The Reading Room Festival 2026
Thursday, Jan 22 – Sunday, Jan 25, 2026
Folger Theatre’s fourth annual Reading Room Festival returns with a four-day festival of staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations.
Join artists, critics, scholars, and audience members in a celebration of creative community, as we collaboratively re-envision Shakespeare’s works, explore the vibrant musicality of Shakespeare’s verse, and reimagine the stories crafted by other early modern playwrights.
The best way to experience the festival is with an all-access pass, which guarantees you premiere access to all staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations.
Titles, playwrights, and directors for the 2026 Festival will be announced in November.
All-Access Pass
All-access passes ($100) are now on sale. Prices will increase to $125 on January 1.
Past festivals
Over the past three years, the Reading Room Festival has introduced audiences to new plays that have gone on to full-scale Folger Theatre productions, including the world premiere of Lauren M. Gunderson’s A Room in the Castle, a critically acclaimed feminist retelling of Hamlet; Al Letson’s Julius X, which remixes Civil Rights history through the lens of Shakespeare’s tragedy; and, this spring, Broadway star Jacob Ming-Trent’s autobiographical How Shakespeare Saved My Life will be on stage at the Folger in a world premiere production.