By Jack Smart for Backstage.com, 1 April 2015
If you find yourself wandering by the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park midday on April 24, you’ll hear the words of a famous 451-year-old writer. The fifth annual Shakespeare’s Birthday Sonnet Slam will feature all of the playwright’s sonnets, performed in chronological order by actors and Bard enthusiasts of all ages.
The event, which is free to the public and passersby, opened registration for readers April 1 atshakespearesonnetslam.com. Creator Melinda Hall, of Willful Pictures, said the Slam has grown since its first year, when only about 75 readers participated. “Really, it is my dream to have 154 different readers, one for each sonnet,” she told Backstage.
Applicants are assigned their sonnet randomly, explained Hall, because “people would only pick the same five sonnets over and over.” Actors must then discover for themselves how their selection resonates personally and with an audience. “I’ve had people say the sonnet picked them, like it was something they were going through. I think a lot of sonnets are like that: They tune into something.”
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