Julius X (2025)

Choreographer
Shawn Short (Principal Choreographer & Fight Choreographer)

Playwright
Al Letson

Director
Nicole Brewer

Premiere
Folger Theatre, Washington, DC September 23 – October 26, 2025 (World Premiere)

Dissonance Dance Theatre’s first major theatrical venture, Julius X reimagines Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the lens of the American Civil Rights Movement and the legacy of Malcolm X. Peabody Award–winning playwright Al Letson interweaves Shakespeare’s original text with his own verse and excerpts from Malcolm X’s speeches, while Founding Artistic Director Shawn Short’s movement and combat choreography carries the narrative — brothers fighting brothers for brotherhood. An act of artistic resistance and ancestral responsibility, Julius X explores the cyclical nature of societal strife and the universal human experiences of ambition, betrayal, and brotherhood. The five-week engagement featured six performances weekly and reached more than 5,250 audience members.

Lead
Brandon Carter

Production
A partnership between Ngoma Center for Dance / Dissonance Dance Theatre and Folger Theatre Theatrical Team

Time
90 Minutes