A Midsummer Night's Dream

A guest post by Alexander D’Agostino I am an artist working with queer histories and images, through performance and visual art. During my Artist Research Fellowship with the Folger, I am creating The Fairy King’s Grimoire: a reimagining of the…

This is the final week to visit The Playhouse or catch Folger Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National Building Museum. But don't worry: there's still lots to do. This week, catch a reading of a new play, join a generative poetry workshop, take a tour of our magical theater, and more.

Photo: Lloyd Wolf There’s always something to do at The Playhouse. This week, join us for a free concert from the Bele Bele Rhythm Collective, learn about the history of potions and cocktails from mixologists and historians, and immerse yourself…

This week at The Playhouse, take an in-depth look at the Folger's renovation with its designers, make your own miniature comic book, and jam out to tunes by Justin Trawick and the Common Good. 

Plan your perfect summer and we'll tell you which character you are in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"Nowhere does Shakespeare attend more to theatrical enterprise and potential than in A Midsummer Night's Dream," writes Michele Osherow, Folger Theatre's resident dramaturg. "It makes the play irresistible to those who practice theatre and to those who crave its incomparable pleasures." Read more in this playbill excerpt from Folger Theatre's new production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," onstage through August 28 as part of "The Playhouse" at the National Building Museum.

Every week, there's something new happening at The Playhouse. Check out special events going on July 25 - 31.

Austin Tichenor explores small-cast Shakespeare and the artistic possibilities of a few performers playing multiple roles.

This summer, visitors to The Playhouse at the National Building Museum can enjoy an immersive installation based on a beautiful book in the Folger collection, Joanna Robson’s "A Knavish Lad." The book visually (and wordlessly) narrates "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" in 16 vignettes, four of which are reproduced on a human scale for the installation. 

For each of these famous quotes from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," can you fill in the blank with the missing word?

Love-in-idleness, a flower also called pansy or heartsease, plays an important role in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," as Marissa Nicosia explores.

Jacob Ming-Trent shares a favorite moment from his Shakespeare in the Park performance as Falstaff in "Merry Wives," which premieres on PBS's Great Performances May 20.