Happy Birthday Shakespeare!

2012 Bard’s Birthday Bash

The Bard’s Birthday Bash is a two-day celebration on April 25 and 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the grounds surrounding the Adam’s Shakespearean Theatre. The bash is an exciting and enthusiastic way of exposing kids to the Bard’s works through their own performances, as well as by observing the efforts of other students. Students will participate in period activities such as jousting and maypole games, as well as enjoying cake with Queen Elizabeth I.

Bahr and kids 2012

“We’ll have around 1,800 kids here from Cedar City, St. George and other southern Utah communities,” said Festival Education Director, Michael Bahr. “We’d probably have many more, but elementary school kids aren’t generally allowed to travel from greater distances.”

Like the many other education outreach programs, the Bard’s Birthday Bash has proven to be more popular and successful than anyone imagined.

2012 Bard’s Birthday Bash

“When we began this birthday idea, our goal was to get local elementary school students acquainted with Shakespeare through their own performance of his words,” said Bahr. “That way, they find that Shakespeare is a lot easier to understand than they thought. We soon learned that not all kids wanted to perform. So, now we are inviting both performing, as well as observing groups. They have cake with Queen Elizabeth, dance the maypole, learn some fun theatre games, and, interestingly enough, a lot of the past observers have decided to come back the next time around as performers.”

You can see other celebrations for Shakespeare’s birthday at www.happybirthdayshakespeare.com.

You can learn more about the Utah Shakespeare Festival and see our calendar for 2013 at www.bard.org.