Though Apr. 23 is generally accepted as William Shakespeare's birthday, Chicago's Equity Library Theatre is jumping the gun a bit by offering a special celebration at Lincoln Park, Apr. 18, at 2 PM.

This 22nd annual event will feature an hour of scenes and monologues from the Bard's plays, along with period music, anecdotes, and Renaissance Faire revelers. Celebration founder and coproducer Josephine Forsberg is co-sponsoring the event with ELT.

"Shakespeare's Birthday Celebration" is free and takes place at the playwright's statue (Belden & Lincoln Park West).

Shakespeare's plays include Othello, King John, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Coriolanus, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, All's Well That Ends Well, The Comedy of Errors, A Winter's Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, Troilus and Cressida, As You Like It and Richard II.

Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. -- By David Lefkowitz