Folger Theatre Closes Its 2024-25 Season with a Sexy, Joyful Twelfth Night Directed by Mei Ann Teo

Folger Theatre today announced the cast and creative team of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, directed by Mei Ann Teo, on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill from May 13–June 22, 2025.

“Sexy, hilarious, and devastating” is how director Teo (Folger Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s Where We Belong) describes this vision for Shakespeare’s comedy that includes romantic entanglements, separated twins, mistaken identities, pranks gone too far, and even a dash of revenge. Set in a brutalist landscape where a garden of love emerges amid the hard concrete, the shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as Cesario, exciting the passions of both Olivia and Orsino and inciting the jealousy of Malvolio. In Shakespeare’s time, boys portrayed women’s roles on stage, and this production of Twelfth Night playfully draws from both original staging practice and contemporary pop culture, fashion, and music—taking cues from Prince, Grace Jones, and Harry Styles—to create a parable about the transformative power of love and community.

“In the midst of a crumbling empire, our Twelfth Night revels in being able to make utter fools of ourselves for the kind of love that transcends everything, even grief,” shares the director Teo, currently an Artistic Leader at Ping Chong and Company in New York City. “Rife in original practice during Shakespeare’s time when all the actors were male, is an abundance of slips and slides of desire amongst the characters in the raucous romps of Twelfth Night. Our production is fueled by the soulful pop of Be Steadwell, set in an underground world where these intricacies of desire cross all boundaries, stirring up hidden fantasies and possibilities.”

At the center of the tangled love triangle are Olivia played by Alina Collins Maldonado (Folger Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet); Viola/Cesario played by Lilli Hokama (Folger Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Amadeus); and Orsino played by Helen Hayes Award winner Alyssa Keegan (Folger Theatre’s Richard III). Other faces familiar to Folger theatregoers are Hunter Ringsmith (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Todd Scofield (Romeo and Juliet) as Antonio.

Making their Folger debuts are El Beh (St. Ann’s Warehouse: 24-Decade History of Popular Music) as Sebastian/Fabian, Che Kabia (SoHo Shakespeare Company: Richard III) as Sir Toby Belch, Futaba (Kennedy Center for Young Audiences:  The Adventures of Xenia Oya) as Feste, and Nicholas Yenson (Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Taming of the Shrew) as Malvolio, and Erika Johnson as Percussionist/ Music Director (Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Strange Loop).

The creative team includes Tony Thomas (Choreographer), Be Steadwell (Composer), David I. Reynoso (Scenic Designer), Olivera Gajic (Costume Designer), Minjoo Kim (Lighting Designer), Justin Schmitz (Sound Designer), Yee  Eun Nam (Projection Designer), Amy Kellett (Props Designer), Jen Rabbit Ring (Voice and Text Coach), Jesse Cameron Alick (Dramaturg), and Danica Rodriguez (Casting Director).

“Having Mei Ann return to Folger’s stage again with a transformative Twelfth Night, is exciting,” shares Director of Programming and Performance and Folger Theatre Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels. “Mei Ann is mining Shakespeare’s text and highlighting the universal themes of loss and love that are highlighted from the moment Viola is shipwrecked onto the shores of Illyria. Mei Ann has pulled together a vibrant and talented collective of artists bringing their own skills for storytelling and comedy to lead us through to healing and growth that helps us and them find our own happy ending.”

Folger Theatre’s production of Twelfth Night is on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library from May 13–June 22, 2025. Accessible performances and related programming will be offered throughout the run of the production and are listed on the show page. Tickets start at $20 and are available online at www.folger.edu/12thnight or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

Reviewing members of the press are invited to attend the Opening Night production of Twelfth Night on Sunday, May 18 at 7:30pm or any performance after that date. Please reserve tickets through Colleen Kennedy, Senior Communications Manager, by May 9 via email at press@folger.edu. The press kit is available atfolger.edu/12thnight-presskit/.

About the Cast:

El Beh (Sebastian/Fabian) (all pronouns ONLY in rotation; if only using one: they/them) Folger Theatre: debut. Off-Broadway: St. Ann’s Warehouse: 24-Decade History of Popular Music; HERE Arts Center: The Hang; Ars Nova: Travels, Wrack Zone; Brooklyn Academy of Music/ international tour: Bark of Millions. Regional: Northern Stage: Noise with César Alvarez and Sarah Benson, American Conservatory Theater: Wizard of Oz;  Pasadena Playhouse: La Cage Aux Folles; La Jolla Playhouse/national tour: Hundred Days.

Alina Collins Maldonado (Olivia) (she/her) Folger Theatre: Hamlet (The Reading Room Festival 2025), Romeo and Juliet, King John. Shakespeare Theatre Company: Everybody, Much Ado About Nothing; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: BLKS; GALA Hispanic Theatre: Native Gardens (Helen Hayes nomination), El Paso Blue, Mariela en el desierto, Los empeños de una casa; Ford’s Theater: Something Moving; The Kennedy Center: Where Words Once Were, Digging Up Dessa; 1st Stage: Secret Things, The Good Counselor; Imagination Stage: Smartest Girl in The World, Robin Hood; Forum Theater: How We Got On, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Artistic Residencies: Eaton DC 2024, The Clarice Smith Artist in Residence 2021-2022, NextLOOK Artist 2020. Alinacollinsmaldonado.com @alina_cm_

Futaba (Feste) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut. Kennedy Center for Young Audiences: The Adventures of Xenia Oya. Regional: Center Theatre Group: A Transparent Musical; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: 39 Steps; Barrington Stage Company: A Little More Alive; Soho Repertory Theatre: Blush. Tour: RENT: 20^th Anniversary Tour. Film: Therapist Crush (NewFest, Soho Film Festival, Best Film at Seattle Trans Film Festival). Awards: Paul Robeson Award, Obie Award. @futabaacts

Lilli Hokama (Viola/Cesario) (they/she) Folger Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Amadeus. Arena Stage: Age of Innocence (Understudy), Death on the Nile (Understudy). Rorschach Theatre: Night of the Living Dead (Director).  Baltimore Center Stage: Antigone. Dallas Theatre Center: Little Women. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: Water by the Spoonful, Elf The Musical, Guadalupe in the Guestroom. Chester Theatre: I and You, Now Circa Then. Kitchen Theatre Company: Matt and Ben. Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Troilus and Cressida. Aurora Fox Arts Center: The Arabian Nights, She Kills Monsters. Morningside Players Theater Co.: The Understudy. Lincoln Center Theater: The Wolves (Understudy). Voiceover/Motion Capture: The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Audiobook: When Darcy Met Lizzy; A Queer Retelling of Pride and Prejudice. @_ill_lil_

Erika Johnson (Percussionist / Music Director) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut. Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Strange Loop; Signature Theatre: Penelope, Pacific Overtures, Girlfriend; Round House Theatre: A Hanukkah Carol; Mosaic Theater Company: Max & Willy’s Last Laugh. Regional: Opera Parallѐle: Champion, Dead Man Walking, Anya17; Center Repertory Company: 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Anything Goes, Beehive: The ‘60’s Musical, Cabaret Life Could be a Dream, Lucky Stiff, Marvelous Party, She Loves Me, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, Xanadu. Television: A Capitol Fourth with Lauren Aliana. erikajohnsonmusic.com

Che Kabia (Sir Toby) (they/them) Folger Theatre: debut. Regional: SoHo Shakespeare Company: Richard III, Catskill Mountain Shakespeare: Twelfth Night; The Shakespeare Forum: Othello(s); Speakeasy Stage Company: Men on Boats; New Repertory Theatre/ Boston Center for American Performance: Baltimore. Tours: National Players with Olney Theatre Center International: Obligatory Scene (nominated for the Eva Goore Booth Award for Outstanding Performance at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival). Currently a Member of the Mercury Story Acting Company. chekabia.com

Alyssa Keegan (Orsino) (they/them) Folger Theatre: Richard III. Studio Theatre: Scenarios, Contractions; Ford’s Theatre: Come From Away; Round House Theatre: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Helen Hayes Award, Best Actress), How I Learned to Drive, Becky Shaw; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Gloria, Botticelli in the Fire, Shipwreck; Shakespeare Theatre Company/American Conservatory Theater: Vanity Fair; Kennedy Center: Digging Up Dessa, Working (The Labor Heritage Foundation in honor of laborers during the pandemic). Television: Law & Order SVU, New Amsterdam (NBC), Bull (CBS). Voice Over: Reagan Somerset in KF Breene’s USA Today best-selling book series, Demon Days Vampire Nights.

Shubhangi Kuchibhotla (Maria) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut. Ford’s Theatre: Something Moving; Olney Theatre Center: Dance Nation; Imagination Stage: P.Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical; Arena Stage: Right to be Forgotten; Constellation Theatre: White Snake. Regional: Everyman Theatre: Be Here Now; Greater Boston Stage Company: Miss Holmes Returns; Theatre Raleigh: The Weight of Everything We Know; Teatro LATEA: Medusa; Theatre for the New City: F***boy Frankenstein. shubhangikay.com @shubhyk

Hunter Ringsmith (Sir Andrew Aguecheek) (he/him) Folger Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare Theatre Company: King Lear; Constellation Theatre Company: Desperate Measures; Kennedy Center: Shear Madness; Washington Stage Guild: Major Barbara. Off-Broadway: The Public: The Tempest. Regional: Bridge Street Theatre: Clarkston; New Swan Shakespeare: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice; Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Equivocation (Henry Award Nomination), Cymbeline, Henry VI , Part 2;  Lake Dillion Theatre Company: Bad Jews, Ghost: The Musical, Sister Act: The Musical, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, First Date; other work with Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Great River Shakespeare Festivals, Dallas Theater Center, and the Redhouse Arts Center. Film: Rustin. Training: MFA: University of California Irvine, BFA: Southern Methodist University.  hunterringsmith.com @hringsmith

Todd Scofield (Antonio) Folger Theatre: Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, Othello, Henry VIII, The Merry Wives of Windsor, others. Arena Stage: Holiday, City of Conversation, Sovereignty; Shakespeare Theatre: King Lear, Our Town, Richard III, others; Round House Theatre: Ink, Oslo, The Book of Will, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and others; Signature Theatre: Ragtime; Kennedy Center: Mister Roberts. Productions at other theaters include: Theater J, Studio Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Adventure Theatre, Imagination Stage, and Everyman Theatre.  Regional: Arden Theatre Company: Freud’s Last Session, PlayMakers Repertory Company, Charlotte Repertory Theatre, and North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. Television: recurring role in seasons 3 and 5 of The Wire.

Nicholas Yenson (Malvolio) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut. Shakespeare Theatre Company: The Taming of the Shrew; Signature Theatre: King of the Yees, Soft Power, Pacific Overtures; Arena Stage: Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, Anything Goes, You, Nero; Firebelly Productions: Sylvia, Of Mice and Men. Regional: San Francisco Playhouse: As You Like It; Hampton Theatre Company: Picnic; McCarter Theatre Center: A Christmas Carol; Wellesley Repertory Theatre: The House of Blue Leaves. Training: University of Limerick, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, American Conservatory Theater. nicholasyenson.com

About the Creative Team:

Mei Ann Teo (Director) makes theatre and film at the intersection of artistic/civic/contemplative practice. As a director/devisor/dramaturg, Teo creates across genres, including music theatre, intermedial participatory work, reimagining classics, and documentary theatre. Teo’s work has been in international festivals including Belgium’s Festival de Liege (Lyrics from Lockdown by Bryonn Bain), Edinburgh International Fringe, Beijing International Festival (Labyrinth – Top 8 of Fest in Beijing News), Singapore Theatre Festival (Becoming A Character). Teo helmed Dim Sum Warriors the Musical by Colin Goh and Yen Yen Woo, composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun for national China twenty-five city tour. Teo has directed and/or developed new work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, TheatreWorks Hartford, the Playwrights Realm, Goodman Theatre, Public Theater, the Ground Floor at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Crowded Fire Theater, History Theatre, Page 73, Musical Theatre Factory,  and the National Black Theatre. Work includes Jillian Walker’s world premiere SKiNFoLK: An American Show, Madeline Sayet’s Where We Belong at Folger Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and the national tour, the North American premiere of Amy Berryman’s Walden at TheatreWorks Hartford (Best Production and Directo r- Connecticut Critics Award), and the English US premiere of Stefano Massini’s 7 Minutes at Waterwell. Teo received the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Josephine Abady Award, is the inaugural recipient of the Lily Fan Director Lilly Award, and has formerly served in artistic leadership as the Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Factory and the Associate Artistic Director and Director of New Work at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Teo is currently an artistic leader at Ping Chong and Company.

Tony Thomas (Choreographer) Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses (Helen Hayes Award nomination). Berkeley Repertory Theatre/ Mosaic Theatre/ Baltimore Center Stage: Mexodus (Helen Hayes Award nomination); Studio Theatre: PASSOVER, White Noise, Good Bones, People, Places, and Things, FLOW, Love, Love, Love, P.Y.G., Fat Ham, The Colored Museum (Helen Hayes Award nominations); Arena Stage: Tempestuous Elements; Imagination Stage: Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Miss Nelson is Missing, P. Nokio, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Freshest Snow Whyte. Constellation Theatre Company: AIDA, Mysticism & Music; Joe’s Movement Emporium: Out of the Vineyard; Theatre Alliance: Word Becomes Flesh (Helen Hayes Award nomination). Film: Studio Theatre – FLOW; Constellation Theatre Company: The Last 5 Years; Arena Stage: The Freewheelin’ Insurgents. National Tour: West Side Story.

Be Steadwell (Composer) (They, She, He, Be) Folger Theatre: debut. Be Steadwell is a queer pop composer and storyteller from Washington DC. Be composes music on stage using looping, vocal layering and beat boxing. Be’s work is all about Black queer joy and love. Be’s goal as a musician is to make other black girlies, introverts and weirdos feel seen and loved. Be earned a BA in Black Studies from Oberlin College and an MFA in film from Howard University in 2014. Be’s thesis film Vow of Silence screened in film festivals around the world, including Black Star, HBO’s OutFest, The Schomburg Center and Inside Out Toronto. In 2019, Be composed the music for the Alvin Ailey Dance Company’s production of “the gone.” Later that year, Be wrote and directed A Letter to My Ex, the musical. A Letter to My Ex imagines a queer black woman’s experience of healing after a breakup. Be started teaching film at Howard University in 2024. In 2025, Be released their debut novel, Chocolate Chip City. This book centers the stories of Black women in DC, queerness, activism, and magic. BeSteadwell.com @besteadwell

David I. Reynoso (Scenic Designer) Folger Theatre: debut. Signature Theatre: Costume Designer: Into the Woods (Helen Hayes nomination), Arena Stage: Scenic and Costume Designer: Sanctuary City, Healing Wars (Helen Hayes Nomination). Broadway: Costume Designer: Water for Elephants (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Punchdrunk: Costume Designer: Sleep No More (Obie Award; NYC, Shanghai, Seoul). Regional: Pasadena Playhouse: Costume Designer: La Cage Aux Folles directed by Sam Pinkleton; Optika Moderna/La Jolla Playhouse: Creator/Director: La Lucha, Portaleza, Las Quinceañeras, Waking La Llorona. Others: American Conservatory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Ballet West, Finnish National Ballet, Portland Center Stage, The Old Globe, WP Theatre, Seattle Rep, Roundabout Theatre Company, among others. davidreynoso.com @designreynoso

Olivera Gajic (Costume Designer) Folger Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Conference of the Birds (Helen Hayes nomination). Olivera has designed more than 250 theater, opera, dance and film productions, notably: Salzburg Festival, Austria: Jedermann; American Symphony Orchestra: The Long Christmas Dinner; Vineyard Theatre: God’s Ear; The Juilliard School Drama Division: The Americans and The Greeks; The Juilliard School Opera Division: Don Giovanni, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Le Comte Ory; Pig Iron Theater: Superterrenean, Chekhov Lizardbrain, Twelfth Night; Lake Lucille: Ivanov, Uncle Vanya, Platonov, The Seagull. Film: I am a Seagull. Work at other theaters includes productions American Repertory Theatre, Arden Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Company, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Festival; Long Wharf, Two River Theatre Company, Riverside Theatre,  Alabama Shakespeare, Playmakers Repertory Company, California Shakespeare Theatre, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Theatre Works, American Stage, among others. Olivera’s work has been shown at exhibitions including the U.S. national exhibit at the 2004, 2007 & 2023 Prague Quadrennial and Curtain Call: Celebrating a Century of Women Designing for Live Performance. Olivera is a recipient of the NEA/TCG CDP for Designers, IT Award for Outstanding Costume Design, TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, Barrymore Award for Outstanding Costume Design. She recently received the Bessie Award Recipient for Outstanding Visual Design. oliveragajic.com/

Minjoo Kim (Lighting Designer) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut. Studio Theatre: English, Fat Ham; Signature Theatre: King of the Yees; Olney Theatre Center: Waitress, The Brothers Paranormal; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Comeuppance, The Sensational Sea-Minkettes; Round House: Ink, The Great Leap. Regional: Wilma Theater: The Comeuppance; City Theatre Company: American Fast; Pittsburgh Public Theater: The Chief; Kansas City Repertory Theatre: The Royale, Christmas Carol;  Bristol Riverside Theatre: Clue; TheatreSquared: Cambodian Rock Band, Violet; Cygnet Theatre: Life Sucks; Diversionary Theatre: One in Two. Off-Broadway: The Bushwick Starr: Demon. International: South Korea: Space Owul,  Dongsoong Art Center, Seoul Art Space Mullae; China: Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. Awards: The Royale, selected for the National Exhibit at Prague Quadrennial, 2023. minjoo-design.com

Justin Schmitz (Sound Designer) (they/he) Folger Theatre: debut. Local credits include: Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, GALA Hispanic Theatre, Imagination Stage, Round House Theatre (Brits Over Broadway Festival), Prologue Theatre Company, Visionaries of the Creative Arts, NextStop Theatre Company, others. Off-Broadway: 59E59 Theaters, Round House Theatre, Dixon Place. Regional: Chautauqua Theater Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Black Rep in St. Louis, others. Eastern Region Trustee for USA829’s LUEB, Co-Chair for USA829 Sound Design Committee, Co-Vice Chair for TSDCA. Helen Hayes nominations: 2017 (Constellation Theatre Company, The Wild Party) and 2016 (Forum Theatre Company, Call My Brother). Justinschmitztheatre.com

Yee Eun Nam (Projection Designer) Folger Theatre: debut. New York: Metropolitan Opera: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. Broadway:  Roundabout Theatre Company: Yellow Face; Ma-Yi Theater Company: Once Upon a (korean) Time; Audible Theater: Long Day’s Journey into Night. Regional: The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Goodman Theatre, Mark Taper Forum (CTG), American Conservatory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Pasadena Playhouse, Geffen Playhouse, The Movement Theatre Company, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Deaf West Theatre, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Getty Villa, Latino Theater Company.  LADCC Theatrical Excellence for CGI/Video in 2020 and 2023. yeeeunnam.com

Amy Kellett (Props Designer) Folger Theatre: Romeo and Juliet; Studio Theatre: Love, Love, Love, The Colored Museum, Fun Home, The Hot Wing King; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Incendiary; Rep Stage: Falsettos, Things That Are Round; Theater Alliance: The Trans-Atlantic Time Traveling Company, This Girl Laughs.., Do You Feel Anger?, The Blackest Battle, Day of Absence; Theater Alliance and the Kennedy Center TYA co-production: Look Both Ways; American Stage: The Figs; 1st Stage: Postcards from Ihatov, The Mamalogues; Constellation Theatre Company: Desperate Measures, Moon Man Walk, Orlando, Once On This Island; Faction of Fools: The Moors; NextStop Theatre Company: An Act of God; ArtsCentric: Dreamgirls, Rent; Pointless Theatre Company; Visions of Love, Rite of Spring, Don Cristobal, King Ubu; Gala Hispanic Theatre: Príncipe y Príncipe, Que Las Hay, Las Hay; The Hub Theatre: American Spies…,The Burn, The Late Wedding, Peekaboo!; Howard Community College: Percy Jackson, Heathers, She Kills Monsters; Synetic Theater: The Three Musketeers, A Tale of Two Cities; Baltimore Center Stage: Young Playwrights Festival 2022 (set and props).

Sierra Young (Fight and Intimacy Director) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut.  Arena Stage: The Age of Innocence, Ja Ja’s African Hair Braiding, POTUS!; Ford’s Theatre: Sister Act, Little Shop of Horrors; Mosaic Theater: cullud wattah, and others; Studio Theatre: Paradise Blue, The Scenarios, Downstate, The Colored Museum: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Frankenstein, Kunene and the King, As You Like It, King Lear (Helen Hayes Nomination). Sierra is the resident fight and intimacy director for Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, DC, and an active member of the SAFD and IDC. sierrayoung.org

Jen Rabbit Ring (Voice and Text Coach) Folger Theatre: debut. Arena Stage: Change Agent; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Public Obscenities, The Sensational Sea-Minkettes, Incendiary, Amm(i)gone; Mosaic Theater Company: Mary’s Seacole, Monumental Travesties; Rorschach Theatre Company: Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Chemical Exile, A Bid to Save the World; Taffety Punk: She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange; Theatre 4615: Separate Rooms (world premiere). Regional: Mile Square Theatre: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Garden of Rikki Tikki Tavi, Flare; Colab Arts: Romeo y Julieta, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Storytellers: Hamlet. Shakespeare & Company: Affiliated Actor Training Faculty. Designated Linklater Voice Teacher.

Jesse Cameron Alick (Dramaturg) (he/him) is a dramaturg, producer, poet, playwright, essayist, artistic researcher and science fiction expert. Jesse is currently a co-director of HERE Arts Center, in a shared leadership model and is an active freelance dramaturg at various theaters in NYC, nationwide, and internationally.

Danica Rodriguez (Casting Director) Folger Theatre: Our Verse in Time to Come. New York: Off-Broadway: The Public Theater: cullud wattah*, Romeo y Julieta, Soft Power, for colored girls…, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park), Mojada, Ain’t No Mo’*. Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Company: Uncle Vanya, Kunene & The King, Leopoldstadt, Babbitt, Comedy of Errors, The Matchbox Magic Flute, Macbeth, The Lehman Trilogy, As You Like It, Macbeth In Stride, Evita, Here There Are Blueberries, King Lear, Jane Anger, Much Ado About Nothing, Red Velvet, Our Town, The Merchant of Venice; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes*, Incendiary; The Kennedy Center: The Day You Begin; JAG Productions: Next to Normal; The Civilians: El Condor Magico, and others. Awards: Theatre Communications Group 2021 Rising Leader of Color. Founding Trainer with Broadway for Racial Justice Casting Directive. BA in Film & Media Studies, Dartmouth College. DanicaRodriguez.com @danicarodriguezcasting | *World Premiere

Mekala Sridhar (Associate Director) (she/her) Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses (Associate Director), The Reading Room Festival 2025 (Artistic Consultant). Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company / Theatre For A New Audience: Public Obscenities (Associate Director); Studio Theatre: Fun Home, Pass Over (Assistant Director); Solas Nua: Hakawatis (reading) (Director); Atlas Arts Lab: Nothing You Desire (workshop) (Director); Prologue Theatre: A Wake At Singh’s (workshop) (Director). Regional: The Old Globe: What You Are (Assistant Director); La Jolla Playhouse: Light Years Away (Assistant Director). Sarah Lawrence College BA; Moscow Art Theatre School; Accademia dell’Arte. www.mekalasridhar.com

About Folger Shakespeare Library and Folger Theatre:

The Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare’s stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a cultural organization where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

The award-winning Folger Theatre in our nation’s capital bridges the arts and humanities through transformational performances and programming that speak inclusively to the human experience. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels, Folger Theatre continues its legacy through exciting interpretations and adaptations of Shakespeare and expands the classical canon through cultivating today’s artists and commissioning new work that is in dialogue with the concerns and issues of our time. Folger Theatre thrives both on its historical stage and in the community, engaging audiences wherever they happen to be. For more on Folger Theatre, please visit www.folger.edu/theatre.

Folger Theatre Sponsors

With special thanks to The Share Fund

Premier Season Sponsor Dr. Bill and Evelyn Braithwaite

Season Sponsors 

Helen and David Kenney & Family

Andrea “Andi” Kasarsky

Production Sponsors

Nancy and Steve Howard (Romeo and Juliet)

Contributing Sponsors

Celia and Keith Arnaud

Gail Kern Paster

Scott and Liz Vance

Associate Sponsors

Timothy J. Carlton (Romeo and Juliet)

Col. Wesley P. Hallman and Dr. Silvana

Rubino-Hallman

Peter and Mary Pennington

Rick Kasten (Romeo and Juliet)

Artist Sponsors

Karl K. and Carrol Benner Kindel