Seven years after William Shakespeare’s death in 1616, the First Folio of Shakespeare was published, the first major collection of an author’s plays to be published in England. The larger, more expensive folio format designated the works of Shakespeare as subjects worthy of such treatment. Containing 36 of his plays collected by his friends and fellow shareholders in the King’s Men acting company John Heminge and Henry Condell, the First Folio included dedicatory verses by friends, fellow playwrights, and poets, as well as the famous portrait of the balding playwright engraved by the artist Martin Droeshout.  

While many of Shakespeare’s plays had previously been printed in smaller, cheaper quartos during his lifetime, 18 of the works we most revere now—including As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and The Tempest—were not published during his lifetime and only survive because of this 1623 collection. 

Four hundred years after this momentous publication date, Washington, D.C., is celebrating Shakespeare’s works through a series of plays, performances, concerts, lectures, art exhibits, and more during the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, billed as “12 shows, 12 weeks, 1 city,” from Oct. 7 to Dec. 31. 

“Shakespeare Everywhere gives D.C. audiences the opportunity to experience the myriad ways that self-reflection and expression of humanity is possible with Shakespeare as a point of departure: through song, dance, theater, and more,” explains Karen Ann Daniels, director of programming and artistic director at the Folger Theatre. “It also gives us a chance to appreciate the vastly talented arts ecosystem we are proud to be part of in Washington, D.C. We plan to continue building deeper connections across D.C.’s creative community.”

The Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill stands as a living monument to the British playwright and poet who has influenced American literature, philosophy, and politics. Home to the largest collection of First Folios—82 of the 235 known extant editions (from an original run of about 750)—the Folger is also the world’s largest collection of Shakespearean archival materials, from rare premodern books to theatrical ephemera. 

While the Folger is undergoing final renovations before reopening to the public in 2024, the Folger Theatre will reopen this month for Shakespeare Everywhere and put on its first at-home production since March 2020. As Folger’s contribution to the festival, The Winter’s Tale is scheduled to run Nov. 4 through Dec. 17.

According to Daniels, The Winter’s Tale, due to its classification as one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays” (not really a tragedy, comedy, or history), is a rule breaker, “moving quickly from tragedy to romance to reconciliation and, eventually, redemption.” In performance, this play may be best known for its famous stage direction “Exit, pursued by a bear” or the miraculous transformation that happens at the end (no spoilers!), but Daniels stresses that it is “quite the emotional ride.” Daniels says that the tragicomedy about grave mistakes and lasting consequences, grief and reckoning, directed by Tamilla Woodard, “draws parallels with our recent histories that are so achingly familiar, draw[ing] us closer to our common humanity.” 

“Shakespeare permeates our everyday culture in ways in which we are largely unaware, and for those who make theater, opera, dance, and other forms of the creative arts, his presence is inescapable,” explains Timothy Nelson, artistic director at InSeries Opera, which will put on The Promised End later this fall (directed by Steven Mazzola), a collaging Shakespeare’s most heartbreaking tragedy, King Lear, and setting it to the towering score of Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem in a one-woman performance. 

“Because of this, and because we live in a time when the Western canon is rightly being interrogated and put into question as to its relevance and true universality,” Nelson continues, “the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival is a bold opportunity for arts makers to vibrantly argue through their creative work for why that canon does matter still, and still has immensely relevant things to say about the human story.”

The Washington Ballet’s Such Sweet Thunder (Oct. 26–29), a world premiere choreographed by Silas Farley, brings together classical dance with different musical tributes to Shakespeare’s works: D.C. native Duke Ellington’s Shakespearean suite Such Sweet Thunder, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet, Sir Frederick Ashton’s “The Dream” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Brett Ishida’s “when shall we three meet again” (Macbeth).

What so many of the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival productions offer is a new way to engage with Shakespeare’s 400-year legacy by translating his works into different artistic mediums, remixing Shakespeare with numerous musical styles, and—perhaps most currently relevant—examining the plays through the lens of artists whose identities are often neglected or maligned by Shakespeare’s words. 

As You Like It at Shakespeare Theatre Company (Dec. 2–31) features a royal court in exile and may deal with some heavy topics but it, too, is a work about finding community and love, even in dark moments. A production in association with Bard on the Beach (Vancouver’s summer Shakespeare festival), this production is set in the 1960s at a hippie commune. Of this December staging, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s artistic director Simon Godwin says you’ll get “two British geniuses—Shakespeare and the Beatles—for the price of one.” Godwin continues, “What’s so clever is that the original is full of songs and poems, and it almost feels as though Shakespeare already knew the Beatles and was preparing for their lyrics to complete his comedy.” Sometimes, all you need is love. 

But, for those of us who like our rock more sexy and dangerous, you can find that fittingly paired with one of Shakespeare’s darkest tragedies—full of supernatural spirits and regicide—at Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride (Oct. 10–29), also at Shakespeare Theatre Company. White stars in this musical response to the original play, which centers Lady Macbeth’s scenes, which she also wrote, channeling Tina Turner (for White’s role as Lady M) and Trent Reznor (for Macbeth) as her muses. Godwin describes seeing White’s performance last year as, “immediately struck by the charisma, the wit and the depth of interrogation of Shakespeare through [White’s] very own personal lens.” 

White has been thinking through the puzzle of Lady Macbeth for years and connecting it to issues of misogynoir, especially the fear of Black ambitious women. In an interview with City Paper, White explains, “When you’re reaching for something that’s beyond your grasp—and you really want it, what you do to get that and how you rely on others can sometimes be tricky and very juicy.” 

Speaking of juicy, at Studio Theatre, playwright James Ijames returns (after last year’s Good Bones) with his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham (opening Oct. 25), a queer Black contemporary take on Shakespeare’s sullen Danish prince. Juicy is, in fact, the name of the play’s protagonist, a college student who already feels at odds with his family when, at a barbecue, he is haunted by his father’s vengeance-seeking ghost. But as a thoughtful student, Juicy knows his Hamlet and tries to break cycles of masculine violence and trauma. In Ijames’ story, Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy is reimagined triumphantly as a raucous but healing comedy. 

Shakespeare Everywhere will also feature many free community events—from acting workshops and performances to art exhibits at the National Gallery of Art, Howard University, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, and more locales around the city. Tying many of the disparate threads of the festival together are the series of lectures by preeminent Shakespearean scholar and cultural critic Marjorie Garber, who is joining Shakespeare Everywhere as a Scholar in Residence, with a series of lectures on a variety of topics, including looking at the correlations between Shakespeare and jazz. 

“These modern takes on Shakespeare’s works create a strange paradox. Everything changes, but everything stays the same,” Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Godwin, who is also directing Charles Gounoud’s Romeo and Juliet for Washington National Opera in November with Evan Rogister conducting, explains. “We have this new wave of questions, but Shakespeare is at the center evolving and changing with us all. The festival is a celebration of his metamorphic quality, which is totally unceasing. He remains the zenith of flexible, responsive, dramatic writing. There’s never been anybody since then that can do that, and so it’s fitting that we continue to celebrate him in all his—[to quote Antony and Cleopatra]—‘infinite variety.’” 

Shakespeare Everywhere Festival runs from Oct. 7 through Dec. 31 at venues throughout D.C. For events, dates, times, ticket prices, and other information, visit shakespeareeverywheredc.com.