Folger Shakespeare Theatre/Library

Finding this place was purely accidental. Brennan and I were touring around DC and we went into the National Library of Congress. After getting our official National Library Cards (we so had to!) we decided to go down this pathway between homes in the City back to the Red Line Metro. Since the city is very much a grid (numbered streets going north and south ~ lettered streets going East and West ~ City named streets going diagonal)we knew we'd run into our destination eventually. As we were walking through peoples backyards (or what applies as such in a big city!) we got turned around trying to maneuver around fences and random buildings until we came upon this long, one storied, white building with fresh cut grass in the front. Jackpot to adventurers! So we went in to explore. As soon as we walked in the volunteers in the Library were ushering people into the theatre area for a free talk about the Library. Joining them we got the grand tour: "home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials and to major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art." They have a special library only open to scholars with original manuscripts hundreds of years old, and not just Shakespeare. It's not very cheap, but we decided to go to one of their plays. All the seats are very close to the stage, so it was an intimate performance. Now, I never ever liked reading Shakespeare in school. I thought that it was too depressing and I resented that I had to memorize all of these lines, using words I couldn't understand. Anon? What is that?! (Why couldn't the man just have his characters say 'soon'?) The performance, however, was riveting; I was hooked! Every season the Theatre performs three plays (not all Shakespearean) and every one of them I have thoroughly enjoyed. I actually enjoy his work now as he meant it to be experienced, live, and I have learned to enjoy his written word as well. ;-) But beware! These plays do not have the typical, boring flare to them. The last play, MacBeth, was gory...the stage was COVERED in 'blood' after the last act. If you happen to be in DC during one of their performances, and the play is sold out, try going to the box office (on location) two hours before the performance as they hold onto a limited number of tickets until the day of or people turn in their tickets if they don't want them. Again, it's not the cheapest event in DC, nor the most 'typical of DC' event to go to (like the National Library), but definitely worth checking out a performance. See you there!