Performances begin January 16 at Access Theater for Pocket Universe's Juliet + Romeo, a contemporary feminist take on Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, in which the star-crossed lovers are observed through the eyes of a teenage girl reading the "greatest love story of all time"—for the first time. Alyssa May Gold, who reset Julius Caesar in an all-girls high school in 2017, is the writer and director.
“As I reread Romeo & Juliet last summer, I began to wonder if a teenager today would interpret a play with a body count that rivals an episode of Game of Thrones as not just a love story but the greatest love story of all time,” Gold told Playbill. “I only had to read as far as Act 1 Scene 1—where, in lines that are cut from most productions, we discover that Romeo is not in unrequited love with Rosaline, but bitter that she won’t have sex with him—to decide a teenage girl today would be more likely swipe left on Romeo than run away with him."
The cast of Juliet + Romeo is made up of Gold as Juliet, Trace Pope (The Reckless Season, Deployed the Musical) as Romeo, Ashil Lee (All One Forest, Men on Boats) as Tybalt/Nurse, Lauren Pisano (Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet at Vermont Shakespeare Festival) as Capulet/Mercutio, Schuyler Van Amson (Tumbleweed, Nature Whatever) as Benvolio/Friar/Paris, and Maddie Perez Browning (When We Were Young and Unafraid, Up/Down Here/There) as the Teenage Girl.
The creative team includes associate directors Jessica Dukatt and Amanda Cook, lighting designer Christina Tang, set designer Benny Pitt, costume designer Ashleigh Poteat, with fight direction by Will Gallacher. Taylor Elise Keller serves as production stage manager.
Performances of Juliet + Romeo are scheduled through February 2. For tickets and more information, click here.
