Folger Theatre Presents An April of The Bard — and a World Premiere Play

Image courtesy Folger Theater

Throughout the month of April, the Folger Theatre will be Searching for Shakespeare: Celebrating 400 Years of Shakespeare’s First Foliowhich is actually a citywide celebration in partnership with DC Public Library. The month of Bard-filled bliss features a historic exhibition of the First Folio, a DC-wide Scavenger Hunt, Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture, family programs, and the presentation of a world premiere performance work.

Our Verse in Time to Come is a new play commissioned by the Folger Shakespeare Library that will be performed for free for the public at eleven DC Public Library locations from April 1-23. A one-week run of paid performances will also be staged at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company from April 25-30.

In this thought-provoking work written by Malik Work and Karen Ann Daniels in collaboration with Devin E. Haqq, and directed by Vernice Miller, the idea of storied tradition is examined — as told through a shake-up of Shakespeare, acting, hip-hop music, and audience participation. Intrigued?

Image courtesy Folger Theater

“Searching for Shakespeare is about investigating how we hold memory through stories,” says Folger Director of Programming and Folger Theatre Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels. “We’re placing Shakespeare and the First Folio in dialogue with our innate human need to be remembered and to share stories across generations and cultures. Our Verse in Time to Come invites us to think about how we choose to pass our stories on and feel vested in that process through sonnets, spoken word, a DJ spinning. It’s a contemporary story that blends past and present forms of storytelling. It’s going to be a vibe. Bring your freestyle, your dancing shoes, and a friend!”

The Folger continues to host and produce projects in venues across the District, as it prepares to re-
open its historic building to the public in late 2023 following a multi-year Renovation Project.