Whether you’re looking to make a difference, make a good meal, or just see a good show, we’ve got something to help you plan your weekend.
Bards of Birmingham Presents Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Set in a Women’s Prison
“My name is Julius Caesar,” says the personable young man in the suit who greets you as you come through the door. “If you need legal representation, I can help.” He passes you a business card advertising his law firm ofCaesar and Associates, and directs you to a table where an attendant is receiving money and issuing tickets.
After paying for admission, you’ll turn over your ticket to discover the crime for which you’ve been charged: felony drug possession, breaking and entering, assault. And this is all before you set foot in the prison itself – a place in which the “prisoners” will interact freely with audience members, and prison guards will make sure that you don’t speak too loudly or break any rules.
This is Bards of Birmingham’s rendering of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: an experience in immersion theatre in which audience members will become part of the prison population in the penitentiary in which the play is set. In this modern American setting, Caesar serves as the public defense attorney to the women of Rome Penitentiary, where Caius Cassius is the warden. Marcus Brutus and Marc Antony are both inmates, serving life sentences.
Bards of Birmingham is a unique theatre company that seeks to empower young people through the vehicle of Shakespearian theatre. The cast for their plays is drawn primarily from community children and youth ages 22 and younger.
See the Bards of Birmingham in action April 17 at 7:30 p.m.; April 18 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; April 24 at 7:30 pm.; April 25 at 7:30 p.m.; or April 26 at 2 p.m. All shows will be held at the Desert Island Supply Co., DISCO, 5500 1st Avenue North in Woodlawn.
For more tickets or more information email thebardsofbirmingham@gmail.com or visit bardsofbirmingham.com.
Birmingham’s Best Bites Book Signing
The popular cookbook Birmingham’s Best Bites, which features favorite recipes from restaurants, bars, and food trucks around the Magic City, is now available in hardback!
Martie Duncan and Chanda Temple, curators of the cookbook, will be signing copies of Birmingham’s Best Bites Friday, April 17 from 4-6 pm at the Alabama Booksmith, 2626 19th Place South in Homewood.
Arts for Life
Enjoy a free fun family day at Avondale Park, 4101 5th Avenue South, Saturday, April 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The day will feature music, dance, and spoken word performances and much more, including various children’s activities. Arts for Life is a festival designed to encourage African Americans to donate blood.