Q&A with Reynaldo Piniella

The Reading Room Festival (January 30–February 2) features new work and conversations inspired by, in response to, or in dialogue with the plays of William Shakespeare. Leading up to the festival, we’re doing a Q&A series with the creators involved.

A previous Reading Room Festival favorite returns this season: Hamlet, adapted by Reynaldo Piniella and Emily Lyon (both pictured above). Reynaldo Piniella, who also plays the titular role, reflects on how the play has evolved, how the bilingualism fosters a sense of intimacy and connection, and hopes for the play’s future. Read more in the Q&A below and join us for a staged reading on Sunday, February 2, at 5pm.

Q&A

Welcome back! Can you tell us about the first staged reading of Hamlet during your first Reading Room Festival experience and how the play has evolved since then?

Our first reading of our adaptation of Hamlet in the Reading Room Festival gave my team a chance to share excerpts from our bilingual Hamlet and learn how our show resonates with a mix of English and Spanish speakers. The festival was our first time sharing our bilingual Hamlet with an audience, and the Folger’s audience gave us the amazing feedback that they wanted even more Spanish in the text. So, in our subsequent readings with the Public Theater and the Acting Company, we’ve worked to deepen the role of bilingualism in the play and the intimacy and connection that is fostered through shared language.

You previously shared that you were interested to see “how much of the bilingualism translates to an audience that is a mix of English and Spanish speaker.” What did you learn from the previous Reading Room staged reading, and what do you hope to learn from or experience during this year’s festival?

Our first reading at the Reading Room illuminated how an audience who wasn’t entirely fluent in English and Spanish wouldn’t be turned off by our adaptation, but would lean in because they wanted to look at Shakespeare’s play with fresh eyes. The audience at the Folger was so attuned to the bilingualism in our play, particular when a character would shift in the middle of a verse line, and we want to heighten the disconnection and intimacy that language engenders in the play. We are working to flesh out the world of our Hamlet so that our adaptation resonates in any community where the play is produced and not just in New York City, where I was born and raised and whose mix of languages and cultural identities inspired the creation of our Hamlet.

What are your next dreams and plans for Hamlet?

We would love a production of Hamlet in a regional theater’s 2025-2026 theater season! Our show would resonate in any community that is a mix of cultures and languages (like Washington, DC).

Is there anything else that you’d like readers and audience members to know about you and/or your play?

Our Hamlet may be labeled an adaptation but it is still incredibly faithful to Shakespeare’s text. At this moment, our play still contains over 95% of Shakespeare’s words, either in English or Spanish. Even if you don’t understand a word of Spanish or don’t consider yourself a Shakespeare fan, we believe our adaptation will make you look at this 400-year-old play in a new way.