42nd DPS Shakespeare Festival Takes Places This Friday

The annual DPS Shakespeare Festival returns to downtown Denver this week, bringing thousands of students together to perform scenes, music and dance inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. Now in its 42nd year, the festival will take place Friday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. across the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

“It is 5,000 students performing scenes, music, and dance,” Matt McReynolds said, “all inspired by stories that are more than 400 years old.”

For McReynolds, fellow citywide event coordinator Lauren Garcia, and Beau Augustin, a Denver Public Schools curriculum specialist who also helps coordinate the festival, planning began nearly a year ago.

The DPS Shakespeare Festival is considered the oldest and largest student Shakespeare festival in the country, bringing together students and teachers from schools throughout the district and region. The festival has become a long-standing tradition for Denver Public Schools, offering students a chance to explore Shakespeare through performance and creative expression.

The festival begins with a 15-minute opening ceremony at Skyline Park, followed by the Elizabethan Route Parade, where students march in costume down the 16th Street Mall toward the Denver Performing Arts Complex.

McReynolds described the parade as “the most worthwhile 15 minutes that exist in this city. It will give you instant goosebumps and restore your faith in humanity.”

Once the parade concludes, student performances take place throughout the Denver Performing Arts Complex and surrounding outdoor stages. Each group performs a two- to five-minute piece, which must be memorized and fully costumed.

Students can perform traditional scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, but the festival also encourages creative interpretations that incorporate dance, music and modern adaptations. 

“The festival really represents Shakespeare as a culmination of all art forms,” Garcia said.

Although students perform pieces lasting only a few minutes, preparing for the festival often takes months of work in the classroom. One requirement is that students memorize their performances, which organizers say is part of the educational value of the program.

Augustin and McReynolds described the process as an “exercise in empathy,” noting that both native and non-native English-speaking students must grapple with Shakespeare’s complex language. Working through those challenges helps students build confidence while developing a deeper understanding of the text.

Alongside performances, the festival also includes street theater presentations and the Shakespeare Challenge Bowl, a quiz-style competition where students answer questions about Shakespeare’s life and works. The competition is divided into two groups: elementary students (K–5) and middle and high school students (6–12).

Each year’s festival centers on a theme drawn from Shakespeare’s writing. This year’s theme is based on the “Hamlet” line, “The play is the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.”

Organizers explain that the quote is related to Denver Public Schools’ broader 2025-2026 theme of “Let’s Play,” which encourages students to experiment creatively with Shakespeare’s stories. Garcia stated that the theme encourages students to explore Shakespeare’s work from their own perspectives.

The festival has served as a space where students have historically expressed ideas about social justice and the role of arts education. In past years, students have used their performances to advocate for issues such as support for teachers during the Denver Public Schools strike and the importance of arts programs in schools.

This year’s theme, which refers to confronting power, has taken on new meaning for some observers in light of the recent “No Kings” protests in Denver, though organizers say the connection was unintentional.

“As far as the connection to the No Kings protest, it is somewhat of a happy accident,” Garcia said, “but always present with our push for students being advocates of what they need, basic empathy and social justice.”

Last year, about 75 schools participated, and organizers expect a similar turnout this year. For students and teachers across Denver Public Schools, the festival remains both a celebration of Shakespeare and a reminder of how the arts can bring a community together.

“42 years is a lot to live up to,” McReynolds said. “It has now become baked into our community’s tradition.”

For many schools, participation in the festival becomes a yearly tradition. According to McReynolds, once teachers have attended the event, they are easily persuaded to return year after year.

“The DPS Shakespeare Festival is something that, once a teacher participates, the community rallies around and becomes a highlight of their year,” McReynolds said. “It then becomes something they would not dare let drop off their community calendar.”