Folger Theatre Announces Cast and Creative Team for "Julius X: A Re-Envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare"

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Folger Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for Julius X: A Re-envisioning of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, written by Al Letson, directed by Nicole Brewer, and starring Brandon Carter in the title role. The first production of Folger Theatre's 2025-26 season, performances will run from September 23 through October 26, 2025, at the Folger Shakespeare Library's Elizabethan-style Theatre on Capitol Hill.

"'This is not the story you know, but somewhere in-between' is how Julius X begins, reminding us that this story is not fact but an imagined truth that blends two iconic historical characters," stated Artistic Director and Director of Artistic Programs Karen Ann Daniels. "Just like Shakespeare did with Julius Caesar, which he adapted from Plutarch, Al Letson created a dramatized mythology of Malcolm and Caesar to help us explore the struggle for power, friendship, and free will in our own age."

Peabody Award-winning journalist, podcast host, comic book creator, and playwright Al Letson (Reveal podcast from the Center for Investigative Reporting; DC Comics' Mr. Terrific: Year One) takes Shakespeare's classic tragedy Julius Caesar and reworks it through the lens of the American Civil Rights Movement, drawing parallels between ancient Rome and 1960s Harlem. Directed by DC-based theater artist Nicole Brewer (Folger Theatre's Reading Room Festival's By the Queen, The House That Will Not Stand at Howard University), Julius X explores the historical weight of Malcolm X's last days and legacy and the cyclical nature of ambition, power, and revolution. In this retelling, Letson's experience as a spoken word artist and Brewer's use of soundscapes made by the cast creates a lyrical tragedy.

"In many ways, you already know the story—whether through Shakespeare or American history," Brewer shared. "But you're compelled to watch it unfold again, because of how Letson remixes his own verse with excerpts from Malcolm X's speeches and the most notable lines and scenes from Julius Caesar. Ultimately, Julius X is a love story of the brotherly love that exists between Black men for their faith, their community, and each other—struggling against internal and external forces that oppose the very existence of that love."

"Julius X was inspired basically by being told that I wasn't going to get cast for Mark Antony in a production of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, because back then they weren't doing colorblind casting," stated Letson. "So, I thought like screw it, I'm going to write my own. I had just such a deep love for Shakespeare's text when I was in 10th grade, I remember hearing Mark Antony's speech and it just blew me away. I also read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was in 7th grade, and that stayed with me. Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar really fit almost perfectly with Malcolm X's life. They were very different men, but their circumstances just overlapped really well. Malcolm was a man who was deeply committed to the fight for Civil Rights, and one of the most beautiful things about his life is that you can look at him and you can see him learn and change over time."

Brandon Carter, a renowned Shakespearean actor well-known to local audiences (Folger Theatre's Romeo and Juliet; American Shakespeare Center: The Henriad, Julius Caesar) stars as the tragic hero Julius X. The acting company features Jonathan Del Palmer (Folger Theatre's The Winter's Tale) as Marc Anthony, Jay Frisby (Ford's Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors) as Cassius, Lilli Hokama (Folger Theatre's Twelfth Night, Amadeus) as Addara, Greg Alverez Reid (Studio Theatre: Fat Ham, Helen Hayes Ensemble Award nomination) as Brutus, OBIE Award winner Nikkole Salter (By the Queen, Reading Room Festival 2025) as Calpurnia, Gaelyn D. Smith (Studio Theatre: Fat Ham, Helen Hayes Ensemble Award nomination) as Cinna and Black Soothsayer, Shawn Sebastian Naar (Anacostia Playhouse: Sunset Baby, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performer) as Octavius and Marullus, Dwayne Alistair Thomas (Baltimore Center Stage: Akeelah and the Bee) as Casca and Flavius, and Renee Elizabeth Wilson (Folger Theatre's Romeo and Juliet; Metamorphoses, Helen Hayes Ensemble Award nomination) as Portia.

The creative team includes Shawn Short (Choreographer), Jonathan Dahm Robertson (Scenic Designer), who designed Folger Theatre's DC Metro-inspired Romeo and Juliet set last season, Danielle Preston (Costume Designer), Porsche McGovern (Lighting Designer), Thom J. Woodward (Sound Designer), Andrés Poch (Projection Designer), Isabel Simoes deCarvalho (Props Designer), and John "Ray" Proctor (Dramaturg, and Voice and Text Coach), who directed Folger Theatre's staged reading of Six Othellos at the Reading Room Festival, 2024.

Folger Theatre's production of Julius X is on stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library from September 23–October 26, 2025. Accessible performances and related programming will be offered throughout the run of the production and are listed on the show page. Tickets start at $20 and are available online at www.folger.edu/juliusx or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

Reviewing members of the press are invited to attend the Opening Night production of Julius X on Sunday, September 28 at 7:30pm or any performance after that date. Please reserve tickets through Colleen Kennedy, Senior Communications Manager, by September 19 via email at [email protected]. The press kit is available at www.folger.edu/juliusx-presskit.

Folger Theatre wishes to thank Premiere Season Sponsors Dr. Bill and Evelyn Braithwaite, Season Sponsor Andrea "Andi" Kasarsky, Production Sponsors Nancy and Steve Howard, Contributing Sponsors Keith and Celia Arnaud and Scott and Liz Vance, Artist Sponsors Karl and Carrol Benner Kindel, and Open-captioned Performance Sponsors Vinton and Sigrid Cerf, with special thanks to Share Fund. (Donor list as of August 21, 2025.)

CAST

Brandon Carter* (Julius X) (he/him) Folger Theatre: Romeo and Juliet. Regional: Virginia Repertory Theatre: Shakespeare in Love, The Christians; American Shakespeare Center: The Henriad, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, Pass Over; Luna Stage: The Brothers Size; Houston Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It; Rec Room Arts: Death of A Salesman; Off-Broadway: Classical Theatre of Harlem: A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Three Musketeers, Macbeth, The Tempest; National Black Theater: Blood at the Root; The Apollo Theatre: The First Noel. International Tour: Blood at the Root (Graham F. Smith Peace Foundation Prize). brandoncarter.actor. @Mistercart3r

Jonathan Del Palmer* (Marc Anthony) (he/him) Folger Theatre: The Winter's Tale, Our Verse in Time to Come (The Reading Room Festival, 2023); Rep Stage: Kill Move Paradise; Shakespeare Theatre Company: Hamlet (u/s); Constellation Theatre Company: Moon Man Walk; 1st Stage: columbinus, The Member of the Wedding, The Rainmaker; Theater Alliance: Day of Absence; Avant Bard Theatre: Suddenly Last Summer, Julius Caesar; Rorschach Theatre: Sing to Me Now; 4615 Theatre Company: Life Jacket; Library of Congress: The Conjure Man Dies; Off-Broadway: 54 Below: How to Quit Your Day Job.

Jay Frisby* (Cassius) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut; Ford's Theatre: Little Shop of Horrors, Shout Sister Shout!, Grace; Olney Theatre: Kim's Convenience, Waitress, Beautiful, Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man, Matilda, The Royale, Miss You Like Hell, South Pacific, Annie, Mary Poppins; Signature Theatre: The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys; Imagination Stage: Cinderella, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Labor Heritage Foundation: Working; Rep Stage: Dorian's Closet. Regional: Connecticut Repertory Theatre: Smokey Joe's Café; Ogunquit Playhouse: South Pacific. Tours: South Pacific, Click Clack Moo, The Whiffenpoofs of Yale. International: Hong Kong Disneyland: Festival of the Lion King. @FrisbyJay

Lilli Hokama* (Addara) (they/she) Folger Theatre: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Amadeus; Arena Stage: The Age of Innocence (u/s), Death on the Nile (u/s). Rorschach Theatre: Night of the Living Dead (Director). Regional: Baltimore Center Stage: Antigone; Dallas Theatre Center: Little Women; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: Water by the Spoonful, Elf: The Musical, Guadalupe in the Guestroom; Chester Theatre: I and You, Now Circa Then; Kitchen Theatre Company: Matt and Ben; Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Troilus and Cressida; Aurora Fox Arts Center: The Arabian Nights, She Kills Monsters. New York: Morningside Players Theater Co.: The Understudy; Lincoln Center Theater: The Wolves (u/s). Voiceover/Motion Capture: The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Audiobook: When Darcy Met Lizzy; A Queer Retelling of Pride and Prejudice. @_ill_lil_

Shawn Sebastian Naar* (Octavius and Marullus, understudy Julius X) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut; Anacostia Playhouse: Sunset Baby (Helen Hayes Award nomination, Outstanding Lead Performer); 1^st Stage: The Piano Lesson; Strand Theater Company: Blood Bound and Tongue Tied, Well; Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco: The Arsonist. Off-Off-Broadway: Andrew Freedman Home Theatre in the Bronx: The Fall of the Kings. ssnaar.com. @s.sebastiannaar

Greg Alverez Reid* (Brutus) Folger Theatre: debut; Studio Theatre: Fat Ham, Seven Guitars; Signature Theatre: Detroit '67; Theater Alliance: Broke-ology. Regional: Yale Repertory Theater: Eden; Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum: Blues for an Alabama Sky; Huntington Theatre Company: The Bluest Eye. Northern Stage: Sweat; McCarter Theater Center: Fences. Off-Broadway: New Federal Theater: The Fabulous Miss Marie. National Tours: Kennedy Center: Locomotion, My Lord What a Morning. Film: Between The World and Me. Television: FBI: Most Wanted, Wu-Tang: An American Saga. @gregariousreid

Nikkole Salter* (Calpurnia) (she/her) Folger Theatre: By the Queen (The Reading Room Festival, 2025). Arena Stage: We Are Gathered. Regional: Arena Stage, Mosaic Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Baltimore Center Stage, Round House Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Berkley Repertory Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Luna Stage, etc. Broadway: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: The Great Society. Off-Broadway: Primary Stages/Perry Street Theatre: In the Continuum; Playwrights Horizons: Inked Baby; DR2 Theatre: Gloria: A Life. Television: The Unit, New Amsterdam, Godfather of Harlem. Film: The Architect, Pride and Glory, Love and Communication, Last Night. Voiceover: Midnight Club: Los Angeles (Rockstar Games). Awards: Helen Hayes, Outer Critics Circle, OBIE, AUDELCO, IRNE, Acclaim. Education: New York University: MFA, Howard University, BFA. nikkolesalter.com

Gaelyn D. Smith* (Cinna and Black Soothsayer) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut; Studio Theatre: Fat Ham (Helen Hayes Ensemble Award nomination), Clyde's. Discovery Theater: How Old is a Hero? Film: Loops & Breaks. gaelyndsmith.com. @gsmittyyyy

Dwayne Alistair Thomas* (Casca and Flavius, understudy Brutus) Folger Theatre: debut; Baltimore Center Stage, Akeelah and the Bee. Regional: Theatre in the X: Othello, Running Numbers; InterAct Theatre: Assassin, You for Me for You; Bristol Riverside Theatre: Man of La Mancha; Richard Perry Theatre: Ragtime; The Center at West Park; The Tempest, Twelfth Night. Off-Broadway: The Collective Unconscious, Titus X. National Tours: Charlotte's Web, The Rosa Parks Story. Film: Samaritan, Take from Me, The Bad Guardian. Television: We Own This City, Bad Monkey, The Americans, Hightown, NCIS: New Orleans, Blue Bloods, The Knick, Tales, Step Up. youtube.com/dwaynethomasvideos. @dwaynealistair

Renee Elizabeth Wilson* (Portia) (she/her) Folger Theatre: Romeo and Juliet, Metamorphoses (Helen Hayes Award nomination); Theater Alliance: American Fast; Mosaic Theater Company: Monumental Travesties (world premiere), Native Son, Milk Like Sugar; Theater J: Intimate Apparel; Round House Theatre: Radio Golf, Nollywood Dreams; Constellation Theatre Company: Moon Man Walk; Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Ain't No Mo'; Imagination Stage: The Hula-Hoopin' Queen (world premiere); Studio Theatre: Skeleton Crew, Doubt, White Noise; Arena Stage: Tempestuous Elements, Seven Guitars. International: Red Shoes (world premiere) Film: Smoke Out, VeraCity. @actpoetic88

CREATIVE

Al Letson (Playwright) Folger Theatre: Julius X (The Reading Room Festival, 2023). Regional: New Jersey Repertoire Company: Summer in Sanctuary; The Marsh: Summer in Sanctuary. Off-Broadway: Abingdon Theater Company: Summer in Sanctuary. National tours: Griot: He Who Speaks The Free Word. Television: Monarch, seasons 1 and 2, Horror Noire, Moonhaven. Awards: three Peabody Awards, four Edward R. Murrow Awards, two Emmy Awards. Alletson.com. @al_letson

Nicole Brewer (Director)*** (she/her) Folger Theatre: By The Queen (The Reading Room Festival, 2025), Julius X (The Reading Room Festival, 2023). Howard University: The House That Will Not Stand, Jonkonnu; Catholic University: Ties That Bind; DC Fringe Festival: The Hair Chronicles; Montgomery College: My aMeriCa. Regional: No Dream Deferred: Defiance of Dandelions; Baltimore Center Stage/Long Wharf Theatre: Fires in the Mirror; The Black Rep (St. Louis): Milk Like Sugar. Directed Readings: Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company: Gem of The Ocean; WAM Theatre: Letters to Kamala; Marymount University: Madres de la Revolución. Member: Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC). nicolembrewer.com

Shawn Short (Choreographer) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut; Atlas Performing Arts Center: X Marks The Spot, Head or Tails, On The Fifth, Watch Me Bounce, Drum, Cinema (PBS), Hybrid; Dance Place: Habbi; Washington Performing Arts Society: UNDRSTAND Ostrich Dance; Prince George's Publick Playhouse: Fall Forward; Kennedy Center: Genotype Called Love; Adventure Theatre-MTC: Music Man, Head of Dance. New York: Jazz at Lincoln Center: Habibi: A Musical Journey Through the Arab World. MFA Dance, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; BFA Musical Theatre, Howard University. shortshawn.com. @ngoma_ddtdc

Jonathan Dahm Robertson** (Scenic Designer) (he/him) Folger Theatre: Romeo and Juliet; Kennedy Center: Look Both Ways; Signature Theatre: Passing Strange; Round House Theatre: Nollywood Dreams; Theater J: Two Jews Walk into a War, The Christians; Mosaic Theater: The Agitators, Oh God!; 1st Stage: The Mamalogues, Member of the Wedding, The Nance; Theater Alliance: Day of Absence, Blood at the Root; American Stage: Indecent; The Barnstormers: Into the Woods; Cape Fear Regional Theater: Wait Until Dark. Opera: The Princeton Festival: Nixon in China, Fidelio, Peter Grimes; Opera in the Heights: Candide, Un Ballo En Maschera, Cosi Fan Tutte. Jdahmrobertson.com. @jdahmrobertson

Danielle Preston** (Costume Designer) Folger Theatre: debut. DC/Regional: Round House Theatre, TheaterWorks Hartford, Olney Theatre Center, Barrington Stage Company, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Berkshire Theater Group, and Theater J. NYC: 59E59, Lincoln Center/ Kennedy Center Awards: SETC Distinguished Keynote: Costume Design, Helen Hayes nomination 2024, OPERA America Tobin Director-Designer Prize 2022, Kenan Costume Fellow for the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts 2015, A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute Fellowship in Costume Design 2013. MFA in Costume Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Porsche McGovern** (Lighting Designer) (she/her) Folger Theatre: debut. Round House Theatre: Sojourners. Regional: Baltimore Center Stage /Long Wharf Theatre: Fires in the Mirror. Virginia Theatre Festival: The Heart Sellers. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park: The West End. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Two Gentlemen of Verona. PlayMakers Repertory Company: We Are Proud to Present... , The Skeleton Crew. Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: The Thanksgiving Play. New York: The Playwrights Realm: Mothers. Author, Howlround series, "Who Designs & Directs in LORT Theatres by Pronoun." MFA, California Institute of the Arts; BA, St. Lawrence University.

Thom J. Woodward (Sound Designer) Folger Theatre: debut; 1st Stage: The Piano Lesson; Washington Stage Guild: Sofonisba; Rorschach Theatre: Sleeping Giant; The Essential Theatre: Zora; Iron Crow Theatre: Everybody's Talking About Jamie; Howard University Department of Theatre: The House That Will Not Stand, Sonnets and Soul. Teaching Artist: Howard University, Cathay Hughes School of Communications; Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Director of Audio. thesounddesignguy.com. @thom_thesounddesignguy

Andrés Poch (Projection Designer) (he/him) Folger Theatre: debut; Projection Design, Adventure Theatre: Winterfest; Interrobang Productions: I Will Eat You Alive; The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland: Lost Patterns. Caption Design, Gallaudet University: Autocorrect Thinks I'm Dead, Meat Expectations; VOCA Arts: A Strange Loop, A Not So Quiet Nocturne. Scenic Design, 4615 Theatre Company: A Delicate Ship; Virginia Theological Seminary: Dust. Regional: Scenic Design, Winnipesaukee Playhouse: POTUS, In the Heights; Andy's Summer Playhouse: Giant Slalom (New Hampshire Theatre Award for Set Design 2023). andrespoch.com

John "Ray" Proctor (Dramaturg, and Voice and Text Coach) (he/him) Folger Theatre: Six Othellos (The Reading Room Festival, 2024). Associate Professor of Theatre, Tulane University. Acting: Organic Theater Company: Romeo and Juliet; Arizona Repertory Theatre: The Merchant of Venice; Greenbrier Valley Theatre: Othello; Southern Rep Theatre: Airline Highway, Father Come Home from the Wars. Director: Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane University: Into the Woods; Crescent City Stage: Pantomime; Tulane University: Trouble in Mind. Publications: "Romeo and Juliet at an Historically Black College/University" in Romeo and Juliet, Adaptation, and the Arts: 'Cut Him Out in Little Stars' (The Arden Shakespeare); "Reconsidering and Recasting" in Contemporary Black Theatre and Performance: Acts of Rebellion, Activism, and Solidarity (Bloomsbury Press). PhD in Theatre Research, University of Wisconsin Madison; MFA in Acting, West Virginia University; BA in English, Webster University.

Kelsey Nicole Jenkins* (Production Stage Manager) (she/her) Folger Theatre: Hamlet (Reading Room Festival, 2025); Olney Theatre: Sleepova!; Kennedy Center TYA: Ways to Make Sunshine Workshop, Look Both Ways; Signature Theatre: The Bridges of Madison County, The Color Purple, Awa Sal Secka Sings Ladies of Jazz; Arena Stage: Step Afrika's The Migration, Exclusion, The High Ground; Theater Alliance: Covenant; Rorschach Theatre: Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really, Distance Frequencies; 1st Stage: The Mamalogues. @kjenkalenk

Bryan Boyd* (Assistant Stage Manager) Folger Theatre: debut. Stage management: Creative Cauldron: Beauty and the Beast; Adventure Theatre: Les Misérables; Montgomery College: Into the Woods, West Side Story. Assistant stage management: Theater J: Sheltered; Mosaic Theater: Theory; Constellation: Skin of Our Teeth; ArtsCentric: Sister Act.

* Member of Actors' Equity Association
** Member of United Scenic Artists
*** Stage Directors and Choreographers Society

About Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare's stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world's largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a cultural organization where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe. Learn more at www.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. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels, Folger Theatre continues its legacy through exciting interpretations and adaptations of Shakespeare and expands 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 thrives both on its historical stage and in the community, engaging audiences wherever they happen to be. For more on Folger Theatre, please visit www.folger.edu/theatre.

SOURCE Folger Shakespeare Library