The UH community, friends and neighbors are invited to the 3rd Annual UH Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebration, a live-action-performance party brought to you by the UH Shakespeare (SHX) Club, UH Improv Club and the Teaching Shakespeare in Houston Project. You can honor The Bard and have a chance to win prizes, play trivia games and partake of (birthday) CAKES AND (ginger) ALE. There will also be theater student monologues, open-mic improv and Sonnet Smashes.

“UH started a Shakespeare (SHX) Club over 20 years ago when I was a junior faculty member and sponsor,” explains Dr. Ann C. Christensen, the associate chair and an associate professor in the Department of English, and a faculty affiliate in the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program.

She goes on to say that in 2016, the world celebrated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and at UH, the regrouped UH SHX Club held a Wake for Shakes with Cakes and (ginger) Ale. “We had a lot of fun coming up with this title,” explains Dr. Christensen. “A reference to the comedy, ‘Twelfth Night’.” UH School of Theatre and Dance students performed, English students and visitors recited favorite excerpts, played trivia games and did various other fun activities. The Houston Shakespeare Festival provided prizes. Thus, the annual celebrations for the poet and playwright began, always on April 23, which is thought to be his birth date and death date.

In 2017, UH marked Shakespeare's birthday when the SHX Club, along with the Teaching Shakespeare in Houston Project, sponsored a film screening and a panel discussion of "Romeo is Bleeding," a documentary about young people using Shakespeare to speak out against violence in their community.

For more information, contact Dr. Ann Christensen (achrist@uh.edu).