What's on
There’s something for everyone. From theater and music, to poetry and exhibitions, experience the power of the arts with us.
Upcoming events
Join us for in-person and virtual events; theater, poetry, music, and more.
Not Just Another Day Off 2025
Not Just Another Day Off
Each year, the Folger celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with poetry readings by contemporary poets and actors. This year’s virtual, on-demand program includes "Declaration" by Tracy K. Smith, "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and Dr. King’s speech "Where Do We Go From Here?”.
Sat, Jan 18 – Tue, Jan 21, 2025
Family Workshop: The Fantastical World of Shakespeare
Family Workshop: The Fantastical World of Shakespeare
Dive into the fantasy world of Shakespeare and explore the world of fairies and wizards! Choose from two free workshops for ages 5-7 and ages 8-11.
Sat, Jan 25, 2025 at 11:30am & 1pm
“How to Tell My Story”: Language and Identity in Othello
“How to Tell My Story”: Language and Identity in Othello
Join Folger Education to dive into language and identity in Othello during this virtual professional development session for teachers.
Wed, Jan 29, 2025, 8pm (ET)
Shakespeare as a Starting Point: Shakespeare with Community | The Reading Room Festival
Shakespeare as a Starting Point: Shakespeare with Community
The annual festival kickoff explores the unexpected ways Shakespeare’s legacy has endured, and how engaging with theater-making enhances the relevance and value of Shakespeare in the everyday lives of people.
Thu, Jan 30, 2025, 6:30pm
Henry 6 | The Reading Room Festival
Henry 6
Artistic Director of San Diego's Old Globe Barry Edelstein shares selections and commentary on the process of creating Henry 6, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III.
Thu, Jan 30, 2025, 7:30pm
Writing, Adapting, and Translating Shakespeare for Performance | The Reading Room Festival
Writing, Adapting, and Translating Shakespeare for Performance
A panel of artists explores the challenges and opportunities of turning Shakespeare's beloved 400-year-old texts into compelling contemporary works.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025, 6:45pm
Valor, Agravio y Mujer (The Courage to Right a Woman's Wrongs) | The Reading Room Festival
Valor, Agravio y Mujer (The Courage to Right a Woman's Wrongs)
This play is a celebration of women’s agency, written by Shakespeare’s Spanish contemporary Ana Caro Mallén de Soto.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025, 8pm
Make Hamlet Your Own: A Rewriting Workshop | The Reading Room Festival
Make Hamlet Your Own: A Rewriting Workshop
This interactive workshop offers participants a hands-on opportunity to rewrite key passages from Shakespeare's Hamlet from their own cultural perspectives.
Sat, Feb 01, 2025, 11am
DC, I Love You | The Reading Room Festival 2025
DC, I Love You
"DC, I Love You" is an immersive performance experience that brings real love stories to life across the neighborhoods where they originated. This workshop at the Reading Room Festival offers a first look at one of the scripts.
Sat, Feb 01, 2025, 12pm
The Reading Room Festival: Jan 30 – Feb 2
At Folger Theatre’s third annual festival, join artists, critics, and scholars to celebrate creative community and collaboratively explore the multifaceted nature of Shakespeare’s stories. Buy $20 tickets to individual events or purchase a Reading Room Festival All-Access Pass ($150) to attend all staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations.
Featured plays
Henry 6 | The Reading Room Festival
Henry 6
Artistic Director of San Diego's Old Globe Barry Edelstein shares selections and commentary on the process of creating Henry 6, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III.
Thu, Jan 30, 2025, 7:30pm
Valor, Agravio y Mujer (The Courage to Right a Woman's Wrongs) | The Reading Room Festival
Valor, Agravio y Mujer (The Courage to Right a Woman's Wrongs)
This play is a celebration of women’s agency, written by Shakespeare’s Spanish contemporary Ana Caro Mallén de Soto.
Fri, Jan 31, 2025, 8pm
By the Queen | The Reading Room Festival 2025
By the Queen
This dynamic new drama by Whitney White, lifted and remixed from the text of Henry VI and Richard III, finally gives Queen Margaret's story the telling it deserves.
Sat, Feb 01, 2025, 8pm
Hamlet: The Reading Room Festival 2025
Hamlet
Hamlet is a Black, Latinx prince in this bilingual reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragedy, with text infused by the Spanish spoken in present-day New York City.
Sun, Feb 02, 2025, 5pm
Exhibition halls
Exhibitions
Explore our world-class collection and enjoy interactive experiences created for visitors of all ages and stages.
- Our Shakespeare Exhibition Hall is devoted to the works of William Shakespeare then and there, here and now — including for the first time a display of all 82 copies of the Folger’s First Folios; and
- In our Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall, you’ll discover exhibits of significant collection items that inspire the Folger’s work, deep dives into our vault, and special exhibitions.
Current exhibitions
Shakespeare Exhibition
Our Shakespeare Exhibition
See the Folger First Folios, learn more about Shakespeare and his plays, and explore the complexities of his cultural legacy.
Ongoing
Out of the Vault: Into the Heart of the Folger
Out of the Vault
Encounter remarkable books and manuscripts that connect with the multifaceted work of the Folger in this ongoing exhibition.
Ongoing
Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis
Little Books, Big Gifts: The Artistry of Esther Inglis
Explore Esther Inglis's life and work as an early modern influencer and as the first woman in Britain to preface her works with selfies, in this exhibition 400 years after her death.
Through Sun, Feb 9, 2025
Family Programs
Family Workshop: The Fantastical World of Shakespeare
Family Workshop: The Fantastical World of Shakespeare
Dive into the fantasy world of Shakespeare and explore the world of fairies and wizards! Choose from two free workshops for ages 5-7 and ages 8-11.
Sat, Jan 25, 2025 at 11:30am & 1pm
Folger Theatre 2024-2025 Season
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
In a violent world, two young people from warring families fall in love. How can they safeguard their future when the systems meant to protect them fail?
Tue, Oct 1 – Sun, Nov 10, 2024
A Room in the Castle
A Room in the Castle
This retelling of Hamlet from the perspective of the women of the story offers up what it’s like to be on the other end of a wild prince’s antics while delivering a message of defiant hope.
Tue, Mar 4 – Sun, Apr 6, 2025
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night
A playful interpretation of a beloved Shakespeare comedy that brings gender fluidity, mistaken identities, and what it means to move between worlds into a joyful discovery of love.
Tue, May 13 – Sun, Jun 22, 2025
Folger Consort 2024-2025 Season
Join us for these remaining concerts.
The Love Birds
The Love Birds
Folger Consort intersperses readings from 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer’s A Parlement of Foules with medieval music and a world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer and Guggenheim Fellow Juri Seo, capturing the wit and charm of Chaucer's avian world through music.
Fri, Feb 14 – Sun, Feb 16, 2025
Kings and Commonwealth
Kings and Commonwealth
Folger Consort performs music from the court of King James I and King Charles I that reflects the political and religious upheavals in early 17th century England, including political ballads of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot.
Fri, May 2 – Sun, May 4, 2025
Save the date: Folger Gala
Folger Gala 2025
Folger Gala
Save the date for the 2025 Folger Gala. Tickets and additional information coming in January 2025. The annual gala will be held at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Sat, Apr 26, 2025
O.B. Hardison Poetry 2024-2025 Season
Join us for these remaining readings.
Disability Poetics with Camisha Jones and torrin a. greathouse
Disability Poetics with Camisha Jones and torrin a. greathouse
Folger Poetry continues its exploration of 'Whose Democracy?' with readings by poets torrin a. greathouse and Camisha L. Jones whose present works probe the erasure of disabled voices.
Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 7:30pm
2025 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize with Paul Muldoon and Julia Thacker
2025 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize with Paul Muldoon and Julia Thacker
The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series and co-sponsor The Waywiser Press celebrate the 19th winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize with this year’s prize judge, acclaimed Irish poet, critic, playwright, and translator Paul Muldoon, who will read with the winning poet.
Tue, Mar 11, 2025 at 7:30pm
The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Finale Reading Ellen Bass
The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Finale Reading Ellen Bass
Ellen Bass, chosen by a group of Folger Poetry supporters, will read from the work of other poets cited as a literary influence, as well as from her own work. A moderated conversation will follow the reading, with a bookselling and signing at the post-reading reception.
Tue, Apr 8, 2025 at 7:30pm
Ticket information
Contact the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077 or folgerboxoffice@folger.edu.
