Truly Rooted in DC: Folger Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels Offers a First Look at 'As You Like It'

In this Q&A, Karen Ann Daniels discusses anchoring her spring 2026 production of  As You Like It in DC culture. Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy will be the Folger directorial debut for Daniels, who is Artistic Director of Folger Theatre and Director of Artistic Programs at the Folger.

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Q: How did you choose As You Like It for your Folger directorial debut?

The artistic director in me chose As You Like It because I felt like we needed a comedy in the season—but not just any comedy. I wanted something with a journey to it. I’d been working on the Beatrice Project and examining where female autonomy shows up Shakespeare’s plays. We started comparing Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing to Rosalind in As You Like It. Both characters value and emulate self-determination. It felt important to work on a Shakespearean play where I could tell a woman’s story from a woman’s perspective rather than following the typical male-centered journey we see in most of his plays.

Q: This production is set in Washington, DC. Can you talk about that choice?

I wanted to tell a story I could anchor in DC culture, because DC is a place of both inspiration and fascination for me. I think a lot about community in my work—how geography and different layers of identity show up in the stories we tell onstage. That’s always a driver in how I think about theatre. But, it’s not about replicating a literal DC but instead a concept that has the ethos of the District as framed through Shakespeare’s comedy.

I love As You Like It because in the middle of the play, you get this moment where these outliers—all coming from different circumstances—form a new kind of community in the forest of Arden. Not only do we get different kinds of love relationships blooming, but we also hear things like the conversation between Corin (a wise old shepherd) and Touchstone (a court jester). That moment feels like Shakespeare asking Rodgers and Hammerstein’s question, “Can the farmer and the cowman be friends?”

And because the play moves from a royal court space into the country, you get this beautiful pastoral tension that mirrors DC, which often gets reduced to the federal spotlight, the political circus. But the real DC—the people creating culture here, many of whom are multi-generational residents—isn’t in that national spotlight. That contrast is so interesting to me.

Our “DC & Me” project with artist-in-residence Katherine Harroff also inspired me—we engaged communities around the city in conversations about the past, present, and future of DC, and created public installations from those stories. What we learned is that DC residents have such deep pride and love for this city. It’s infectious.

Q: Any final thoughts?

I’m thinking a lot about how we invite the audience to participate in the story. How playful can we be? And how can we bring that playfulness into their lives?