Psalmayene 24, Holly Twyford, and Kate Whoriskey each slated to direct

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Folger Theatre today announced the full season of Shakespeare plays and attached directors to be performed at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the playwright's American home on Capitol Hill, for the 2026-27 season.

"Shakespeare has an extraordinary capacity to appeal to audiences of all backgrounds," said Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, Director of the Folger. "Each of the directors are sparking with creative ideas about how Shakespeare speaks to the world as it is today. Each director brings their unique talent to showcase the extraordinary range of Shakespeare's work. I can't wait for our audiences, familiar and new, to experience this multifaceted season of plays."

One of DC's most respected theater makers, four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Holly Twyford will make her Folger directorial debut with The Comedy of Errors (May 18–June 27, 2027). Twyford has performed in more than twenty Folger Theatre productions, receiving two of her four Helen Hayes Awards for The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Romeo and Juliet, as well as more recent turns in the 2026 Reading Room Festival and collaborations with Folger Consort.

Also returning for the upcoming season will be Psalmayene 24, who won best director at the Helen Hayes Awards for directing Metamorphoses for Folger Theatre in 2024. Psalmayene 24 will open the season with Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (September 22–November 1, 2026).

Kate Whoriskey, acclaimed Broadway director and winner of the Drama League Award for Clyde's, will make her Folger Theatre debut with Shakespeare's Hamlet (March 2–April 11, 2027).

Season subscriptions for Folger Theatre are on sale now, starting at only $156, and may be purchased through the Folger Theatre Box Office at (202) 544-7077 or at folger.edu/subscribe-theatre. Single tickets will go on sale July 28, 2026.

Folger Theatre wishes to thank Premier Season Sponsors Dr. Bill and Evelyn Braithwaite and Andrea "Andi" Kasarsky, Season Sponsors Scott and Liz Vance, and Contributing Sponsors Celia and Keith Arnaud.

FOLGER THEATRE'S 2026-27 SEASON

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Psalmayene 24

September 22–November 1, 2026

Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall

Shakespeare's rarely staged comedy, where human nature collides with the letter of the law, comes to life under the direction of visionary artist Psalmayene 24, Helen Hayes Award winner for Folger Theatre's production of Metamorphoses. Newly enforced regulations penalize the citizens of Vienna, but don't stop the hijinks of a rambunctious crew of bawdy residents. In this morally lax city, a corrupt official tries to coerce a novice nun Isabella to submit to his desires. Can Isabella maintain her vow of chastity and save her incarcerated brother's life? Measure for Measure offers considerations into societal upheaval and asks whose voices are silenced and whose voices break through.

Hamlet

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Kate Whoriskey

March 2–April 11, 2027

What a piece of work is a man!

"To be or not to be?" Shakespeare's most celebrated play returns to the playwright's American home. Helmed by acclaimed Broadway director Kate Whoriskey, winner of the Drama League Award for Clyde's, this bold and deeply considered production reexamines Shakespeare's "poem unlimited" with fresh urgency and insight.

Haunted by the sudden death of his father and feeling alienated in the royal court, Hamlet becomes the ultimate anti-hero, a tortured prince who is by turns cruel and kind. A poet, lover, philosopher, and madman, Hamlet remains a character full of contradiction and meaning for each generation. This great revenge tragedy revolves around the complexities of human experience and—after 400 years—it remains as radical and profound as ever.

The Comedy of Errors

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Holly Twyford

May 18–June 27, 2027

Now let's go hand in hand

Two pairs of identical twins—separated at birth—spend the day travelling through the same city and only just missing each other. An uproarious farce filled with mistaken identities, romantic entanglements, and pratfalls, this comedy shows how all roads lead to home.

Folger favorite and four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Holly Twyford brings brisk energy and sharp focus to The Comedy of Errors. Her lively take on this classic celebrates the simple truth that love, laughter, and community make life richer.

DIRECTORS

Psalmayene 24

Director, Measure for Measure

Folger Theatre: Metamorphoses, Director (Helen Hayes Award Award for Outstanding Direction); The Reading Room Festival 2025, Panelist. Arena Stage: Tempestuous Elements (Director), Ruined (Actor), Cuttin' Up (Actor), Anthems (Actor); Studio Theatre: The Colored Museum (Director), Good Bones (Director), Flow (Director), Pass Over (Director); Ford's Theatre: Necessary Sacrifices: A Radio Play (Director); Mosaic Theater: Young John Lewis, Monumental Travesties (Playwright), Dear Mapel (Playwright/Actor), Les Deux Noirs (Playwright), Native Son (Director), Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence; Joe's Movement Emporium: Out of the Vineyard (Playwright); Theater Alliance: The Blackest Battle (Playwright); Word Becomes Flesh (Director); Imagination Stage: The Freshest Snow Whyte (Playwright/Director), Cinderella: The Remix (Playwright/Director), P. Nokio: A Hip-Hop Musical (Playwright/Director), Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation Myth (Playwright/Director); African Continuum Theatre Company: Free Jujube Brown! (Playwright/Actor). TV/Film: The Freewheelin' Insurgents (Writer/Director/Actor); HBO's The Wire (Actor). Helen Hayes and Imagination Award recipient.

Holly Twyford

Director, The Comedy of Errors

Folger Theatre: Dark Lady: A Musical Theater Work (Reading Room Festival 2026), An English Garden (Folger Consort), The Love Birds: Chaucer's A Parlement of Foules (Folger Consort), King John, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mary Stuart, The Taming of the Shrew, Orestes: A Tragic Romp, Arcadia, The Second Shepherds' Play, Melissa Arctic, All's Well That Ends Well, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Helen Hayes Award), Twelfth Night, Othello, As You Like It, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Romeo and Juliet (Helen Hayes Award), The Merchant of Venice. Over eighty productions at DC Area theater including: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth, Round House Theatre, and others. Awards & Affiliations: 4 Helen Hayes Awards, Emery Battis Award for Acting Excellence, Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, Studio Theatre Cabinet Member, Ford's Associate Artist.

Kate Whoriskey

Director, Hamlet

Folger Theatre: debut. Broadway: Clyde's (Outstanding Director - Drama League), Sweat, The Miracle Worker. Off-Broadway: Signature Theatre: Letters from Max, MCC Theater: All the Natalie Portmans, New York City Center: Songs for a New World (Encores! Off-Center), The Public Theater: Sweat (Outstanding Director nomination – Outer Critics Award) , Manhatta, Ping Pong; Playwrights Horizons; Aubergine, Inked Baby; Fabulation: Lincoln Center Theater: Her Requiem; Second Stage Theatre: The Apiary, How I Learned to Drive, Cardinal; Theatre for a New Audience: Oroonoko: Manhattan Theatre Club: Ruined (Outstanding Director – Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel nomination), Tales from Red Vienna. Regional: Center Theatre Group, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, Center Theatre Group, Guthrie Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Sundance Theatre Lab, New York Stage & Film, others. International: Châtelet (Paris, France), Theatro Municipal Opera (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Carriage Works (Sydney, Australia). Opera: Mannes Opera: The Turn of the Screw. Academic appointments: Princeton, New York University, University of California Davis. Awards: 2016 Lilly Award. Education: New York University, ART Institute of Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.

About Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library showcases the utility of Shakespeare and the humanities in cultivating healthy civic life. Anchored by the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is also home to a world-renowned collection of books, manuscripts, and prints from the 1500s to the early 1700s. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from pathbreaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger fosters curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking, and welcomes visitors from Washington, DC and from across the globe. Learn more at folger.edu.

The award-winning Folger Theatre in our nation's capital bridges the arts and humanities through transformational performances and programming that speak inclusively to the human experience. Folger Theatre is committed to providing a dynamic space in which Shakespeare's works come to life for audiences in the same innovative and communal way that they did during the time in which he lived, as well as expanding the classical canon through cultivating today's artists and commissioning new work that is in dialogue with the concerns and issues of our time. Folger Theatre is led by Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels. For more, please visit www.folger.edu/theatre.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/folger-theatre-announces-final-play-of-upcoming-all-shakespeare-season-the-comedy-of-errors-302795449.html

SOURCE Folger Shakespeare Library