Ralph Fiennes, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Cady Huffman and More to Join Ironadale Shakespeare SONNET MARATHON

While the doors of Irondale remain closed amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, the company announced earlier this month the plan for a 7.5 hour (456 minutes) virtual Sonnet Marathon to honor the 456th birthday of William Shakespeare. Held over Zoom on April 23, the believed date of Shakespeare's actual birth, the ensemble will welcome guest performances from Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes, Grammy nominee Rufus Wainwright, comedian, actress and jazz singer Lea DeLaria, Tony winner Cady Huffman, Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega, Blue Bloods and The Sopranos actor John Ventimiglia, NYC downtown darling Kenyon Phillips, and principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, James Whiteside.

With over 100 participants to join these guests, each will read or sing a sonnet of their choice, choosing from 154 of Shakespeare's celebrated 14-line lyric poems written in the signature iambic pentameter-lines 10 syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable- while others are welcome to watch the festivities streamed live over the ensembles YouTube or Facebook platforms. Having performed some of Shakespeare's most celebrated writings, the Irondale Ensemble sets out to create a fully hands on, epic theater piece, celebrating the legacy of Shakespeare while engaging the community together in a time of isolation and uncertainty.

"We are all stressed by what we are living through and it may calm a few nerves, my own included, to hear the 'eternal lines' read by pros and non-pros alike," considers Irondale Executive Director, Terry Greiss. "My own favorite sonnet has a couplet that keeps running through my mind: So long as men can breathe and eyes can see/So long live this and this gives life to thee. We will all get through this and when we do, art, music, dance and theater will be there for us to help future generations understand and make sense of what we are living through today."

The Shakespeare Sonnet Marathon will be held Thursday, April 23, from 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., EST over the Zoom platform.

Spectators for the celebration can tune in to the live stream on the company's YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/user/IrondaleEnsemble or visible on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/IrondaleCenter/

This is a free virtual event and open to all ages.