Memorial Day Closing

All Rock Island Public Library locations are closed Monday, May 26 for Memorial Day. Please visit us online!

Big News! Downtown Restroom Renovation

1st floor restrooms (on the main floor) of our Downtown Library will be unavailable for a few months due to major renovations.

Ground Floor restrooms (off the accessible entrance and Children's Room) and 2nd floor public restrooms will be available during all library hours. 

Microfilm services will be temporarily unavailable as we relocate these machines from their former location. For questions, please contact Adult Services staff. 

Shakespeare's Life in His Works

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Age Group:

Teen, Adult, Family, Everyone
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Program Description

Event Details

This is a special presentation by the Genesius Theatre Guild of the Quad Cities in honor of the Rock Island Public Library's 150th Anniversary

Shakespeare's Life in His Works explores Shakespeare's life and his tremendous impact on the English language through the lens of his plays. He regularly had trouble finding the right words or phrases to convey his desired meaning; to compensate, he created his own words and phrases that have become part of our everyday vocabulary. The performance also explores our historical knowledge of Shakespeare's life, and how his experiences are referenced in his writing.

Shakespeare's Life in His Works highlights these literary parallels from his life, while featuring scenes from the plays where they first appear. The show includes bits from a wide variety of Shakespeare's works, including Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Merry Wives of Windsor (among many others).

The Genesius Guild is a community theatre organization located in Rock Island specializing in free classical drama. Founded in 1956, the group performs Greek drama, Greek comedy, and the works of Shakespeare every weekend throughout the summer.