Julius X: A Re-Envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare via Folger Shakespeare Theatre
“This is not the story you know, but something in between.” So begins playwright Al Letson’s Julius X, a layering of Shakespeare’s classic superimposed on the story of American Black nationalist Malcolm X, member of the Nation of Islam – a powerful grassroots movement created by Elijah Mohammed and one in which Malcolm X rose to the position of its national spokesman through his impressive ability to be a powerful motivational speaker.
This brilliantly written play reflects the parallel ‘his-story’ of these two powerful men – through an assassination and the destruction of a society. Familiar lines from the original play weave in and out of script, reminding the audience of its similarity to Julius Caesar. Letson slyly drops in one of the character’s names associated with the powerful Black movement of the 1960’s and early ‘70’s. Malcolm’s wife, called Calpurnia as in the original, is here given the last name of Shabazz, as in Betty Shabazz, his real-life wife who after leaving the Nation became a prominent spokeswoman for the Black Power movement. The resemblance to Shakespeare’s story of absolute power, conspiracy and tyranny are stunningly familiar. The resemblance to many current governments’ abuses of power is too familiar to ignore.
Cast of Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare at Folger Shakespeare Theatre. (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
Set in New York’s Harlem where Malcolm came up running its hard streets, his connection to the community appears at first blush to be incontrovertible until he views it through a more inclusive lens after a spiritual journey to Mecca to understand his roots. His vision of the movement then redefined its mission from Civil Rights to Human Rights – to include Whites – and the Nation immediately rebels against his radical new message. Brutus and Cassius feel he has deserted the Black power movement and hatch their plot to assassinate him. As Brutus exclaims, “Oh, Harlem! I have no choice but to set her free.”
At this point, Malcolm X had already been investigated and vilified by New York’s Mayor Robert Wagner, the FBI and the CIA, and the writing was on the wall. A Greek chorus calls out in a hauntingly familiar refrain, “The Ides of March are upon us.” Portia, Brutus’s wife, in learning of her husband’s murder of Malcolm, wonders, “Who is this man who lies in my bed?” And Calpurnia’s urging to Marc Anthony to avenge her husband’s death tells him, “Unleash the dogs of war!” A phrase that will be familiar to all bardolaters.
Jay Frisby (Cassius), Dwayne Alistair Thomas (Casca), Greg Alverez Reid (Brutus), and Shawn Sebastian Naar (Marullus). (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
When the funeral of Malcolm X takes place, Marc Anthony, addressing the Nation of Islam and angling to assume Malcolm’s seat of power, Letson tweaks another familiar line to say, “Friends, Harlemites and countrymen…”.
Nicole Brewer’s excellent direction of this cast provides this play with intensity and meaning. Outstanding performances starring Brandon Carter as Julius X, Greg Alverez as Brutus, Jay Frisby as Cassius, Nikkole Salter as Calpurnia, Jonathan Del Palmer as Marc Anthony, Renee Elizabeth Wilson as Portia, Gaelyn D. Smith as both Cinna and Soothsayer, Lilli Hokama as Addara, Shawn Sebastian Naar as Octavius and Marullus, and Dwayne Alistair Thomas as Casca and Flavius elevate this exciting and relevant re-envisioning of Shakespeare’s historical tragedy.
Not to be missed!
Shawn Sebastian Naar (Octavius/Marullus), Renee Elizabeth Wilson (Portia), and Gaelyn D. Smith (Soothsayer). (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
Choreography by Shawn Short, Scenic Design by Jonathan Dahm Robertson, Costume Design by Danielle Preston, Lighting Design by Porsche McGovern, Sound Design by Thom J. Woodward, Projections Design by Andrés Poch, Dramaturg and Voice and Text Coach – John “Ray” Proctor.
Through October 26th at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.544.7077 or visit www.Folger.edu/JuliusX
Lauren M. Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle Flips the Script on Hamlet with A Feminist Twist
A Room in the Castle Folger Shakespeare Theatre Jordan Wright March 11, 2025 Special to The Zebra
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Burgess Byrd, and Oneika Phillips in Folger Theatre’s world premiere of A Room in the Castle, written by Lauren M. Gunderson, directed by Kaja Dunn, co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library, March 4-April 6, 2025. (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
In A Room in the Castle playwright Lauren M. Gunderson flips the script on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Hamlet. In her version the women get to be empowered, join forces and abandon the murderous prince. That’s novel, right? Gunderson, as America’s most produced American playwright, is known for her empowered females. Gals with strut and guts – smart cookies who could rule the world and dress nicely too.
In these original portrayals Ophelia is a confused, lovestruck teenager who composes songs to Hamlet with whom she is betrothed. Although, she’s not at all certain she should go through with her wedding. She’s miffed by his lack of attention to her. Queen Gertrude is a glamorous, power-mad diva who defends her son, yet eventually decides to bag it all and rescue our poor ingenue. “I am your protector now,” she tells Ophelia. Anna is Ophelia’s wise, tough-talking and supremely confident handmaid who has Ophelia’s back in matters of life and love. Together these unlikely compatriots plot to save Ophelia from marrying Hamlet and to whisk her off to parts unknown.
Oneika Phillips, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
You may ask about the Prince. In this three-hander Hamlet’s actions are imagined through video projections depicting which Act and Scene they relate to. It’s up to you to suss it out. As a huge fan of Shakespeare’s works, Gunderson seeks to reinvent the story from a woman’s angle in order to reimagine how these women might truly react to Hamlet’s madness, the interminable wars, the palace intrigue and the murders that surround them, to finally take charge of their own destinies.
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd i(Photo/Erika Nizborski)
The women banter about how much power the men have over them, “All of it!” exclaims Anna, and the three of them get tanked on bottles of wine while plotting their escape. Sitting together in Ophelia’s tiny bedroom, lightly furnished with a desk, a single bed and her treasured guitar, they eagerly trash-talk the men in their lives and bond over discussions of male domination and sex. “Do you like sex?” Ophelia quizzes the Queen. This feminist viewpoint of Shakespeare’s classic work is an interesting approach written with humor and wit. Yet, after all is said and done between these newly empowered women, it doesn’t turn out so great for Gertrude, but I leave it you to imagine her denouément.
Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Oneika Phillips, and Burgess Byrd (Photo/Erika Nizborski)
The excellent cast consists of Oneika Phillips as Queen Gertrude, Sabrina Lynne Sawyer as Ophelia and Burgess Byrd as Anna.
Directed by Kaja Dunn; Scenic Design by Samantha Reno; Costume Design by Nicole Jescinth Smith; Assistant Director and Dramaturg Shana Laski; Lighting Design by Max Doolittle; Sound Design and Composer Sarah O’Halloran. In a co-presentation with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Through April 6th at the Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 544-7077 or visit www.Folger.edu.
Folger Theatre’s Metamorphoses Is a Wild and Wacky Trip
Folger Shakespeare Theatre Jordan Wright May 16, 2024 Special to The Zebra
The Water Nymph (Miss Kitty) introduces us to the mythical tales of Ovid (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
Playwright Mary Zimmerman is a national treasure. With two productions currently running in DC theaters and last year’s Helen Hayes Award-winning production of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, her reputation in our area is firmly cemented. I’ll see anything with her name on it. You should too.
In Metamorphoses Zimmerman uses stories from David Slavitt’s translation of the Latin poet Ovid’s masterpiece written in 8 A.D. to form the foundation of this dramedy that puts these ancient myths in modern context describing the history of the world in a hilariously topsy-turvy vision of the classic.
Hunger (Yesenia Islesias, left) breathes spirit into Erysichthon (Gerrad Alex Taylor) (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
Most of the vignettes here are the familiar cautionary tales of greed, lust, incest…oh let’s just proffer the seven deadly sins and call it a day. Under Director Psalmayene 24’s singularly creative interpretation we find an all-Black ensemble playing multiple parts in a flurry of costume changes to express the multiple roles each actor portrays within the individual vignettes.
Psalmayene has conjured up one of the most explosive openings seen on DC stages. It is so stunning that the audience goes utterly silent. Led by the Water Nymph (Miss Kitty) the entourage parades through the center aisle, tribal dancing, whirling, summoning the Gods with African music as they arrive onstage. There they undergo an a sort of transmogrification – as captured slaves undergoing the Middle Passage from their ancestral lands. Tossed by a tempest at sea, their journey reflects the pain and degradation of a slave market. From that dramatic unveiling, our storytellers find themselves in dire circumstances humorously expressed through costume, character and morphing appearance. Because the actors play multiple parts, I found it tricky to puzzle out who played which character. That’s a testimonial to the extraordinary costume design by Mika Eubanks, who hascreated here some of the most beautiful, zany, over-the-top and imaginative costumes I’ve seen all year.
Cast sings “King Fisher” song in Folger Theatre’s staging of Metamorphoses. Pictured top: DeJeanette Horne and Billie Krishawn; bottom, left to right: Manu Kumasi, Kalen Robinson, and Yesenia Iglesias. (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
Imagine the goddess, Iris, sporting a pink Afro with a frilly rainbow-hued and ruffled tutu – another character super fly in full-on glittering gold and white and the morphing of Alcyone (Renee Elizabeth Wilson) who with her beloved husband take the form of birds, reflecting the well-known phrase ‘halcyon days”.
There’s a lot to be said for brevity when it comes to complex themes of love and loss and in these stories, the objective is clear. In each piece we meet the hapless cast of characters and learn of the hot mess they’ve gotten themselves into challenged and complicated by the muse or god positioned on high – in this case upon the balcony. The frailties and passions of mere mortals are highlighted, while the gods, busy spewing their edicts and curses, become fodder for ridicule with the moral of the story revealed after each vision quest.
Narcissus (Gerrad Alex Taylor) accepts a flower from the Water Nymph (Miss Kitty) (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
The choice of Midas (brilliantly played by Jon Hudson Odom) as the opening myth, is a good one, since we all know the tale of the greedy king who wished everything he touched turned to gold unfortunately that included most his beloved daughter (Kalen Robinson). Clad in a green velvet jacket and crown, Midas rues the day he threw over his daughter for the golden touch and goes on a mission to undo the terrible curse. Odom, totally tricked out, returns as Orpheus busting Motown moves to James Brown’s “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine)” and Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”. And, boom! We are laughing our tailfeathers off.
Metamorphoses shows that it is possible to speak of enigmatic things when they are creatively and hilariously interpreted and passionately performed by an ensemble of such high calibre.
Lighting Designer William K. D’Eugenio and Scenic Designer Lawrence E. Moten III have crucial tasks since there are no set changes and no curtains to draw. Along with Sound Designer and Composer Nick Tha 1DA Hernandez, ambiance is key to support the stories. And because the wigs and hair designs are so over the top, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Designer Rueben D. Echoles.
Highly recommended!
The cast of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
With Edwin Brown as Third Man: Phaeton and others; Dejeanette Horne as First Man: Zeus and others; Renea S. Brown as Third Woman: Myrrha and others; Yesenia Iglesias as First Woman: Aphrodite and others; Billie Krishawn as Second Woman: Eurydice and others; Manu Kumasi as Fourth Man: Vertumnus and others; Gerrad Alex Taylor as Fifth Man: Bacchus and others.
Artistic Director, Karen Ann Daniels; Choreographer, Tony Thomas; Original Composer, Willy Schwarz; Sound Designer, Nick Tha 1DA Henrnandez; Props Designer Deb Thomas; Dramaturg, Faedra Chatard Carpenter PhD.
Through June 16th at the Folger Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC – For tickets and information visit www.folger.edu or call the box office at 202 544-7007.
Folger Shakespeare Theatre Returns with a Delightfully Raucous The Winter’s Tale
The Winter’s Tale Folger Shakespeare Theatre at The Folger Shakespeare Library Jordan Wright November 15, 2023 Special to The Zebra
It’s birthday party time! The cast of Folger Theatre’s The Winter’s Tale in a celebratory mood. (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
After a three-year wait, Folger at last revealed its redesigned entrance and reception space to theatregoers. Don’t worry. The theatre looks the same with its beautiful walnut coffered walls and upper seating gallery. Modernizing the Folger Library is still ongoing and is on target to be completed next year.
It’s Karen Ann Daniels’s first season as Artistic Director and if this is any mark of her guidance, we are in for a treat. The Winter’s Tale is a dramedy from Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623. Considered both a romance and a comedy, it is so much more, especially in the capable hands of Director Tamilla Woodard, who breathes new life into both its dramatic and its comedic side.
Perdita (Kayleandra White) and Florizel (Jonathan Del Palmer) share a quiet, intimate moment (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
The play opens with a fancy birthday party for Leontes eight-year-old son before morphing into an edge-of-your-seat crime drama. Who did what? What are their intentions? Who’s innocent? Who’s to blame? Who’s going to die? Who’s lying? Who will stand by King Leontes (Hadi Tabbal) even when he’s obviously gone bonkers accusing Queen Hermione (Antoinette Crowe-Legacy) of being impregnated by his best pal, Polixenes (Drew Kopas)? Insert huge eyeroll here. It seems the king has cuckolding on the brain. It turns out, the men go along with him. And although they try mightily to dissuade him from murdering his wife, along with his beloved young son, Mamillius (the adorable and talented Clarence Payne), and the yet unborn babe, their lives are also in danger. The women believe Queen Hermione’s innocence and fight mightily and eloquently for her honor. Paulina (Kate Eastwood Norris), her ally, refers to the king’s delirium as “his tyrannous passion”. And that’s putting it mildly. She gives him holy hell on a plate.
Leontes’ cupbearer, Antigonus (Stephen Patrick Martin), agrees to murder the baby, but his heart aches and instead he leaves her in the forest during a hurricane. When the Shepherd (also Martin who now looks like Big Hoss from the TV show, Bonanza) finds her and takes her in, he names her Perdita (Kayleandra White). Did Shakespeare know it translates to little lost girl in Italian? After she has grown to be a beautiful young woman, Polixenes’ son, Forizell (Jonathan Del Palmer) falls head over heels for the abandoned princess.
The roguish peddler Autolycus (Reza Salazar) sings a happy tune (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
For the entirety of Act I we are on tenterhooks – gripped by the murderous plot and riveted by the suspense. By the time intermission comes, we don’t want to leave our seats after Leontes has ordered the deaths of his wife, his son and the unborn child.
Act II is a 180. When Time announces that 16 years have passed, the plot switches to raucous comedy, in the goofiest, zaniest, laugh-your- buns-off way. Watch for cowboys and cowgirls doing the Electric Slide at a sheep shearing hoedown; the Shepherd’s no-nothing, goofball son, Camillo (Cody Nickell), and the whole lot of them now speaking with a Southern twang; and a wacky, bicycle-riding, gypsy pickpocket, Autolycus (Reza Salazar) who fires up the audience with a call-and-response “Heigh-ho!” By now, we are on the floor writhing in hysterics. The audience needed stitches after all the shenanigans.
This is a terrific cast of notable locals and Broadway veterans. Standouts are the absurdly hilarious Nickell – a super scene stealer; the marvelous charisma of the statuesque Crowe-Legacy; the undeniable acting chops of Tabbal; and our beloved local actor Norris, who pulls out all the stops to portray both fierceness and humanity.
The humor and switcheroo unpredictability of this play is the very thing that makes it so indelible. In the immortal words of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, “Go with the flow.” All the better to enjoy yourself!
Music and dance at the sheep-shearing festival in Bohemia (center pictured l to r: Sabrina Lynne Sawyer, Reza Salazar, Kate Eastwood Norris; Kayleandra White, far right) (Photo/Brittany Diliberto)
Children Richard Bradford and Clarence Payne share the role of Mamillius and Time, and Shepherd’s Son is played by Nicholas Gerwitz. Sabrina Lynne Sawyer is in the ensemble.
Set Design by Raul Abrego, Jr.; Costume Design by Sarah Cubbage; Lighting Design by Max Doolittle; Sound Design and Original Music by Matthew M. Nielson; Choreography by Joya Powell.
Highly recommended. A treat for the soul and the funny bone!
Through December 17th at Folger Shakespeare Theatre, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information visit www.Folger.edu or call the box office at 202 544-4600.
For his staging of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Director Aaron Posner adapts this delectable comedy about sexual jealousy to the 20th C… specifically the burgeoning hippie styles and Mod culture of 1972. It’s the perfect imaginary moment. The Women’s Liberation movement was in full swing and the times they were a’changin’. How prophetic Shakespeare was as we look back to the future to find Falstaff, still the swaggering, conniving rogue, now clad in fringe jacket and tie-dyed, “Make Love Not War” t-shirt with his inept band of cohorts togged in bell bottoms and leisure suits. Get the picture?
Falstaff (Brian Mani) uses his brazen skills of seduction on a surprised Mrs. Ford (Ami Brabson). – Photos by Cameron Whitman Photography
Falstaff’s targets are Mistress Ford and Mistress Page who are quickly on to the antics of this corpulent seducer and set a course to entrap him in his thieving schemes, much to the initial confusion of their husbands. “Wives may be merry, and yet honest too,” says Mistress Page with a wink and a nod. The parallel plot to marry off the sweet Anne Page to a serious of unsuitable suitors – Dr. Caius and the curiously impotent Abraham Slender – adds to the overall pandemonium. Because both sides can play at this game, amirite?
Fenton (Dante Robert Rossi) consoles his true love, Anne Page (Linda Bard) – Cameron Whitman Photography
Notable cast members include Brain Mani as the devilish Falstaff; Eric Hissom exquisitely channeling John Cleese as the hapless, exploited husband; Kate Eastwood Norris adopting a Coen Brothers Mid-Western accent as the pill-popping Mistress Quickly; and Cody Nickell, as the French-accented, macho man, Dr. Caius, whose slimy ways will keep you in stitches with each and every line.
Mine Host (Louis E. Davis, left) cozies up to Dr. Caius (Cody Nickell). – Cameron Whitman Photography
Tony Cisek’s set of Mondrian-inspired color blocks paired with Devon Painter’s wild and crazy costumes and Dramaturg Michele Osherow’s smattering of hipster phraseology, keeps us firmly fixed in the free-wheeling era, all the while adhering to the original tale of wives in cahoots to humiliate the dishonorably lecherous, hilariously dissolute, conniver. Backgrounded by Matthew Nielson’s scene-transitioning groovy soundtrack, to keep us in the mood.
Slender (Brian Reisman, left) and Justice Shallow (Tommy A. Gomez) try to understand Windsor’s local glergyman, the Welsh-accented Sir John Hughes (Todd Scofield). – Cameron Whitman Photography
Highly recommended. A marvelous cast who bring the characters to life with sharp-as-a-needle comic acuity.
With Regina Aquino as Mrs. Page; Linda Bard as Anne Page/Pistol; Ami Brabson as Mrs. Ford; Louis E. Davis as Mine Host; Danielle Gallo as Bardolph/J. Rugby/John; Tommy A. Gomez as Justice Shallow; Brian Reisman as Abraham Slender; Dante Robert Rossi as Nym/Fenton; Todd Scofield as Sir Hugh Evens; Tyee Tilghman as Page; and Derrick Truby as Simple/Robert.
The cast of Folger Theatre’s The Merry Wives of Windsor! – Cameron Whitman Photography
Through March 1st at the Folger Theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call 202.544.7077 or visit www.Folger.edu/theatre.
