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The Folger Spotlight

ENCORES: Graywolf's 45th Anniversary with Danez Smith (2019)

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Folger Public Programs is pleased to present ENCORES, a bi-weekly online series highlighting past performances and recalling the rich history of programming on the historic Folger stage. These ENCORES provide a way to connect and revisit the breadth of Folger offerings with a wider audience.

ENCORES presents

O.B. Hardison Poetry Series
Graywolf’s 45th Anniversary: Ilya Kaminsky, Danez Smith, and Fanny Howe
with Danez Smith
September 16, 2019
Learn more about this reading on Folgerpedia

Danez Smith reads their poems

  • “my president”
  • “acknowledgments”
    • From Homie (2020)

and

  • “Dinosaurs in the Hood”
  • “dear white america”
    • From Don’t Call Us Dead (2017)

Read the introduction by poet Regie Cabico:

Hello and welcome to Folger Encores. I’m Regie Cabico, three-time National Poetry Slam finalist and former Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion. Through the Encores series, the Folger has been sharing selections from its plays, music, and poetry readings with us. Today, we’re excited to share from the O.B. Hardison Poetry reading that celebrated the 45th anniversary of Graywolf Publishing.

This reading featured poets Ilya Kaminsky, Fanny Howe, and Danez Smith. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Danez Smith, an artist with whom I have featured at the Capturing Fire Spoken Word Festival in D.C. and is also on the current board of Split this Rock, with whom I am having the honor to co-chair.

Danez Smith’s poetry exemplifies the passion of the slam genre and excels with language that reinvigorates the forms of 21st-century literature. Theatrically polished, sharp, and full of imagery, Danez, with true valor, shows us how poetry can hold us up during this unprecedented post-pandemic times.

Please join us again for these biweekly episodes of Encores, highlighting all that the Folger has to offer. Thank you.

Check back every other Friday for a new “from the archives” performance, introduced by some of our favorite artists, showcasing the best of Folger Theatre, Folger Consort, O.B. Hardison Poetry, and lectures.

Folger Theatre

Folger Theatre is the vibrant center piece of the Folger’s public programs. With a focus on Shakespeare, Folger Theatre produces plays reflecting the breadth of the library’s peerless collection. In this unique setting, with collaborations between artists and experts, Folger Theatre produces innovative stagings that have been commended as “breathtakingly original...strikingly contemporary” (The Washington Post). Led since 1991 by Artistic Producer Janet Alexander Griffin, Folger Theatre has received 135 nominations and 23 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in acting, direction, design, and production. During the recent seasons Folger Theatre has received the Outstanding Resident Play Award for its productions of Measure for Measure in 2007, Hamlet in 2011 and The Taming of the Shrew in 2013. Other highlights from Folger Theatre’s producing history include these Helen Hayes Award recipients or nominees for outstanding production: Romeo and Juliet (2013), Orestes: A Tragic Romp (2010), Henry VIII (2010), Arcadia (2009), Macbeth (2008), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2006), Melissa Arctic (2006), She Stoops to Conquer (2002), Shakespeare’s R & J (2001), Much Ado About Nothing (1998), and Romeo and Juliet (1997). — View all posts by Folger Theatre