Booking and details
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Dates Sat, Feb 01, 2025, 4pm
Venue The Reading Room
Tickets $20 (or $150 for an All-Access Pass)
Please note: Children under the age of 4 are not permitted.
An open rehearsal
Walk with Folger Theatre Artistic Director and playwright Karen Ann Daniels through the beginning stages of writing her new adaptation with music of Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare’s language, characters, and elaborate stories provide inspiration for many modern writers. But how does a writer begin? What information do they need? How much of Shakespeare’s work is essential to understand and therefore propose an entirely new adaptation or original story?
Karen Ann Daniels is joined by a scholar—Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Associate Professor in the Department of Performing Arts at American University, a professional dramaturg, and cultural critic), and an MC — MC, playwright, and artivist Miki Vale. The three come together as a creative team to see what sparks, and share process and product, in conversation with the audience.
How will they mine the text to tell a contemporary story through music and song? Where should they go next? Come and join us and participate in creating this brand-new work!
How to attend the festival
Individual events – $20
Reading Room Festival All-Access Pass – $150
Access to all staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations included in the Festival.
Students – Free admission to readings and conversations
Admitted free one-half hour before event start time, with a valid ID.
Who’s Who
Karen Ann Daniels
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).
Faedra Chatard Carpenter
Dr. Faedra Chatard Carpenter (Dramaturg) (Ph.D. in Drama from Stanford University, M.A. in Drama from Washington University, B.A. in English from Spelman College) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Performing Arts at American University, a professional dramaturg, and cultural critic. As a professional dramaturg, Carpenter has worked on innumerable projects at venues such as Ford’s Theatre, Round House Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, Olney Theatre Company, Everyman Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mosaic Theatre Company, Theater J, Dance Place, Crossroads Theatre Company, and Arena Stage.
Miki Vale
Miki Vale is a complex artist with a simple vision: to move minds, bodies, and souls. The San Diego-based MC, playwright, artivist consistently delivers art with purpose, making her an in-demand entertainer and educator both at home and abroad. Miki creates to share the LEVELS of existence (Love, Emotion, Vibration, Energy, Light, and Spirit) that connect all people to the colorful HUEman experience. https://mikivalethemc.com/home