The Fourth Annual Bookish Ball and Second Annual Shakespeare Birthday Celebration
The Harvard Square Business Association and
Actors’ Shakespeare Project Proudly Present
The Fourth Annual Bookish Ball and Second Annual Shakespeare Birthday Celebration
The Sidewalk Procession and Shakespeare’s Birthday festival are led by Actors’ Shakespeare Project, the first American Theatre partners of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The Harvard Square Business Association’s Bookish Ball is part of an international celebration of Shakespeare’s birth taking place in cities across the globe.
The festivities will begin with a sidewalk procession, beginning at the Hotel Veritas, located at 1 Remington Street, Cambridge, continuing along Mass Ave into Harvard Square, and ending on Palmer Street. The various artist groups will host family friendly activities while the artist organizations hold performances culminating in toasts to Shakespeare, theater, and the world. Attendees will be encouraged to take part in a public reading of the witches’ famous “Double double, toil and trouble” passage from Macbeth. Join communities around the world as they celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday with a reading of his words.
Saturday, April 30th, 2011 from 12:00PM to 6:00PM
Timetable for the day:
12:00PM - Parade leaves Hotel Veritas (1 Remington St., Cambridge) in Harvard Square
12:30PM – 3:30PM Activity tables on Palmer Street for children of all ages!
1:00PM – 3:00PM Performances at the Palmer Street Stage (dance, song and live theatre)
3:00PM – 4:30PM Shakespeare SLAM at Redline (14 JFK Street) (tickets are free, but are required for this portion and can be obtained on April 30th at Orfeo Group’s activity table on Palmer Street)
5:30PM – 6:00PM Complimentary cake and Ben and Jerry's ice cream will be served or Palmer Street (or inside the Harvard COOP if the weather does not corporate.)
Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) brings together art partners Orfeo Group, Zumix Marching Band, Central Square Theatre, A.R.T., Cambridge Arts Council, Boston Opera Collaborative, Shakespeare Now!, Charlestown Working Theatre, Gan-e-meed, Mass Mouth, Shakespeare on the Out, Boston Arts Academy, Teatro delle Maschere/Behind the Mask, and others from all over the city for the day’s celebration.
To culminate the day, the Harvard Square Business Association will serve cake and ice cream to all attendees on Palmer Street, or in the event of inclement weather, inside the Harvard COOP.
All of the events are FREE and all ages are welcome (tickets to the SLAM will be available at the Orfeo Group’s table on Palmer Street). The day’s events will take place rain or shine. (Performances will be moved indoors if raining.)
3:00PM Shakespeare SLAM at Redline Restaurant
The SLAM is a ninety-minute mélange of irreverent scenes, poems, and songs centered on the theme of Shakespeare as a revolutionary. The SLAM performances are framed by an adaptation of the Jack Cade Rebellion from Henry VI Part II that blurs the line between performance and protest. Jack Cade and his followers are fed up with the abuses of the nobility and will stop at nothing to return the commonwealth to the people. Join them as they host the SLAM and bring the revolution to Cambridge!
The SLAM will take place at Redline and will have free food and a cash bar. Tickets are free and can only be obtained on April 30th at the Orfeo Group’s activity table on Palmer Street. Seating and standing room is limited, so get to Harvard Squ