Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Feeding the Dragon  By  cover art

Feeding the Dragon

By: Sharon Washington
Narrated by: Sharon Washington
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $7.95

Buy for $7.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

For a book-obsessed kid with a big imagination and a flair for drama, could anything be luckier than living in a library? Capturing her remarkable childhood and its impact, Sharon Washington's autobiographical Off-Broadway show brings its sense of wonder and bittersweet realism into your home and heart as an enthralling audio experience. Only from Audible, Feeding the Dragon celebrates the role of books in opening Washington's mind to worlds of possibilities - including a career in acting.

As part of our mission to offer listeners outstanding performances in contemporary theater, we are thrilled to present acclaimed stage actor Washington’s debut as a playwright. Intimate and emotionally nuanced, Sharon Washington's reckoning of childhood, race, and memory is, as one listener says, a "feast for the creative soul." 

©2018 Sharon Washington (P)2018 AO Media, LLC.

Our favorite moments from Feeding the Dragon

Hard work keeps the fire burning.
-0.00
I’m a proud native New Yorker!
-0.00
Just beyond the door; we existed above books.
-0.00
A little girl and her dog, between the stacks.
-0.00
  • Feeding the Dragon
  • Hard work keeps the fire burning.
  • Feeding the Dragon
  • I’m a proud native New Yorker!
  • Feeding the Dragon
  • Just beyond the door; we existed above books.
  • Feeding the Dragon
  • A little girl and her dog, between the stacks.

About the Author and Performer

Feeding the Dragon is Sharon Washington's debut as a writer. The play had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Cherry Lane Theatre, where she was nominated for a 2018 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. The play had its world premiere at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh and a well-received run at Hartford Stage.

Sharon has been a working actor for almost 30 years, appearing on Broadway in The Scottsboro Boys, the last collaboration of the legendary team of Kander & Ebb, in a role she originated Off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre. She has played roles with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater, and Second Stage Theater, among others. For her performance in Colman Domingo’s Wild With Happy, she was nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play and won the Audelco Award for Best Supporting Actress. Sharon has also appeared at award-winning regional theaters around the country including: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Guthrie Theater, Huntington Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Yale Repertory Theatre.

Her recent film work includes the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex (2018) and The Kitchen (2019). Other film and television credits include The Looming Tower, Wiener-Dog, Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, White Collar, Taking Chance, Royal Pains, Damages, Michael Clayton, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Malcolm X, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where she can occasionally be seen on the bench as Judge Virginia Hayes. You might also recognize her voice as the narrator of several documentary series for Animal Planet, Discovery, TVOne, and NOVA.

Sharon Washington earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and BA from Dartmouth College. To learn more, visit: iamsharonwashington.com/

No travel, no lines, no pricey tickets. Just the drama.

Audible Theater offers a front row seat to the best plays and performances – anytime, anywhere.
0:00

Featured Article: The Show Must Go On—Premier Audiobooks Now Playing for Theater Fans


A good play or musical is emblematic of what we love about entertainment—a chance to escape, to be fully immersed in another world, to engage with our most human emotions in a moment brought brilliantly to life by the talents of impeccable performers. It's possible to get your fix of the Great White Way in the comfort of your own home. Here are just a few of our favorite theater audiobooks to tide you over until curtain call.

What listeners say about Feeding the Dragon

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,880
  • 4 Stars
    2,031
  • 3 Stars
    943
  • 2 Stars
    262
  • 1 Stars
    194
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    7,519
  • 4 Stars
    1,196
  • 3 Stars
    461
  • 2 Stars
    142
  • 1 Stars
    121
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,168
  • 4 Stars
    1,839
  • 3 Stars
    926
  • 2 Stars
    315
  • 1 Stars
    160

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story!

I recommend this story to anyone who has the desire to be captivated over a relatively short period of time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love to love in that library!

What an enjoyable story delivered with such an expressive voice! Certainly made that dragon come alive!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Delightful

This is a memoir. The book is very short. I obtained it for free from Audible as part of their new Audible Originals’ program. Washington grew up in an apartment inside one of the New York Library branches. This was written as a one woman play and performed by Washington. Washington grew up in the library and her excitement and love of books feeds the story. Her father was the library custodian and every day he shoveled coal into the furnace. As a child Washington pretended this was a dragon. I enjoyed this memoir. If you are looking for a short book, try this one.

The book is one hour and 17 minutes. Washington does an excellent job narrating the book/ acting the play. Washington is an actress, voice over artist, audiobook narrator and an author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Sound Problems

This story is great. It has one problem that is really hard for me. I listen to audio books while driving my car. The sound in this audio book was not consistent. It would get really loud and then really soft at different points. I missed parts of the book and to go back to hear what was said then it would get to loud and shake my car. My advice is that if your listening to this great story listen in an environment where there is little background noise so that you can handle the ups and downs within the audio-book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Incredibly good!

This was not what I expected but the story was both rich and compelling. I don’t want to ruin the experience for the next listener but it amazed me that so much of a life could be told in such a relatively short time and evoke so many emotions.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

Sharon Washington's story is captured in not only the words but the tones so well that it really would be appropriate to have a way to offer a superlative to the 5-star rating. Do not skip this audio production--truly outstanding! Share with the young people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

SHORT, SHORT STORY

This is a short story, not a book. I enjoyed it for the first hour, then it suddenly did a quick wrap up and was over. Honestly, I don't feel that it was worth the $10 price. If they want to make something akin to a podcast, they need to reduce the price to around $1.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Imaginative and Creative

What a fascinating story (memoir) of a typical, black family living in a library after hours. Enjoyable performance with the characters played out to the fullest. A girl by the name of Sharon Washington, who, has a great imagination and very creative. The phrase, "don't call to much attention to yourself" is true today in many African American homes!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a pure delight!

What a delightful memoir of a little girl who lived in a library... I always enjoyed books about books, and one of my favorite fictional short stories is called; In the House of the Seven Librarians. It's the story of a little girl who grows up in a library ... Imagine my surprise and delight when I found this true story! Sharon Washington shares her joys and experiences in this almost-fairy-tale chapter of her life. Not only was this story very well written, but the narration was also very well done!
 

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely delightful

Thank you for telling your story. It is lovely. I highly recommend Feeding the Dragon.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful