Celebrate Shakespeare's 452nd Birthday with Cake & Fun at The Old Globe Today

The Old Globe would like to invite friends, Romans, countrymen -- all of San Diego, in fact -- to join them in celebrating their resident playwright William Shakespeare's birthday with Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare! today, April 23, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., on the Globe's Copley Plaza and in the Craig Noel Garden, as well as in the Old Globe and Sheryl and Harvey White Theatres, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

The Bard's birthday -- his 452nd! -- is a fitting and festive reason to recognize his countless contributions to arts and culture around the world. This exciting day of family activities is free and open to the public as part of the Globe's ongoing commitment to programs that serve all of San Diego County. Don your best doublet and ruff-or come as you are. And did we mention cake?!

Birthday games and activities will run the gamut of eras from Elizabethan to today. Musicians and Globe alumni Clinton Davis and Mark Danisovszky will recount the hits of Shakespeare's day, as local artist and DJ Miki Vale drops the banging-est beats, backing up our first ever Sonnet Karaoke, led by five of our illustrious Shakespeareans from The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program: Ally Carey, Jake Millgard, Makha Mthembu, Daniel Petzold, and Nathan Whitmer. Challengers welcome-bring your own sonnet or monologue memorized-or choose one of our selections.

The doors to our indoor theatres will be wide open for you to explore, with a fabulous costume exhibit in the Globe lobby and informative docents on hand to answer questions.

Shakespeare-themed activities on the Plaza will include a life-sized board game, and in the Garden, little ones are welcome to create their own Shakespearean puppets and perform in an interactive puppet theatre show. Grab a photo of your friends in the stocks or as the original Queen Mum, Elizabeth I. It'll be a festive day suitable for the whole family!

Don't forget to stick around for the aforementioned cake at 12 noon and to unwrap Shakespeare's birthday present. Hot local bakery Cake, winners of Food Network's "Cake Wars" in July 2015, have created a special Shakespearean bust birthday cake (and mini cupcakes). Yum!

"'It is my birthday,' says Cleopatra in Act III of the great play Shakespeare wrote about her, and though the line may not be one of the Bard's most famous, it's still fitting for this particular day," said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. "Shakespeare is the lifeblood of The Old Globe, and the Globe is central to San Diego, so we couldn't let his 452nd go by without a bang. We've planned a day of fun for the whole family: music, costumes, performances, games, and food. I know it's going to be a blast, and I look forward to welcoming the whole city to join us."

In addition to being his birthday, April 23 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. To honor him in suitably spectacular fashion, this summer The Old Globe and San Diego Public Library will co-host First Folio! The Book that Gave Us Shakespeare, on tour from the Folger Shakespeare Library, a national traveling exhibition organized to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Produced by the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, in association with Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association, it offers a rare glimpse of the Shakespeare First Folio, one of the world's most significant books. The treasured volume will be on display free-of-charge to the public at the San Diego Central Library @ Joan ? Irwin Jacobs Common from June 4 through July 7, 2016. In conjunction with the exhibit will be over 60 free public performances, film screenings, discussions, and education programs. Tickets to the Exhibition and Signature Events will be available on April 23 beginning at 12 noon. For more information, visit www.firstfoliosandiego2016.org. We recommend going online to make your reservations, as some of the signature events have very limited availability.

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe is one of the country's leading professional regional theatres and has stood as San Diego's flagship arts institution for over 80 years. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Managing Director Michael G. Murphy, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 15 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages: the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the 600-seat Old Globe Theatre and the 250-seat Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, both part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, and the 605-seat outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, home of its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people attend Globe productions annually and participate in the theatre's education and community programs. Numerous world premieres such as the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, Allegiance, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the annual holiday musical Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to enjoy highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theaters across the country.