Rocky Mount, N.C.—North Carolina Wesleyan College will celebrate Shakespeare’s 446th birthday on Monday night, April 26, in the Garner Lobby of the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts. The party begins at 6:30 p.m. and will help raise funds for the endowment for the Wesleyan Theatre Department’s Wesleyan Players Visiting Artist Fund. The fund brings professional theatre artists to campus to work with students and enrich the life of the college. The public is invited to reserve tickets, which are $25, at the Dunn Center’s Belk Box Office or by calling 252-985-5197.

The event will include “The Shakespeare Roast—Dinner and a Show” that will honor the Bard “on his birthday” with a roast and toast as diners are entertained by characters from his plays. This “Dinner Readers’ Theatre” event is Wesleyan’s toast to Shakespeare and to the college’s focused fund-raising effort for the Visiting Artist Fund endowment.

The event also will serve as an annual reunion for Wesleyan Players alumni.

Attendees will enjoy dinner, a cash bar, music, and speeches and scenes from William Shakespeare’s plays read by a number of players who are Wesleyan students, Wesleyan Players alumni, college faculty, and friends. This year’s focus is on Shakespeare’s women with a script titled “Ages and Rages of Women.” For additional information, contact Theatre Professor Roger Drake at 252-985-5185 or redrake@ncwc.edu.