, combined scenes from multiple plays, incorporated music and movement, and found countless imaginative ways to make Shakespeare their own.
To keep the focus on the language and the students, performances use minimal props and costume pieces such as hats, scarves, or capes rather than full costumes.
Then comes the unforgettable Festival day, where students perform on the Folger stage before an audience of their peers.
What is a Festival day like?
Festival groups arrive at the Folger at 8am and spend the day immersed in Shakespeare. Every group must stay until the Festival day concludes, generally around 1pm.
Each group performs its 15-minute piece and joins the audience to celebrate the creativity and accomplishments of fellow student performers throughout the day. Festival days are hosted by teaching artists, who guide students through the experience and help create a welcoming, supportive atmosphere from beginning to end.
Every participant leaves with a Festival certificate, a commemorative Festival T-shirt, and a Folger Edition of one of Shakespeare’s plays to remember the experience.
Register your school
Interested in bringing your students to the Folger Secondary School Shakespeare Festival?
Middle and high school teachers are invited to contact Liam Dempsey, Associate Director of Education, to learn more about the Festival and register their school group (groups vary in size from 2 to over 60) for one of the available performance dates.
Participation in the Festival is free. Festival dates fill on a rolling basis, so teachers are encouraged to reach out early to reserve a place for their students. To help make participation accessible, limited transportation support is available for schools by request.
Email: ldempsey@folger.edu
We look forward to welcoming your students to the Folger stage— an experience that has inspired young people through Shakespeare for more than four decades.