Meet William Shakespeare William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers of all time His use of poetry and prose to express deep feelings and thoughts is unsurpassed in literature Despite his fame little is known about Shakespeare’s life However we know that he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire England in 1564 He was the third of John and Mary Shakespeare’s eight children The exact date of his birth is unknown but he was baptized on April 26 of that year When he was 18 years old Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway They had three children Their first child was a daughter they named Susanna Later came twins a son Hamnet and another daughter Judith By 1592 Shakespeare was in London working as an actor and playwright He joined the acting group Lord Chamberlain’s Men The following year a plague epidemic forced the closing of London’s theaters During this period Shakespeare wrote his narrative poems and some early sonnets 4
Until 1598 Shakespeare worked in two playhouses the Theatre and the Curtain that were managed by James Burbage Burbage’s son Richard was a famous actor and Shakespeare’s friend This same year the Burbages Shakespeare and several others built the Globe Theatre Shakespeare was associated with the Globe for the remainder of his career In 1610 William Shakespeare retired and returned to his hometown He died there on April 23 1616 During his career he wrote 36 plays 154 sonnets and 2 narrative poems 5
CHAPTER 1 THE AUSTIN Want one Mason asked Aubrey as she heart-shaped in honor of the big scene today held out a tray of cookies I made them The big scene was Romeo kissing Juliet during rehearsal My mom was playing Juliet Aubrey plopped the tray down on a rickety table in the prop room and grabbed a broom The red sprinkles taste like cinnamon she said as she swept dust bunnies out of a corner Eat as many as you want Just don’t get crumbs on the floor or I’ll have to sweep again Aubrey and I met a few summers ago here at the Austin Community Theater It’s a tiny theater in Austin Texas It’s in an old historic brick building downtown The building is pretty cool A historic 7
