Orlando, FL – Orlando Shakespeare Theater In Partnership with UCF will celebrate the lasting enjoyment and widespread significance of William Shakespeare’s sonnets by presenting a reading of all 154 sonnets on February 12th from 11am-3pm. The Plaza Courtyard in downtown Orlando will become the stage as elected officials, supporters of the Arts, company presidents, celebrities, actors, and other members of the Central Florida community participate in bringing Shakespeare’s words to life more than 400 years later.
Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s Artistic Director, Jim Helsinger, will act as the Sonnet-a-thon’s Master of Ceremonies and host. Other readers include: Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty, Senator Bill Nelson, Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley, Orlando Sentinel Theatre Critic Elizabeth Maupin, Commissioner Tony Ortiz, Roger McGuinn from The Byrds, and many more.

Invite your Valentine, bring a brown bag lunch, and enjoy Shakespeare’s thoughts on love, friendship, sex, betrayal, jealousy and forgiveness, as his sonnets are read in sequence revealing a drama as riveting and as stirring as anything the Bard wrote for the stage. The Plaza businesses will also be selling special Valentine’s Day offerings to Sonnet-a-thon listeners and participants. It promises to be an afternoon to remember!
 
Join us later that evening for the opening of All’s Well That Ends Well at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center.
 
What: Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s Sonnet-a-Thon
Where: Plaza Courtyard in Downtown Orlando
155 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801
When: Friday, February 12, 2010 from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.