Booking and details
Dates Fri, Oct 10, 2025 at 7:30pm
Venue Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall
Tickets Free; registration requested
Please note: Children under the age of 4 are not permitted.
Join us for a special Affinity Night around Folger Theatre’s production of Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, by Al Letson. Our evening will begin with a free Gallery Talk led by Folger’s Assistant Curator of Collections Johnna Champion, highlighting items related to the play, including our On Stage case, specially curated for the production by director of Julius X, Nicole Brewer.
Participants can purchase a ticket to the 8pm performance of Julius X at the discounted rate of $50 with code AFFINITY, then stay for a special post-show conversation moderated by Garlia Cornelia Jones, Founder and Artistic Director of Blackboard Plays.
About the speakers
Garlia Cornelia Jones
Garlia Cornelia Jones is a writer, producer, photographer and mother from Detroit. 2008: Founded Blackboard Plays, a monthly series devoted to Black Playwrights. One of the founding producers of Harlem9, OBIE Award -“48Hours in…™Harlem”. Essays and articles -“The New York Times”, “The Washington Post”, “Salon.com” and “American Theatre”. The Fire This Time Festival. She worked on an MA in African American and African Diaspora studies at Indiana University before coming to New York for her MFA in Playwrighting – The New School for Drama. She was a guest artist at Wayne State University 2020-2021, where she also taught a Playwrighting Workshop for MFA Actors. She has also taught at New School – College of Performing Arts, and was an adjunct at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI during the ‘23-‘24 school year. Member- Dramatists Guild of America. Former Line Producer and 1st Dir, Innovation and New Media at The Public – New York. Current: Executive Director of Producing- PAAL; Co-Creator and Executive Producer Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival; Associate Artistic Director and Senior Creative Producer – Obsidian Theatre Festival. Marketing Manager – Detroit Public Theatre. Playing on Air, Assoc AD & Creative Producer. Keynote Speaker: Louisiana Arts Summit, Baton Rouge, LA.- October 2023. Artist in Residency – NYTW, Vineyard Arts Project, August 2025. www.patreon.com/garliacornelia / Social Media: @garliacornelia
Julius X
On our blog
Julius Caesar meets Julius X
Discover books, costume sketches, and theatrical props for Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in the Folger collection along with items from Folger Theatre’s production of Al Letson’s Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.
About Blackboard Plays
Since 2008, Blackboard Plays has been devoted to Black Playwrights throughout the African Diaspora. Founded by writer and producer Garlia Cornelia Jones, Blackboard began as Blackboard Reading Series with the intention of creating a home for Black playwrights. The series was originally incubated at nancy manocherian’s the cell in Chelsea, a neighborhood in Manhattan as a resident series for 10 years. In 2018, Blackboard moved its physical home to The Mary Rodgers Room at The Dramatists Guild.
Blackboard Plays supports the development of new work through Feature Readings, dedicated to a single Black playwright; and Community Nights, which function like an open mic for playwrights to hear up to 10 pages read aloud by actors. Alumni of Blackboard Plays include Jocelyn Bioh, whose School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play received its first reading at Blackboard, James Anthony Tyler, Al Letson, Aurin Squire, Nikkole Salter, and Jordan E. Cooper, whose Ain’t No Mo’ also received its first reading in 2017.
When the lockdown began in 2020, Blackboard shifted the feature readings and community nights online, and in partnership with the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL), the Black Motherhood and Parenting New Play Festival (BMPFest) launched in 2020. BMPFest is a digital new play festival centering stories about Black parenthood and caregiving. Each season features new plays by Black parents or caregivers, that explore the complexities, joys, and struggles of Black parenthood through digital premieres and community conversations.