Ran at the Wade James Theatre, July 12-28, 2002

Cast

Sampson/Watch - Carrie Laroy

Gregory/Watch - Carolynne Wilcox

Abram/Friar John/Page - Ellen Whitlock

Balthasar - Angela Johnson

Benvolio - Anna-Marie Broback

Tybalt - Kat Wamba

Capulet - Margaret O'Malley

Lady Capulet - Aileen Strain

Montague - Mary Anderson

Lady Montague/Apothecary - Jaime Mastromonica

Prince/Chorus - Wendy Joseph

Watch/Peter - Jessica Knippel

Romeo - Diane Lindenstein

Paris - Nicole Witten

Juliet - Suzie Cameron Bixler

Nurse - Mmatjatji Ramaphala

Mercutio - Meredith Armstrong

Friar Laurence - Tracy Maher

Production Staff

Production Manager - Silas Lindenstein
Stage Manager - Sheri Snider
Assistant Stage Manager - Tina Thomas
Fight Director - Mike Mahaffey
Assistant Fight Director - Douglas Steves
Set Design - Joanne Branch
Light Design - Syrinda Sharpe
Sound Design - Devin Hamilton
Costume Design - Gregory Magyar
Properties Crew - Nancy Johnson
Sound Technician - Terry Swink
Stage Crew - Diane Fadden
Set Crew - Ralph Eaton, Jim Fisher, John Girt, Gay Hawkins, Kurt Johnson, Erik Swanson
Lighting Crew - Bill Huls, Ellen Huls, Jay Irwin
Costume Crew - Laura Katen, Nadine Trenton
Production House Manager - Kippy Pasowicz
Production Graphic Design - Sean Glenn
Publicity Coordinator - Nancy Fisher
Photographer - Mark Wenzel

"That woman is a woman!" - Mr. Tilney, Master of the Revels; Shakespeare in Love

And in this show, so is that man. Why? Why mess with the most well known romantic tragedy by history's greatest playwright?

Shakespeare's plays are timeless and as such lend themselves to reinvention, reinterpretation, and re-exploration so…why not? In Shakespeare's day, by law, men were the only ones allowed on stage. Audiences knew this and accepted it, and many companies still follow this "traditional casting". We wanted to set that notion on its head. Shakespeare wrote some of the most powerful and enduring characters in all of theatre, so let's give the girls a chance to do the Queen Mab speech, to play the Friar, and to fight! Why not, when once upon a time the boys got to play the gentle strength of Juliet and the warm comedy of the Nurse?

Then, to make matters worse, we had to put it in a modern setting! What good is that? The noblest reason for steering away from the traditional settings of Shakespeare's plays is to provide the audience with an immediate and understandable context. Audiences change over the centuries; the strength of Shakespeare's works lies in the fact that they still speak to us after more than 400 years. The core of this story translates to a host of contemporary situations. The Catholic/Protestant struggle of Northern Ireland provides us with a familiar framework about which to hang this story of a tragic pair of lovers caught in the midst of their families' strife.

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