West Chester University Celebrates 400th Anniversary of William Shakespeare’s First Folio with a “Fortnight of Festivities”
“The Play is the Thing” When Rare First Folio is on Exhibit; Other Events Help Mark the Occasion
West Chester University will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of William Shakespeare’s First Folio with a Fortnight of Festivities, a multi-week festival with free, public events taking place on West Chester University’s campus from April 10 - 23, 2023. The festival will culminate in a production of Twelfth Night, complete with the erection of a “Globe-like” theatre, on the University’s Quad on April 23 at 3 p.m. More information and a schedule of events is found at https://www.wcupa.edu/arts/shakespeare-fortnight/.
The First Folio is the first collected edition of William Shakespeare’s plays, collated, and published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death. Of the 750 initial copies, West Chester University is the owner of one of the approximately 200 copies that remain in the world.
The First Folio will be on display in the Francis Harvey Green Library at multiple
times throughout the festival. The premiere showing will take place on April 10 at
12 p.m. and will coincide with the opening of the special library exhibition “A Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare's First Folio.”
Special Collections Librarian Ronald McColl says, “West Chester University is honored and very fortunate to own one of the most desired and rare books of the world. Without the First Folio, we might never know some of Shakespeare’s greatest works including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, and more. The First Folio was also the first to divide Shakespeare’s plays into comedies, tragedies, and histories. We look forward to sharing the First Folio with members of our campus community, as well as with the public.”
West Chester University acquired the First Folio through a generous gift from the son of George Morris Philips, principal for 40 years and namesake to West Chester University’s Philips Memorial Building and the Philips Autograph Library.
The University’s internationally renowned Poetry Center will host several readings and lectures, as well as a student (K-12) sonnet writing contest and awards ceremony. Fortnight of Festivities events include:
- April 10 – 14 and 17 - 21 from 12noon – 2pm: First Folio on exhibit in the Francis
Harvey Green Library, Room 615
- April 10 at 12pm: Opening of Exhibition: “A Great Variety of Readers: Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare’s First Folio” in the Francis Harvey Green Library
- April 10 at 4pm: Student (grades 3-12) Sonnet Contest Awards Ceremony in the Francis Harvey Green Library, Room 615
- April 10 at 7pm: Teri Cross Davis poetry reading in the Francis Harvey Green Library, Room 615
- April 11 from 3-4pm: “Time to Eat” Edible Book Contest in the Francis Harvey Green Library, Room 252
- April 11 at 7pm: Keynote/Opening Talk – Dr. Claire M. L. Bourne “Milton’s First Folio in the Philadelphia and the Myth of Discovery” in the Philips Autograph Library
- April 12: Bookmaking workshop In Main Hall, Room 200 Time TBD
- April 13 at 3:30pm: Dr. Emma Smith “Four Centuries of Folios” virtual event. Register here: https://forms.gle/fQCmtjgTyE6fE3Eu7
- April 19 at 3pm: Gerit Quealy “Shakespeare in the Wild” in the Francis Harvey Green Library, Room 615
- April 20 at 7pm: Micheal O’Siadhail poetry reading in the Francis Harvey Green Library, Room 615
- April 20 at 7:30pm: Twelfth Night Performance, Main Stage Theatre, E.O. Bull Center for the Arts, 2 E. Rosedale Avenue. Tickets at https://wcupatix.com/theatreanddance.
- April 21 at 1pm: Micheal O’Siadhail craft talk in Main Hall, Room 200
- April 21 at 7:30pm: Twelfth Night Performance, Main Stage Theatre, E.O. Bull Center for the Arts, 2 E. Rosedale Avenue. Tickets at https://wcupatix.com/theatreanddance.
- April 22 at 2pm: Twelfth Night Performance, Main Stage Theatre, E.O. Bull Center for the Arts, 2 E. Rosedale Avenue. Tickets at https://wcupatix.com/theatreanddance.
- April 22 at 7pm: Dr. Marc Gagné “Shakespeare and the Heavens” in the Mather Planetarium, Schmucker Science Center
- April 22 at 7:30pm: Twelfth Night performance, Main Stage Theatre, E.O. Bull Center for the Arts, 2 E. Rosedale Avenue. Tickets at https://wcupatix.com/theatreanddance.
- April 23 from 12-3pm: Renaissance Fair on the WCU Academic Quad.
- April 23 at 3 pm: FREE Outdoor Twelfth Night Performance on the WCU Academic Quad.
Enrolling more than 17,000 students, West Chester University is the largest university within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). Founded in 1871, West Chester University is a comprehensive public institution offering a diverse range of more than 180 academic opportunities in 40 fields of study across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. In addition to West Chester, the University offers programs through its graduate center, Philadelphia, and online. Six colleges and two schools comprise the University: University College, Colleges of Arts and Humanities, Business and Public Management, Education and Social Work, Health Sciences, and the Sciences and Mathematics, as well as the Wells School of Music, and the Graduate School.