Ako, Kathleen Chalfant & More To Take Part In 9th Annual SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHDAY SONNET SLAM

The 9th Annual Shakespeare's Birthday Sonnet Slam will be held Friday, April 26th from 1pm-4pm at the 9th floor Lounge at the Riverside Church Campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The Sonnet Slam features 154 readers of all ages and abilities performing all 154 of Shakespeare's Sonnets in numerical order. The event is free to the public and is approximately 3 hours long. People can sign up online to participate as a reader: http://www.sonnetslam.com

The kickoff-reader on 4/26 will be current Lucille Lortel Award-nominee Ako (God Said This); other special guest readers will include Obie-Award winner, Kathleen Chalfant, Peter Francis James (currently on Broadway in Hillary and Clinton), Sam White (Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Detroit), Loren Lester (The Orville, Hung), Iyvon Edebiri (NYC Producer of The Parsnip Ship the live-play podcast), actor/comedian, Kate Rigg, Caitlin Gallogly (Off-Broadway: Fiercely Independent, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever), and author, Gerit Quealy (Botanical Shakespeare).

The 9th floor lounge at the interdenominational Riverside Church is a large, Neo-Gothic event space. The public can access the lounge at the 91 Claremont Avenue entrance, near West End Avenue and W. 122nd St.

Willful Pictures, Artistic Director, Melinda Hall created the Sonnet Slam for the people of New York to celebrate Shakespeare. "I wanted to create a unique opportunity for the Sonneteer and Shakespeare to be together, even if it's only for a minute."

Twitter: @sonnetslam or @willfulpictures

To donate to the Sonnet Slam through Fractured Atlas 501(c)(3):

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=12309