New Folger Library Director Will Speak at Dupont Underground, Dec. 12
By • November 26, 2024 0 439
Dr. Farah Karim-Cooper, who became the eighth director of the Folger Shakespeare Library in October, will be the featured speaker at The Georgetowner’s next Cultural Leadership Breakfast, on Thursday, Dec. 12. Admission to the event, at Dupont Underground, 19 Dupont Circle at 19th Street NW, is $40, payable in advance at georgetowner.com or via Eventbrite.
Professor of Shakespeare studies at King’s College London, Karim-Cooper was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and raised in Houston. She earned her bachelor’s degree at California State University, Fullerton, and her doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London. Before joining the Folger — home of the world’s largest collection of works by and about William Shakespeare — she held research, education, collections and public programming positions at Shakespeare’s Globe, the reconstruction of the 17th-century playhouse near its original site on the south bank of the Thames.
Books authored by Karim-Cooper include: “Cosmetics in Shakespearean and Renaissance Drama,” “The Hand on the Shakespearean Stage: Gesture, Touch and the Spectacle of Dismemberment” and, published last year, “The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About Race.”
At the Dec. 12 breakfast, she will discuss how the Folger, which reopened in June after a major renovation and expansion, is enhancing its engagement with a variety of audiences to demonstrate how Shakespeare’s work speaks to the current moment. A gift to the American people from Standard Oil executive Henry Clay Folger and his wife Emily, the Folger opened adjacent to the Library of Congress in 1932.
Doors open at Dupont Underground — the former streetcar station turned contemporary arts venue — at 8:30 a.m. for a buffet breakfast; the program will follow from 9 to 10 a.m. To purchase tickets, click HERE.
Since 2014, The Georgetowner’s Cultural Leadership Breakfast Series has presented 61 insider talks by leaders of area museums; opera, theater and dance companies; music ensembles; performing arts venues; and other cultural organizations.
