Folger Theatre's "Measure for Measure" casts a Black man and a white woman as lovers in the 1950s Jim Crow South, sharpening Shakespeare's themes of power and mercy.

Director Psalmayene 24, a Helen Hayes Award winner for his Folger staging of "Metamorphoses," and adapter Mekala Sridhar reshaped the rarely performed play to expose how American racism amplifies its questions of justice and hypocrisy. The production runs through Nov. 1 at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets range from $20 to $95.

"The time period could shed light on the text, and the text could shed light on the time period," Psalmayene 24 told DC Theater Arts in an interview published Friday, Oct. 2.

The casting choice is central. JaBen Early plays Claudio, a man sentenced to death for impregnating his fiancée, and Maryanne Henderson plays Juliet. By making their relationship interracial, the production invokes the anti-miscegenation laws that stood until the Supreme Court's 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision. Angelo, the deputy ruler played by Lee Osorio, becomes a racist enforcing a segregated order.

Set designer Debra Booth drew on the courtroom where the Emmett Till murder trial took place. The stage features wooden rails, pendant lights, fans and separate "Colored Only" and "White Only" drinking fountains. Composer KOKAYI and choreographer Tony Thomas layer in 1950s rock and roll, drawing on the music of Black artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

The production brought in Modupe Labode, a historical consultant from the National Museum of American History, to inform its treatment of racial and sexual violence in the era.

Washington City Paper critic D R Lewis, in a review published Tuesday, Oct. 6, called the production "as cohesive and compelling as any we've seen in a very long time." Lewis singled out Renea S. Brown's Isabella as "outstanding." The Folger's website quotes The Washington Post calling the staging one that "illuminates Shakespeare anew."

One quiet moment stands out. Actor Holly Twyford, playing the civil servant Escalus, turns to the audience and mutters a line from Shakespeare's text: "Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall."

The show runs approximately two hours and 30 minutes with a 15-minute intermission. It carries an advisory for sexual references and depiction of sexual assault.

Upcoming at the Folger

  • Thursday, Oct. 8: "Shared Stages: To Hear Her Speak" panel with Manna-Symone Middlebrooks, Nikkole Salter and Tamilla Woodard on Black women in Shakespeare.
  • Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m.: Free post-show discussion with the cast, moderated by associate director Nadia Guevara.
  • Oct. 16: "To Hear Her Speak: Black Women and Shakespeare" exhibit opens, running through May 2, 2027. Nearly 100 photographs, costumes, books and playbills trace how Black women have engaged with Shakespeare's work.