Booking and details
Plan your visitDates Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 11am
Venue Folger Shakespeare Library
Tickets Free; no ticket required
Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday at the Folger with fun, family-friendly activities and birthday cupcakes for all!
Join us for stage combat demonstrations, dancing, and craft stations for making ruffs, crowns, and shields. Practice writing with a quill, compose a sonnet, try on some costumes, and see our 17th-century replica printing press in action. Meet WETA Classical on-air personality Nicole Lacroix and enter giveaways for PBS and WETA Classical merch. Plus, get your face painted with a Shakespearean mustache and beard.
Doors open at 11am for visitors to explore the exhibition galleries and Reading Room, where docents will be on hand to answer questions about the collection and the history of the Folger. Around 3:30pm we’ll sing “Happy Birthday” to Shakespeare and serve birthday cupcakes to all.
Sponsors
Special thanks to The Capitol Hill Community Foundation, Design Cuisine/Constellation Culinary Group, and WETA
Schedule
- 11:30am: Storytime in the Reading Room
- 11:30am: Dancing by Rock Creek Morris Women on the Folger front lawn
- 12pm: Stage combat demonstrations with Casey Kaleba on the Folger front lawn
- 12:30pm: Sonnet writing in the Reading Room
- 1:30pm: Dancing by Rock Creek Morris Women on the Folger front lawn
- 1:30pm: Printing press demonstration (Shakespeare Exhibition Hall)
- 2pm: Stage combat demonstrations with Casey Kaleba on the Folger front lawn
- 2:30pm: “Swift or Shakespeare?” trivia challenge in the Reading Room
- 3pm: Music performance by Brandon Kennedy and the Roving Clovers on the Folger front lawn
- 3pm: Printing press demonstration (Shakespeare Exhibition Hall)
- 3:30pm: Birthday cupcakes served on the Folger front lawn
Send birthday greetings to Shakespeare
Write a birthday message to Will with a quill, stamp a favorite Shakespeare line, and seal your letter with a historic letter-locking fold. Open 11am–4pm in the Learning Lab.
Folger Fellows Salon
Join us in the Founders’ Room to hear presentations from Folger Fellows about the research they are doing with the Folger collection.
- 12pm: Jennie Youssef
- 1pm: Debbie Finklestein
- 2pm: Vicky McAlister
Printing press demonstrations
Come to the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall at 1:30pm and 3pm to see our recreation of a 17th-century printing press in action!
Make a day of it
Celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday with a show! Folger Theatre’s As You Like It is closing this weekend, and we’re offering a special discount. Visit the welcome desk on Saturday between 11am and 4pm to buy $25 tickets to the performances on Saturday, April 18, at 2pm or Sunday, April 19, at 2pm. Must be present in-person to redeem. Subject to availability.
As You Like It
Shakespeare's Birthday Lecture: "Shakespeare and Immigration" with Dr. Emma Smith
Not able to join us?
Here are some ideas for celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday on your own, such as writing a sonnet or cooking a festive Shakespearean meal.
