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So, welcome back to Fox 5 Weekend Live this Saturday. I'm Sina Gabbert Ebb. A fascinating new exhibition is on view at the Folger Shakespeare Library, curator Dr. Patricia Akemi is with us, along with exhibition chair and Shakespearean actor and Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh, who will Hello ladies. hello. I mean, I'm so happy to be talking to both of you today. And when I saw the exhibition website, it immediately caught my eye because I think people don't always connect the two ideas of Black women's identity and the
But as this exhibition shows us, they are connected. So tell us Well, it starts with the title of this exhibition, "To Hear Her Speak," which is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 130, which means "My mistress's eyes are not like the sun," which is a favorite of many and it's a beautiful poem in which the speaker is, and from the description it's clear that this woman may be a Black woman. But the exposition is less about that mystery and more about another event that occurs in the poem, in which the speaker goes from talking about the way the woman looks to imagining the way she speaks. And the poem fantasizes about that moment but the reality is we have over 400 years of Black women's voices engaging with Shakespeare and creating incredible new
works, and Adjoa's career is a part of that. Yes, tell us how you got involved. I'm sorry, go ahead. No, I'm sorry. I was just going to say that and I found it so inspiring. I just said I wish I had the opportunity to see an exhibit like this when I was 6 so I could feel excited about the things that made me happy as a child, so I could think, 'Hey, this is really a place I can go.'" I can, you know, I have role models. I have examples that say, ' Come on, it's okay. Yes, you love Shakespeare and be involved in Shakespeare's work.' And I think, you know, we love a writer who writes on a heartbeat, who cares about all human beings, all being human. And, this exhibition
is a wonderful encouragement to look at the impact Shakespeare had on the hearts of Black women who, 400 years ago, would hardly be in a position where someone would think, "Well, I guess you could be a Shakespearean actress or audience. So, this exhibition features these courageous, adventurous souls who said, "But I love it. It inspires me. " This is a great encouragement to all of us, whether you're Black or White or anything else or male or female, you know, to come forward and ask, " What are your dreams? How do you want to fulfill your dreams? " And Patricia and her research team, you know, they've done some detective work found a little information about someone who may have been involved, whose name we don't know, whose history we don't know.
OK, so there's a great deal of discovery and celebration going on here at Folger. Wow, this is so beautiful. And Dr. Kimmy, you just described because I imagine it's not easy. not at all. In fact, in most libraries and archives, if you go to the catalog and say, "Show me everything So, part of our work was really to find other ways of looking at the lives of Black women who we know had some interest in or connection to Shakespeare, finding objects that help tell that story. So one example is Maya Angelou, who But I do n't know if many people know that she was a huge reader of Shakespeare and a follower of Shakespeare herself. And when she was a professor at Wake Forest she And his deep connection to Shakespeare extends far beyond This was his life's work. No
I did not know this. So thank you for sharing this with us. And how did you two women get I'm a Shakespeare fan. Ok. And Patricia and I had a colleague, Dr. Farah Karim- Cooper, who now heads the Folger Shakespeare Library. And I knew Farah from Britain. women of colour Shakespeare play in Britain. worked with Richard and there are actually some photographs in the exhibition, some videos and pictures and things like that. So, I joined the American Association of Shakespeare Scholars and then when Farrah came here I was the inaugural director resident. So, I was in Washington earlier this year.
doing all sorts of things related to Shakespeare, going to school teaching children, giving lectures. We did a performance with John Douglas Thompson of Scottish Drama. So, there were all kinds of things going on. So, basically I'm a useless penny that keeps coming back. But I am the president of this exhibition. So, I'm back this time. No, it's amazing. I wanted to share that Adjoa is also the voice of this exhibition. exhibition is accompanied by a fantastic audio guide. So, if you come to Folger and you listen to the audio guide, I'm afraid you can't escape me. And we don't want to do that. We do n't want to avoid you. I'm curious, I mean, you're both very well versed in Shakespeare and Shakespeare's works. I wonder if there was Absolutely. I was surprised
that many of the things displayed in this exhibition were almost non-existent. How important it is that we tell the stories of people who have suffered racial discrimination because we are the ones who decide what has playbill from an 1821 New York production of Richard III by a Black-only company. This is the first playbill we know of that featured the names of Black women in a Shakespeare production. And that playbill hasn't been seen in over 50 years. We have a picture of it, but the thing is missing. Wow. No, it's shocking to think about and something you can't even imagine. So, yes, this shows the And speaking of that you know, how long will this last? When can people come and see it?
The exhibit will be open until May 2, and you can see it. Bus. So, thank you so much to all you ladies. was such a joy and I'm so glad you did it and made it and put it out
