GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – Thirty-six years ago, English professor Gary Bouchard stated a tradition that is alive and well more than three decades later, reading all of William Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets in celebration of his April 23rd birthday.
This year the annual public reading will make its debut on the new Sonnet Stage on the east side of The Gregory J. Grappone ’04 Humanities Institute.
Students, faculty, alumni and special guests will recite Shakespeare’s collection of sonnets, adding their own special flair and interpretation. The 14-line poems will be performed in song and spoken in multiple languages, including “Yodish,” the language of Yoda. The day-long event also will feature dramatizations of Shakespeare theatrical works and a birthday cake for the bard.
Dr. Bouchard, a professor of English and executive director of the Grappone Humanities Institute at Saint Anselm College, has organized the Shakespeare celebration since 1989.
Dedicated in July 2023, the Grappone Humanities Institute is located in a former boiler house where the college’s print shop previously resided. It is now a state-of-the-art multipurpose space for seminars, events and performances. It is named for Gregory Grappone, a Great Books major and a passionate supporter of the humanities, a signature program at Saint Anselm. Gregory Grappone died in 2015 after a lifelong battle with cancer.
The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.