Sexuality, desire, and the limits of morality take center stage in Folger Theatre’s season opening production of William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” running now through Nov. 1 at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
Directed by Helen Hayes Award-winning director Psalmayene 24 (Psalm), and featuring Renea S. Brown in the role of Isabella — a novice nun who serves as the moral center of the play — the production explores the tensions within society between unyielding purity and human mercy.
Last performed at the Folger in 2006, this reenvisioned production shifts the venue from 16th-century Vienna to the American South in the 1950s, employing cultural and historical cues from the period.
“After several initial readings of the play and considering its many themes, I realized that America’s Jim Crow South was a good match and that this play confirmed the malleability of Shakespeare’s work,” Psalm told The Informer. “For our purposes, it also provides an opportunity for audiences to reexamine and reflect upon that dark period in our nation’s history.”
Brown said she was immediately impressed with the changes the director has made to the play and to her character, whose journey to womanhood is significantly enhanced from the original version.
“Pslam and I have worked together before and so we have a kind of shorthand form of communicating which we’ve made the best of in bringing this production to the stage,” Brown said. “As an actor, he’s allowed me to be bold as my character deals with the uncomfortable truths and violence that African American women repeatedly faced throughout the Jim Crow period.”
Chinai Routté, who was named a member of the resident company of artists at Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre in 2025, portrays two characters: Mistress Overdone, a madam whose business is targeted under newly enforced laws; and Francisca, a seasoned nun who mentors Isabella as she begins her training as a novitiate.
“This is my first time working with Psalm and it’s been a pleasure to be in his space and see how he pulls artists together and lifts the play off the paper,” Routté said. “As the owner of the brother, I become a servant for the people – a spokesperson, if you will.
“My role is enhanced beyond the original text and I do something that has become more relevant and necessary in today’s culture – serving as a sexual health advocate for the women who work in the sexual industry. If Miss Overdone were alive today, she could easily star on a reality show like the ‘Housewives of Atlanta.’”
The director said he’s been both pleased and surprised by how audiences have embraced and responded to the production.
“People are seeing things that I didn’t intend to include – some even moving the conversation to levels and themes that have caused me to further reflect on the brilliance of Shakespeare and admire how his work still remains relevant centuries later,” Psalm said. “From the start, I wanted this production to foster conversations about the strength of Black women who were forced to endure sexual violence and abuse during the Jim Crow era – forced to endure it in silence out of fear.
Beyond examining the past, the director hopes the show offers messages to carry as audiences navigate current societal challenges.
“Power, often used indiscriminately and without regard to its impact on marginalized people, was something that Shakespeare wanted us to confront,” he continued. “Centuries later, it’s still a pervasive problem within the global society.”
For Brown, stepping into the role of Isabella is deeply emotional work.
“Before entering from the wings, I ask my ancestors to use me as a vessel as I shout what they were never allowed to say,” Brown told The Informer. “Then I remind myself that if they could endure 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow, I can too.”
Tickets for Folger Theatre’s production of ”Measure for Measure,” which runs through Nov. 1, are available online at folger.edu/MFM or by calling the Folger Box Office at 202-544-7077.
