The Shakespeare classic will play the Minneapolis theatre Feb. 28-April 11. In a statement, director McSweeny said, "The play is infused with the energy of youth, not just of the lovers, but also the boldness, daring and audacity of the author, who was in his early thirties at that time. It's a big play, and this will be a big production of the kind that very few theatres can mount as well as the Guthrie."

Heading the cast of 36 will be Patch Darragh as Romeo and Christine Marie Brown as Juliet. The ill-fated lovers will be joined on stage by Michael Booth (Peter), Michael Chernus (Benvolio), Nathan Christopher (Page to Mercutio), Elliot Eustis (Page to Paris), Casey Greig (Balthasar, Page to Romeo), Richard S. Iglewski (Friar Lawrence), Karl Kenzler (Mercutio), Barbara Kingsley (Lady Montague), David Charles Mann (Sampson, Page to Tybalt), Lee Mark Nelson (Paris), Isabell Monk O’Connor (Nurse), Michelle O’Neill (Lady Capulet), Richard Ooms (Montague), Stephen Pelinski (Capulet), Alex Podulke (Tybalt), Will Sturdivant (Abram, Page to Benvolio), Stephen Yoakam (Chorus/Escalus) and Steven B. Young (Gregory, Page to Tybalt).

The creative team for Romeo and Juliet comprises Mark Wendland (set and costume designer), Jane Cox (lighting designer), Michael Roth (composer/sound designer), Rick Sordelet (fight director), Michael Lupu (dramaturgy), Elisa Carlson and Lucinda Holshue (voice and speech coaches), Marcela Lorca (movement), Martha Kulig (stage manager), Theresa Schatz (assistant stage manager), Sarah Rasmussen (assistant director) and Michael J. Anderson (assistant fight director).

At the Guthrie Ethan McSweeny has directed Thief River, Side Man and Gross Indecency. He directed the Broadway production of Gore Vidal's The Best Man as well as the National Actors Theatre's mounting of The Persians. McSweeny received a 1998 Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama Desk Award nomination for John Logan's Never the Sinner, and he also helmed Robert Myers' Fixin' to Die.

The Guthrie Theater is located at 725 Vineland Place in Minneapolis, MN. Tickets, priced $13-$48, are available by calling (612) 377-2224 or visiting www.guthrietheater.org.