Reading Room Festival Q&As

Alexa Babakhanian shares the history of Dark Lady: A Musical Theater Work, her Broadway aspirations for the play, and why she was drawn to Amelia Bassano as a possible author for Shakespeare’s works.

Playwright Marcus Gardley discusses why he added a wife for Lear, how LEAR may be adapted for your own city, and how he interweaves Shakespeare’s royal tragedy with a modern moment in American history.

Barbara Fuchs shares insight into her work as founder and director of Diversifying the Classics, which promotes the vibrant, Spanish-language theatrical tradition developed on both sides of the Atlantic. In this Q&A she also discusses Lope de Vega’s prolific career as a playwright and what it’s like to adapt his work for younger audiences.

Playwright Alberto Bonilla shares how Shakespeare’s Cymbeline reminds him of telenovelas and spaghetti westerns. He also discusses the process of adapting a bilingual play and why setting Cymbeline in the American West works.

Karen Ann Daniels discusses her hopes for what will happen during the Reading Room Festival’s open rehearsal of her play, a musical exploration of the songs in Much Ado About Nothing and the comedy’s hero, Beatrice.

Hamlet co-adaptor Reynaldo Piniella, who also plays the titular role, reflects on how the play has evolved, how the bilingualism fosters a sense of intimacy and connection, and hopes for the play’s future.

Dramaturg Julissa Contreras shares more about working with a bilingual translation of a play by Shakespeare’s contemporary Ana Caro Mallén de Soto, the joys of expanding the canon beyond Shakespeare, and the gendered issues of the play that still resonate today.

Learn how Edelstein adapted and directed Shakespeare’s rarely produced Henry VI, Parts I, 2, and 3, turning it into a theatrical event with a cast and crew of over a thousand and bringing their community-based work even closer to the center of the organization.

“I was particularly intrigued by the concept of ‘honest Iago’ and what honesty truly signifies in the context of gender roles,” writes Mary Chieffo.

Austin Dean Ashford shares more about his one-person show, “Rap Monologues,” which fuses hip hop history, humor, and a fresh perspective on the classics.

“I wanted to write a play that allowed these characters to speak in Jewish voices for the first time,” writes Mantell about Everything That Never Happened.

Learn more about what to expect for The Reading Room Festival’s “interactive interrogation” of Shakespeare’s Othello, Act III, scene iii, at Folger Theatre.