Jacob Ming-Trent turns one man, a bare stage, and 400 years of poetry, autobiography, and life’s complex lessons you’ll appreciate all the way through.
A Solo Show With the Bard at Its Heart
Washington DC offers its theatergoers a rich landscape, and the Folger Theatre delivers yet again. How Shakespeare Saved My Life runs now through July 5, 2026, written and performed by Broadway’s Jacob Ming-Trent and directed by Tony Taccone. Having recently reviewed Ming-Trent as Falstaff in Merry Wives at Harman Hall, I arrived with curiosity.
Ming-Trent answers both questions in 90 fast minutes. He builds the night around William Shakespeare, the playwright nicknamed “the Bard.” This world premiere already earned rave reviews in San Francisco, and after the Folger, it travels to New York’s Public Theater this fall. Lucky us, it stops here first!
Where Tupac, Biggie, and the Bard Share a Stage
Ming-Trent braids Shakespeare together with the voices of Basquiat, Biggie, and Tupac. The blend works! As an elder Millennial, I grew up with this. These artists shaped a generation, and the show treats their words as poetry worthy of the study we give the sonnets. Meanwhile, the hip-hop and the Shakespeare speak to each other onstage. They argue. They agree. They build something new.
Faith, and all the generations before us, run underneath it all, guiding the direction of his story and, by extension, ours. The spiritual current moved me because it mirrors how many of us actually walk through a hard season and come out the other side.
A Personal Story That Becomes Your Own
The genius of this piece lies in its generosity. Ming-Trent shares his turbulent youth, its pitfalls, its tragedy, and its family conflict, and then he hands the story to you. The play invites reflection. What moves us? What changes us? What stays with us? Ming-Trent speaks of forgiveness as the engine, the lifesaving kind and the relationship-saving kind, and that rings true throughout. Ming-Trent’s open heart is a gift, and the writing is honest and well-crafted throughout.
Breaking Out of the Box, From Aldridge to Baldwin
Typecasting haunts every working actor, and Ming-Trent names that wall head-on. Shakespeare once served as a gatekeeper, the line — drawn by size, hue, and voice — that decided who could act and who could not. Yet Ming-Trent tears that gate down and rebuilds the room so everyone fits inside.
Has life typecast you? But sometimes there are good people out there, ready to give us a chance. The opportunities that free us are mostly self-made, yet the right believer can boost them higher. Ming-Trent’s answer is blunt: choose yourself, then let those who see you lift you.
Echoes of James Baldwin run through it, that same refusal to be boxed. So does Ira Aldridge, the 19th-century Black tragedian who left America to take European stages in roles written for white men. The lineage is inspiring and ever-shifting!
The Actor Is the Heartbeat of Every Play
Behind every great Shakespeare production stands a great actor. Complex characters tend to come from complex people, and Ming-Trent makes that connection perfectly. Indeed, he carries the entire stage alone, yet the room never feels empty. If you have kept Shakespeare at arm’s length, let this be your invitation in.
Meet Shakespeare through someone who loves him. The Folger always welcomes, and this show extends that hand. Go see it. Bring a friend. Talk about it after.
Throughout the performance, Ming-Trent invites audience participation, asking if he should continue, and we respond every time. The sense of unity is strong, reminding us of our shared journey: to love, to grow, and to forgive. Play on.
Location: Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 Average cost: Tickets start at $20; book online. Runtime: 90 minutes, no intermission. Follow Jacob Ming-Trent on Instagram: @jacobmingtrent
Photography by Erika Nizborski.
