A Room in the Castle
by Lauren M. Gunderson
Directed by Kaja Dunn
Co-produced with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
Booking and details
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Dates March 4 – April 6, 2025
Venue Folger Theatre
Tickets $20 – $84
Please note: Children under the age of 4 are not permitted.
How does a woman survive the court of Denmark? A Room in the Castle finds Ophelia, her handmaid, and her Queen Gertrude on the other end of a wild prince’s antics and realizing just how dangerous life in this castle has become. As Ophelia withstands Hamlet’s assaults and insults, Gertrude comes to see how far gone her son truly is. What is she willing to risk to save Ophelia and herself if it means turning against her problematic child? A meditation on women helping women, what mothering a potential madman means, and what responsibility generations of feminists have to one another, A Room in the Castle rebrands the stories of the women of Shakespeare’s Hamlet into a drama with music and defiant hope for the future.
Creative team
Lauren M. Gunderson
Lauren M. Gunderson has been one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015, topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is a playwright, screenwriter, musical book writer and children’s author who lives in San Francisco. She graduated from NYU Tisch as a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. LaurenGunderson.com
Kaja Dunn
Kaja Dunn (Resident Intimacy Director) Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses, The Winter’s Tale, Our Verse In Time To Come (The Reading Room Festival); Arena Stage: American Prophet; Denver Center for the Arts: Choir Boy, 5thAve; ACT Theatre (Seattle): Choir Boy; St. Louis Rep.: Private Lives, Confederates; Two River Theatre: Wine In The Wilderness; Penumbra Theatre: Sugar In Our Wounds; Broadway: A Strange Loop (Assoc. Intimacy Director); Television: The Best Man, Final Chapters, Harlem, The Equalizer; Awards: Kennedy Center American Theatre Award, Playwrights Project Excellence in Arts Education; Publications: Arden Contemporary Shakespeare, Intimacy Direction For Theatre, Theatre Symposium, HowlRound. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (UK). Carnegie Mellon University: Associate Professor.
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
Cincinnati Shakespeare Company was founded in 1993 by a group of passionate and visionary young artists, and over the past three decades has evolved into a permanent fixture in Cincinnati’s arts community. The first season consisted of five productions in multiple venues; today, CSC presents more than 250 performances of nine productions annually in its downtown theatre and through touring productions across the region. In 2017, CSC opened the brand new $17.5MM Otto M. Budig Theater in Cincinnati’s historic Over-The-Rhine, helping to distinguish the company as the only professional classical theater between Chicago and New Jersey.
Accessibility
The Folger wants every visitor to enjoy exploring our building, our programs, and our collection. We strive to provide access to all audiences.
Please contact us at VisitorServices@folger.edu or (202) 544-7077 with questions or requests. More information
Relaxed performances
- Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 7:30pm
- Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 2pm
Relaxed performances are designed to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for audiences that may receive and react to information in different ways. The content of the production is the same, but some elements of the environment are altered.
Please contact VisitorServices@folger.edu with any additional questions.
Audio-described performance
- Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 2pm
Audio description (AD) is a narration service that attempts to describe the visual aspects of theatre and make the visual an auditory experience, with the goal of helping low vision and Blind audience members share in the experience of live theatre more fully.
Please contact VisitorServices@folger.edu with any additional questions.
Open-captioned performances
- Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 2pm and 7:30pm
Open-captioning makes live theater performances accessible by using a non-intrusive caption board at the front of the stage which scrolls the entire text of the production in real time.
For information about the best seat locations from which to see the caption board, contact at VisitorServices@folger.edu or (202) 544–7077.
Special performances
Pay what you will
- Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 7:30pm
The concept is simple: you tell us what you will pay for your ticket! Sales begin two (2) hours before curtain at the door and are available on a first come, first served basis — limit one (1) ticket per person.
Post show discussion
- Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Join us after the performance for a free conversation with the cast, moderated by the production dramaturg.
Folger Theatre Sponsors
With special thanks to
The Share Fund
Premier Season Sponsor
Dr. Bill and Evelyn Braithwaite
Season Sponsor
Helen and David Kenney & Family
Andrea “Andi” Kasarsky
Production Sponsor
Nancy and Steve Howard (Romeo and Juliet)
Contributing Sponsor
Celia and Keith Arnaud
Gail Kern Paster
Associate Sponsor
Timothy J. Carlton (Romeo and Juliet)
Wes and Sly Hallman
Peter and Mary Pennington
Rick Kasten (Romeo and Juliet)
Artist Sponsor
Karl K. and Carrol Benner Kindel
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