
Booking and details
Dates & TicketsDates Sat, Nov 4 – Sun, Dec 17, 2023
Venue Folger Theatre
Subscribe to the season for access to the best seats at the best price! Subscribe
With the magic and fantastical elements of a fairy tale, Shakespeare’s astonishing romance is a thrilling journey filled with emotional depth, extreme behavior, complex relationships—and a bear in pursuit.
A tribute to the magic of storytelling, The Winter’s Tale presents a rich tapestry of love, strife, hope, human folly, and resurrection.
What makes The Winter’s Tale so compelling? Folger Director Michael Witmore shares spoiler-free insights about his favorite Shakespeare play in three short videos. Watch
Creative team

Tamilla Woodard
Tamilla Woodard (Director) Folger Theatre: debut. Yale Rep: the ripple, the wave that carried me home by Christine Anderson; Women’s Project Theater: Weightless (Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Musical); Alliance Theatre: Working: A Musical; Guthrie Theater: Sweat; Women’s Project Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, and Steppenwolf NOW: Where We Stand (Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show); American Conservatory Theater: Top Girls.

Raul Abrego, Jr.
Raul Abrego, Jr. (Scenic Designer) Folger Theatre: debut. Design work at Opera Center, The Manhattan School of Music, The Spoleto Opera Festival in Italy, Rattlestick Theater, Cherry Lane Theater and Intar. Recent projects include: Princeton University: Adamandi; Barrington Stage and GeVa Theater Center: Ain‘t Misbehavin‘; The Bushwick Starr: The Brobot Johnson Experience; Two River Theater: Living and Breathing; Boundless Theater Company and New Perspectives: How to Melt Ice. Television: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Seasons 3 and 4; Ghost and John Wick, (Assistant Art Director); Falling Water (Art Director), The Outcasts (Art Director); Cruzando (Production Director).

Sarah Cubbage
Sarah Cubbage (Costume Designer) Folger Theatre: King John; Round House Theater: The Tempest (in association with Folger Theatre), Spring Awakening, The Heal (co-produced with The Getty Villa); Signature Theatre: A Chorus Line; Studio Theatre: Kings, The Wolves, The Hard Problem; Olney Theatre Center: The Crucible and Labour of Love; Theatre J: Compulsion, Actually; Rep Stage: Sweeney Todd, Dorian’s Closet; Center Stage: That Face. New York: David Geffen Hall: Crazy for You; The Juilliard School: Triumph of Love, Hippolyte et Aricie. Regional: American Repertory Theatre: The Lily’s Revenge, at American Repertory Theatre; Syracuse Stage: Disgraced, In the Next Room; Disney Creative Entertainment: Beauty & The Beast. She is a member of USA 829. SarahCubbage.com. @SarahCubbageDesign

Max Doolittle
Max Doolittle (Lighting Designer) Folger Theatre: King John, Amadeus, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Design work at other Washington DC theaters includes: Ford’s Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Signature Theatre, Mosaic Theatre, Theatre Alliance, Theatre J, Rep Stage, Kennedy Center/Second City, Imagination Stage, Forum Theatre, Adventure Theatre, Constellation Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Academy for Classical Acting, Pointless Theatre Company, NextStop Theatre. Design work at New York theaters includes: Ars Nova, Juilliard School, New Ohio Theatre, New World Stages. Design work at regional theaters includes: Geffen Playhouse, Kitchen Theatre Company, Great Lakes Center for the Arts, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Fulton Theatre. Television: Anderson Cooper 360, Piers Morgan Live (Light Direction). Cruise Ships: Wine Lovers, The Musical.

Matthew M. Nielson
Matthew M. Nielson (Sound Designer and Composer) Folger Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet; Arena Stage: Four Women/Nina Simone; Ford’s Theatre: The Carpetbagger’s Children; Round House Theatre: Oslo, Book of Will; Theatre Alliance: Mnemonic (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Sound Design); Olney Theatre: Mary Stuart, The Magic Play; Regional: Cincinnati Playhouse: Last Wide Open, Treasure Island, Misery; Portland Center Stage: Astoria, Parts 1 & 2, The Color Purple; Denver Theatre Center: Anna Karenina; Actor’s Theatre of Louisville: Dracula; Repertory Theatre of Milwaukee: Two Trains Running, Peter and the Starcatcher; Baltimore Center Stage: Shakespeare In Love; Off-Broadway: 59E59 Theatres: Occupied Territories; Lincoln Center: Where Words Once Were; Public Theater/NYSF: Shakespeare’s Villains; Film: From Hell To Hear, Elbow Grease, Blue, The Long Road, Little Lamb; TV: The Hero Effect, EPIX Drive-In, Facebook, Delivery.com, NFL, UFC on FOX. Nielson has won five Helen Hayes Awards has been nominated for several others, including the League of Cincinnati Theatre, Barrymore and BroadwayWorld nominations. CuriousMusic.com

Kaja Dunn
Kaja Dunn (Resident Intimacy Director): Folger Theatre: Our Verse In Time To Come, The Reading Room; 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); Associate Professor Carnegie Mellon University.

Joya Powell
Joya Powell (Choreographer) Folger Theatre: debut. Classical Theatre of Harlem: Fit for a Queen; The Flea Theater: JOB; JACK: Ducklings; The New Ohio Theatre: Songs About Trains; Luna Stage: The Brothers Size; American Shakespeare Center: Une Tempête. Choreography work at organizations includes: BAM, Lincoln Center, SummerStage, La Mama, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Dance Complex, Mudlark Theater, Movement Research @Judson Church, The School of Contemporary Dance & Thought, and BAAD! among others.

Heidi Griffiths
Heidi Griffiths, CSA (New York Casting Director): Folger Theatre: debut. Heidi is a casting director for the Public Theater in New York where they have cast Shakespeare, new plays, and musicals. Broadway: For Colored Girls…, The Crucible, A View From The Bridge, A Delicate Balance, A Raisin In The Sun.

Kate Murray
Kate Murray, CSA (New York Casting Director): Folger Theatre: debut. Kate is a casting director for the Public Theater in New York where they have cast Shakespeare, new plays, and musicals. Broadway: For Colored Girls…, The Crucible, A View From The Bridge, A Delicate Balance, A Raisin In The Sun.

Michele Osherow
Michele Osherow (Resident Dramaturg) Folger Theatre: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Amadeus, 1 Henry IV (2019, 2008), Love’s Labor’s Lost, Nell Gwynn, King John, Macbeth (2018, 2008), The Winter’s Tale (2018, 2009), The Way of the World, Antony and Cleopatra, Timon of Athens, As You Like It, Sense and Sensibility, District Merchants, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016, 2006, 2022), texts&beheadings/ ElizabethR, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Mary Stuart, Julius Caesar; Fiasco Theater Company’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet (dramaturg and actor), Twelfth Night, Henry V, The Conference of the Birds, The Taming of the Shrew, The Gaming Table, Othello (2011, 2001), Cyrano, The Comedy of Errors, Henry VIII, Hamlet, Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Much Ado About Nothing, Arcadia, The Tempest, Measure for Measure (dramaturg and actor). University of Maryland, Baltimore County: Associate Professor of English.
Leigh Robinette
Leigh Robinette (Production Stage Manager) Folger Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Woolly Mammoth: Incendiary, There’s Always the Hudson, Describe the Night, Gloria, Botticelli in the Fire, Familiar, The Arsonists, Hir, Baby Screams Miracle, An Octoroon, Guards at the Taj; Arena Stage: Angels in America, Holiday, Change Agent, Dear Evan Hansen, The Originalist, Mother Courage and her Children; Studio Theatre: English; Theater J: Love Sick, The Jewish Queen Lear; Kennedy Center: The Second City’s Love, Factually. Off-Broadway: Second Stage: Dear Evan Hansen.

Kacie Pimentel
Kacie Pimentel (Assistant Stage Manager) Folger Theatre: debut; Studio Theatre: Hot Wing King, John Proctor is the Villain, White Noise; Regional: Alliance Theatre: Water for Elephants, The Boy Who Kissed the Sky, Hot Wing King, A Christmas Carol, Everybody; Chautauqua Theater Company: On the Exhale, The Christians, How the Light Gets In; Casa Mañana: Sweeney Todd, Once Upon a Mattress.

Shana Laski
Shana Laski (Assistant Director) Folger Theatre: The Tempest with Round House Theatre. Round House Theatre: Artistic Apprentice, Jennifer Who Is Leaving (Assistant Director), Radio Golf (Dramaturg); Spooky Action: Sonnets for an Old Century; Cogent Theatre Company: Closer; Rorschach Theatre; Expats Theatre, Theatre Prometheus, and others. @shana.laski shanalaski.com.

Tara-Whitney Rison
Tara-Whitney Rison (Assistant to the Director) Folger Theatre: debut. Founder and owner of Tara Whitney Brand an artistic-wholistic wellness company that specializes in whole-person health and wellness. She is a consultant/speaker and actress with a certification in functional nutrition coaching. Stage and film work includes the upcoming documentary: Steam. NCCU, BA and UNC-Greensboro, MFA. @twhitneyrise tarawhitneybrand.com
Accessibility
Folger Theatre provides accessible seating, assisted listening devices, and ASL interpretation. Please contact us at VisitorServices@folger.edu or (202) 544–7077 with questions or requests. More information
Open-captioned performances
- Sun, Dec 3, 2023, 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 us at VisitorServices@folger.edu or (202) 544–7077.
Relaxed performances
- Sun, Nov 5, 2023, at 7:30pm
- Wed, Nov 29, 2023, at 2pm
Relaxed performances are designed to create a welcoming and comfortable environment for audiences with autism, sensory sensitivities, social, learning, and cognitive disabilities.
Masked performances
- Sat, Dec 2, 2023, at 2pm and 8pm
At the request of many audience members, Folger Theatre has denoted several performances during the 2023|24 season as mask-required by all audience members, staff, and volunteers. If you need a mask, we are happy to provide one to you. Learn more
Special performances
Pay what you will
- Mon, Nov 6, 2023, at 7:30pm
The concept is simple: you tell us what you will pay for your ticket! Sales begin 5pm day-of at the door and are available on a first come, first served basis.
We offer a variety of standard discounts for all performances. Learn more
Post show discussion
- Thu, Nov 30, 2023, at 7:30pm
Join us after the show for a free moderated conversation with the cast.
Related events

Stage Director Talk: The Winter's Tale

Inside the Season: The Winter's Tale

This event is part of the Shakespeare Everywhere Festival, Oct 7 – Dec 31, 2023. The Folger joins artistic and cultural institutions across the District to produce 12 Shakespeare shows in 12 weeks.