Al Letson’s Play Blends Caesar’s Plight with Malcolm X in a Tour de Force at Folger
Julius X: A Re-Envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Theatre
Jordan Wright
October 1, 2025
 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.
Where We Belong – An American Indian Story at the Folger Looks for Answers
Folger Theatre
Jordan Wright
March 3, 2024
Special to The Zebra
 Madeline Sayet in WHERE WE BELONG at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Photo by Mark Garvin. Full Disclosure: I wrote on Native American culture for Indian Country Media Network Magazine for eight years.
When playwright and presenter, Madeline Sayet aka Achokayis, discovers her Mohegan name means “blackbird” she imagines where flight would take her. In this one-woman show – a co-production with Woolly Mammoth – she begins her story in an airport in Sweden – a stopover on her way to London’s Oxford University where she hope to earn her PhD in Shakespearean literature. Although she is initially afraid of flying, she grants it a bit of avian symbolism. “In the sky the borders disappear,” she imagines.
Her fascination with Shakespeare stems from a need to escape the perils and pressures of being Native American. Learn the language. Overcome discrimination. Get out from under her mother’s constant reminders to, “listen to your ancestors”. But the more she learns about the history of her people – their stolen lands, the broken treaties, the forced removal – the more haunted she becomes. As she tells it in this one-woman drama, when she stands up for herself in class to discredit both British- and American-written history books, she gets pushback from her professors who are eager to sweep the ugly truths into the dustbin of history. But Sayet knows her Native American history and her determination to share that knowledge with her professor and fellow students finds her in a very precarious position. She learns the hard way it’s not politically correct to discuss the Indian Wars, the renaming of Indian lands by the British using British names, or the policies of Andrew Jackson who was responsible for the horrific Trail of Tears.
 Madeline Sayet in WHERE WE BELONG at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Photo by Mark Garvin. Sayet’s has formed an idealization of Shakespeare as an anti-Colonialist, a concept that on the surface seems extraordinarily naïve. She imagines Caliban from “The Tempest” as Shakespeare’s way of empathizing and triumphing the native, but connecting Shakespeare’s literary intent to indigenous culture becomes a bridge too far for me. Think of this production more as a black box staging with spare lighting and set design and not the sort of production usually seen at The Folger.
Apart from that Sayet’s telling gives the listener a lot of background on the history of Indian affairs in America and Great Britain and lands this play somewhere between a doctoral dissertation and her personal story. What I found more interesting was the both the tension and connection in her relationship with her mother back in America. She playacts the phone calls and we learn the pressures she is under to revive their forgotten tribal history. “Your mission is our survival,” her mother warns.
 Madeline Sayet in WHERE WE BELONG at Philadelphia Theatre Company. Photo by Mark Garvin. I found this story to be the perfect primer for high school students and adults who are ill-informed about the very real issues that American Indians face every day.
“We’re still here,” is a saying held by Native Americans to let the world know they are still on this earth and their needs and claims are valid. It also goes towards explaining the importance of the repatriation of tribal objects and ancestral remains. And if we think of this story in those terms therein lies its value.
Directed by Mei Ann Teo, Lighting, Scenic Design and Props by Hao Bai, Costume Design by Asa Benally, Musical Composer and Sound Designer Erik Schilke.
Through March 10 at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre,201 E Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. For tickets and information call the box office at 202 544.7077 or visit www.Folger.edu.
|
