Folger Theatre

For Folger’s Karen Ann Daniels, the Bard’s big O stands for opportunity

The new artistic director and director of programming has her sights set on equity and community.

Folger names Karen Ann Daniels artistic director and director of programming

The theater and the Shakespeare library choose a leader with roots in community engagement.

World’s largest celebration of Shakespeare to mark the Bard’s birthday

The Folger Shakespeare Library is partnering with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for the world’s largest celebration of Shakespeare—inviting audiences all over the...

A holy night: Folger Consort performs ‘Palestrina’s Perfect Art’ at the National Cathedral

What would it have felt like, I’ve sometimes wondered, to listen, in sublime surroundings, to sounds conveying the deepest devotions of Christian belief, long before the “melancholy, long, withdrawing...

‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ at Folger Theatre: stellar comedy and groovy fashions

There are moments when art and life are so wittily and intimately entwined, you can feel the vibe without a word being said. Given the joyful display of color and power at this weekend’s Women’s...

Folger Theatre setting up summer shop at National Building Museum

The National Building Museum announced its partnership with Folger Shakespeare Library, in association with the University of South Carolina, to design the 2020 Summer Block Party exhibition for the...

Artistry, rivalry, madness, and genius in Folger Theatre’s ‘Amadeus’

What a great lively yarn about a musical disruptor as a stand-in for the volcanic eruptions of out-and-out revolution in the air throughout Europe and America. Amadeus at Folger Theatre is a triumph....

Variations on villainy in the Folger Theatre’s ‘Amadeus’

Villainy takes many forms. And Ian Merrill Peakes – now plotting revenge against a gifted rival in the Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s production of Amadeus – has played more than a few. His most recent...

In The Moment: Kimberly Gilbert Is King In ‘Bootleg Shakespeare, Richard III’

Once again, Taffety Punk Theatre Company has succeeded at challenging the theatrical status quo. This time, it was with a mesmerizing Bootleg Shakespeare Richard III. Under the open-eyed, “the...

Review: ‘Bootleg Shakespeare: Richard III’ by Taffety Punk Theatre Company at the Folger Theatre

Taffety Punk’s Bootleg Shakespeare, a beloved DC tradition, is like attending a party with dozens of friends you never knew you had. The lines are long. The audience is enthusiastic. And the acting is...

Review: ‘Love’s Labor’s Lost’ at Folger Theatre

Ready for teasing mockery and romantic conflict that crosses economic classes and genders with an added dash of some re-imagined blurred lines? Then step up to the wit and words of William...

Folger Shakespeare Library Celebrates Shakespeare’s Birthday with Annual Open House Celebration

The Folger Shakespeare Library will host its annual open house and Shakespeare birthday celebration on Sunday, April 14 beginning at 12 pm. This free, family-friendly event throws open the doors of...

Playwright Michael Hollinger to Visit Quotidian Theatre for ‘Ghost-Writer’ Talkback

Quotidian Theatre Company will have VIP guests, “Ghost-Writer” playwright Michael Hollinger and his wife, Megan Bellwoar (who originated the role of Myra), in house for a performance and after-show...

Review: ‘Confection’ by Third Rail Projects at the Folger Shakespeare Library

Note before you begin: Confection is a unique, multimedia, multisensory, ambulatory, audience-interactive, site-specific theatrical experience — “a rollicking rumination on teeny-tiny desserts.” If...

‘Nell Gwynn:’ A London Hit Brings Laughter, Love (and a Few Flying Oranges) to the Folger Theatre

Nell Gwynn – as brash and bawdy as a play could be – has arrived on Capitol Hill. And what a triumph it is! The play, which had a successful run in London’s West End and won Britain’s top award for...

Review: ‘A Christmas Messe’ at Folger Shakespeare Library

This time of year, it can be challenging to keep your spirits merry and bright through the commercialized din of holiday exhortations. Well, I may have found an antidote to the seasonal fog....

In the Moment: Sound Design Enriches ‘King John’ at The Folger Theatre

Folger’s rendering of the seldom-produced King John is more than impressive Shakespearean rhetoric and the checking off on a bucket list of plays to produce. With a deft touch, director Aaron Posner...

Review: ‘King John’ at Folger Theatre

King John is so rarely performed (indeed, it’s been a decade since I last saw it staged) that the current Aaron Posner-directed production at the Folger Theatre opens with a primer on the players and...

Who Was Sir William Davenant and What Did He Do to ‘Macbeth’?

If you want to get yourself in the mood for the Folger Theatre’s current hit production of Macbeth – a famous adaptation from the 1660’s of William Shakespeare’s original tragedy, by his godson...

A New Dynasty Commands the Stage in the Folger Theatre’s ‘Macbeth’

“The moon is down; I have not heard the clock.” Those words—spoken by 10-year-old Owen Peakes in the Folger Theatre’s startling new production of Macbeth—send a faint tremor through the packed house....

In the Moment: ‘Saint Joan’ by Bedlam Theater Company at Folger Theatre

Bedlam’s take on George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan will resonate with many Blue State denizens with its updated, coolness factors and fine acting. Under Eric Tucker’s direction, Bedlam has taken a...

Review: ‘Saint Joan’ by Bedlam Theater Company

Long before he wrote about her, George Bernard Shaw referred to Saint Joan as one of those “half-witted geniuses, enjoying the worship accorded by all races to certain forms of insanity.” He came to...

In the Moment: Interview with Grace Gonglewski, Folger’s ‘The Winter’s Tale’

For this writer, Grace Gonglewski as Paulina in the Folger Theatre production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is one rock solid, indispensable presence. As the bravest truth-teller in The Bard’s...

Review: ‘The Winter’s Tale’ at Folger Theatre

One would not expect a tale full of heartbreak, betrayal, abandonment, and death to be a comedy. But that is exactly what Folger Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is....

Review: ‘Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery’ at Center for the Arts/George Mason University

In turbulent times, escaping into a yarn that is as light and high-flying as a helium-filled balloon can be a welcome respite. So, the Great Performance Series at the Center for the Arts/George Mason...

In the Moment: ‘The Way of the World’ at Folger Theatre (Women’s Voices Theatre Festival)

There’s lots to like about Theresa Rebeck’s The Way of the World just as my DC Theater Arts colleague Sophia Howes points out in her review. The show is the Folger Theater’s Women’s Voices Theater...

Post-Play Palaver: ‘The Way of the World’ at Folger Theater (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

Post-Play Palaver is an occasional series of conversations between DC Theater Arts writers who saw the same performance, got really into talking about it, and decided to continue their exchange in...

Review: ‘The Way of the World’ at Folger Theatre (Women’s Voices Theater Festival)

The Way of the World, a deft satire of the mating habits and financial vicissitudes of the 1%, arrived at the Folger Theatre last night. It was a hilarious evening. Theresa Rebeck’s comedy, very...

In the Moment: Interview with Lighting Designer Andrew F. Griffin

Folger’s production of Antony and Cleopatra directed by Robert Richmond has garnered its rightful share of critical acclaim. Its lighting design is a critical component of the production’s striking...

Review: ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ at the Folger Theatre

All for Love Noted critic Harold Bloom once said, “We certainly can say that Cleopatra and Antony do not bore each other, and they are bored, erotically and otherwise, by everyone else in their...

Dangereuse: Shakespeare’s Most Badass Misanthrope: ‘Timon of Athens’ at Folger Theatre

Just when Canada starts to sound like a good idea, comes Timon of Athens at the Folger Theatre, confirming once again that first-rate Shakespeare is a cure for almost anything. The show’s brilliance...

Review: ‘Timon of Athens’ at Folger Theatre

Undone by his own goodness? Ha! That is not what I took away as director Robert Richmond succeeded masterfully with his contemporary, blasting grenade of an interpretation for Shakespeare’s rarely...

Spine: Love and Wit in ‘As You Like It’ at the Folger Theatre

Now playing at the Folger Theatre, a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch and produced in association with Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, is sure to...

In the Moment: ‘As You Like It’ at Folger Theatre

Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s appealing direction gives Folger Theatre’s As You Like It a warm flirtatious essence with buffoonery galore masking over Shakespeare’s initial soulful melancholic core. With...

Review #1: ‘As You Like It’ at Folger Theatre

An updated classic that rocks! Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, is the icing on the Folger Theatre’s 25th season and its observance of the 400th anniversary of The Bard’s passing. This show,...

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #9: Best Performances and Ensembles in Plays in Professional Theaters in DC/MD/VA

DCMetroTheaterArts’ Best of 2016 #9: Best Performances in Musicals in Professional Theaters in DC, MD, and VA Are: Gassan Abbas in I Shall Not Hate at Mosaic Theater Company of DC. Lizzi Albert as...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 5: Louis E. Davis

n Part 5 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Louis E. Davis. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have we seen you recently...

Meet the Cast of ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at Folger Theatre: Part 4: Tonya Beckman

In Part 4 of a series of interviews with the cast of Folger Theatre’s The Second Shepherds’ Play, meet Tonya Beckman. Sophia: Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where have our audiences seen...

Review: ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at The Folger Theatre

Well beyond just comfort and joy, The Folger’s production of The Second Shepherds’ Play, a medieval English mystery about the ultimate power of faith to redeem and liberate, is the right play at the...

‘Magic Time!’ ‘The Second Shepherds’ Play’ at The Folger Theatre

Watching the Folger Consort’s robust and warmhearted staging of this medieval mystery play, I was struck by how curiously it connects us today to the audiences who first saw it performed. Here we were...

Spine: Jane Austen’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at Folger Theatre

Oh, what a difference 200 years make! Jane Austen’s novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published anonymously in 1811. Folger’s Sense and Sensibility, adapted by Kate Hamill and directed by Eric Tucker,...

In the Moment: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at Folger Theatre

Folger Theatre’s take on Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is just gonna charm you with its ingenious high-velocity agility, while depicting the tastefully hide-bound, tart world of gossip and...

Review: ‘Sense and Sensibility’ at Folger Theatre

Hey Girl, I Hear You Read Jane Austen; Sense and Sensibility at the Folger Theatre The appeal of Jane Austen’s heroines lies in their lovability. In Sense and Sensibility, the two sisters, Elinor and...

In the Moment: Scenic Designer Tony Cisek on his Scenic Design for Folger’s ‘District Merchants’

Over the past nearly two decades, I have always anticipated what multi-Helen Hayes Award Scenic Designer Tony Cisek will bring forth on the Folger Theatre’s intimate stage space with its two iconic,...

Dangereuse: Reconstructing Shylock: ‘District Merchants’ at the Folger Theatre

Freud said, “When a delusion cannot be dissipated by the facts of reality, it probably does not spring from reality.” This is the essence of prejudice. In showing us a more human side of Shylock...

Spine: Love, Greed, and Bigotry in The Folger’s ‘District Merchants’

There’s no question that Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a problem play, fraught with old hates that were once considered justified and old beliefs that have long lost their hold on the European...

Review: ‘District Merchants’ at Folger Theatre

District Merchants, in its world premiere at Folger Theatre, is a tour de force that explores the complexity of race and identity in Reconstruction-era America. As part of Folger Theatre’s 2016...

In the Moment: PEN/Faulkner’s Tribute to Robert Stone at the Folger Shakespeare Library

He wrote books that fueled many of his generation. He was a literary provocateur with a writing style like few others penning works about the Vietnam War’s aftermath, political intrigue, class and...

In the Moment: ‘William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)’ at Folger Theatre

The boys from the Reduced Shakespeare Company (RSC) have been a mainstay in the DC area for decades. They never wear out their welcome whether performing at the Folger, The Kennedy Center or Reston’s...

Review: ‘William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)’ at Folger Theatre

Whatever you’re doing, stop now. Run – do not walk; run – to Folger Theatre for the glorious ray of sunshine that is William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged). Created by the Reduced...