Shakespeare Everywhere?
with Dr. Michael Witmore

Michael Witmore is the director of the Folger Shakespeare Library. His books include Landscapes of the Passing Strange: Reflections from Shakespeare, with Rosamond Purcell (W.W. Norton, 2010), Shakespearean Metaphysics (Continuum, 2009), Pretty Creatures: Children and Fiction in the English Renaissance (Cornell University Press, 2007), Childhood and Children’s Books in Early Modern Europe, 1550-1800 (Routledge, 2006), and Culture of Accidents: Unexpected Knowledge in Early Modern England (Stanford University Press, 2001).

Michelle A. Banks, a native of Washington, DC, is an award-winning actress, writer, director, producer, motivational speaker, and teacher.  She has taught deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing children K-12 for over 30 years in performing arts and American Sign Language (ASL). Former Artistic Director of Onyx Theatre Company for over 11 years in NYC. Her other achievements include the 2022 recipient of DC Area Black Deaf Advocates Award for Outstanding Achievements; the 2017 recipient of Gallaudet University’s Laurent Clerc Award; the 2002 recipient of the Christopher Reeve Acting Scholarship; an Individual Achievement Award from the National Council on Communicative Disorders; a featured article in the February 1998 issue of Essence magazine.

Karen Ann Daniels is the Director of Programming/Artistic Director of Folger Theatre. A native San Diegan, she is an accomplished actor, director, playwright, vocalist, musician, and community organizer. Prior to joining the Folger, she was director of the Mobile Unit at The Public Theater in NYC, producing tours around all five boroughs of NYC bringing the tools of theater to incarcerated community through Mobile Unit In Corrections (MUiC).

Maria Manuela Goyanes (she/her/hers) is the Artistic Director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Prior to joining Woolly, she served as the Director of Producing and Artistic Planning at The Public Theater, where she oversaw the day-to-day execution of a full slate of plays and musicals at the Public’s five-theatre venue at Astor Place and the Delacorte Theater for Shakespeare in the Park. Earlier in her career at The Public, she managed some of the theatre’s most celebrated productions, including Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Maria is a first-generation Latinx-American, born to parents who emigrated from the Dominican Republic and Spain. She was raised in Jamaica, Queens, and has a collection of hoop earrings to prove it. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2001 from Brown University.

LeeAnét Noble is a world renowned multi hyphenate artist as well as the Director of Equity and Belonging and part of the Artistic team at Shakespeare Theatre Company. In addition to her work at the theatre, she currently teaches an original Black theatre history course about the first Black Classical theatre troupe and the origins of Ira Aldridge at The Academy of Classical Acting (Graduate studies at George Washington University.) She graduated magna cum laude from Howard University with a degree in theater and is certified in Equity from Purdue University.

Managing Director Serge Seiden helped found Mosaic Theater Company in 2015 and has held leadership positions with the Company since then. From 1990 to 2015, Serge held many positions at Studio Theatre, including Stage Manager, Literary Manager, and Producing Director. He is also an acting teacher and director. For Mosaic, he most recently directed Birds of North America. Other Mosaic credits include Eureka Day, Ulysses on Bottles, and Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, which received the Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding Original New Play.