Founded in 1877, the Shakespeare Society is proud to be one of Wellesley College’s oldest established societies on campus.

Our Mission
The Wellesley College Shakespeare Society, know as “Shakes,” has performed Shakespeare’s works for over 100 years. Shakes was founded in 1877 and today we function as a theater society and a community. The purpose of our Society is to study Shakespeare as a means for intellectual development through a modern, inclusive, and diverse lens, and to encourage love and appreciation of Shakespeare and his works by making it accessible to the College and greater communities.

We present a wide variety of performances and events for the campus and surrounding area throughout the year. These include the following:

  • Haunted Haus. Around Halloween we open the house for tours, and in rooms throughout are scary scenes from Shakespeare acted by both society members and other Wellesley students.
  • Semester Lecture. Once a semester we hold an open lecture on a theater or Shakespeare topic.
  • 24 Hour Shakes. This is a spring tradition in which we read the complete works of Shakespeare in a 24 Hour period—a mad, caffeinated dash. Notably, this is a part of the “Wellesley 100,” #34 on the list of “marvelous things about Wellesley.”
  • Shakespeare in Translation. Our spring open event features translations of Shakespeare’s works into other languages and formats presented by members of Shakes and Wellesley community members.
  • The Show. Our grandest tradition is our show, put up every semester, directed, designed, produced, and acted by society members. A new show is chosen at the end of each semester. Our last production was Twelfth Night, directed by Chloe Ratte ’23. This semester we will be performing Macbeth, directed by Maddie Speagle, ’23. Visit our Events page for show dates. We are proud to be a continuing Wellesley tradition and to be devoted to the study and performance of Shakespeare.