St. Paul, Minn. – The Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department presents Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Main Stage Theater, 1600 Grand Ave., St. Paul, Minn. Tickets are $7 general admission and $5 for seniors and groups. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday Nov. 9 and 10, and Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Nov. 15–17 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11. Romeo and Juliet is directed by Ruth Easton Guest Artist Matt Sciple. For ticket information, call 651-696-6359.

A travelling band of players breaks into an abandoned theater, audience in tow, and using only what they find inside and what they carry on their backs perform Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In the spirit of devised theater, there is no attempt to hide artifice or imperfection from the audience as the ensemble creates their own musical soundtrack, sound effects, and set, right before our eyes. Finding beauty in creativity, flexibility and ingenuity rather than in simple prettiness, the absurdity of the story is highlighted without taking away its emotional power.

All of the 14 actors will, in addition to their other roles in the show, play Romeo or Juliet–alternating, shadowing, arguing within soliloquies, and exploding simultaneously across the stage into seven straight, gay and mixed-race pairings, all forbidden, in love, and doomed by a society* stubborn enough to sacrifice the future for the past, love for hate and hope for fear. 

The cast, in alphabetical order by last name consists of John Bennett ’14 from Edina, Minn., as Mercutio/Romeo, Roberto Capriotti ’13 from Pittsburg, Pa., as Paris/Romeo, Jeesun Choi ’13 from Bangkok, Thailand as Tybalt/Juliet, Jon Dahl ’14 from Roseau, Minn., as Lord Montague/Romeo, Will French ’13 from Paradise Valley, Ariz., as Gregory/Apothecary/Juliet, Avery Glassman ’13 from Kirtland, Ohio, as Nurse/Juliet, Alana Horton ’14 from Northampton, Mass., as Lady Capulet/Juliet, Kat Hunter ’13 from Friday Harbor, Wash., as Benvolio/Romeo, Lisa Hu ’15 from Lafayette, Calif., as Friar Laurence/Romeo, Stephanie Messer ’15 from Apex, N.C., as Abraham/Friar John, Nora Spellane ’16, from Washington, D.C., as Balthasar/Romeo, John Stark ’16 from Grinnell, Iowa, as Lord Capulet, Stephan Straub ’14 from New York, N.Y., as Sampson/Peter/Romeo, and Brigid Warnke ’13 from Long Beach, Calif., as Prince/Juliet.

Macalester College, founded in 1874, is a national liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 2,035 students. Macalester is nationally recognized for its long-standing commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, multiculturalism, and civic engagement. Learn more at macalester.edu

*Any resemblance to societies living or dead is purely coincidental. 

October 16 2012

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