My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
This version of R+J will be set in High Society Regency Era America, with a Gender Non-Conforming twist.
We beg the question: what if queer people were allowed to exist in high society? What if they were allowed to exist loudly?
The Montagues, our richest snobs in society, hate the Capulets, who are struggling to maintain their financial and religious status. Are Romeo and Juliet able to bring their families together in harmony with their love, or will this age-old feud cause the ballroom to become a battlefield?
Acceptance, Love, Kindness, and Freedom are all things Romeo and Juliet sought to bring to their families lives. They had the embryonic union of two families, whose feud is as old as time, thrust on them at the tender age of seventeen. The weight of this is shattering the young lovers’ hopes and dreams of a happy marriage, with family and friends present, existing in harmony, rather than breaking into fights and killing each other. Instead, Capulet’s eagerness to resolve their financial troubles and Montagues’ disgust of Capulet’s avarice results in the arranged marriage between Juliet, “our diamond,” and Paris, a rich consul and future Governor of Verona, NY.
However, Juliet craves freedom and it pulls her towards her destiny with her love, Romeo. But without the acceptance of the people around them, how can harmony exist? Without kindness in people’s hearts, how can a society be whole? Though many things have changed since Shakespeare’s Elizabethan England, the power of young love is forever timeless.
• Performances are Thursday – Sunday May 1 – 18.
• Thursday through Saturday performances begin at 7:30pm.
• Sunday performances are 2:00pm matinees.
Thursdays are Name-Your Price Nights
There will be an audience talk-back on Saturday, May 17 after the performance.