Schreiber, Harden, O'Hare & More Take Part in Free Shakespeare Birthday Marathon, April 23

The Shakespeare Society will celebrate Shakespeare's 442nd Birthday on Sunday, April 23 from 3:30-7:30 PM with a free Shakespeare marathon at Peter Norton Symphony Space (95th and Broadway).

The free community event will be a four-hour marathon commemorating Shakespeare's 442nd birthday with stage and screen actors reading the Bard's plays and poetry, and singers and musicians performing music inspired by and based on Shakespeare's work.

Acclaimed actors Liev Schreiber (who will star in the upcoming Shakespeare in the Park Macbeth), John Turturro, F. Murray Abraham, Marcia Gay Harden, Philip Bosco, Denis O'Hare, Estelle Parsons, Kathleen Chalfant, Michael Cumpsty, Elizabeth Marvel, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Maria Tucci, Marian Seldes, Fritz Weaver and many others are scheduled to take part in this four-hour inaugural event. In addition, Symphony Space Artistic Director Isaiah Sheffer and Scholars Krisin Linklater and Marjorie Garber will host sections of the marathon.

"It is the goal of The Shakespeare Society to encourage and foster the appreciation of Shakespeare's genius and what better time than his 442nd Birthday," said Shakespeare Society Co-Founders Nancy Becker and Adriana Mnuchin. "We wanted to offer the marathon as a gift to the city and invite everyone to come celebrate with us at this free community event."

Students from The Shakespeare Society's Adopt-a-School educational outreach program will also perform scenes and monologues from Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. The Adopt-A-School program serves more than 1,800 New York City public school students from low-income families every year.

Major support for the Shakespeare Birthday Marathon is provided by Sotheby's.

For more information, please visit www.shakespearesociety.org.