Community members have a chance to catch two presentations of “Romeo and Juliet” over the next weeks outside the First Street Community Center.
The first show is known as the Teddy Bear edition of “Romeo and Juliet,” and is presented beginning Thursday, July 28 through Sunday, July 31. Curtains rise at 7 p.m. for Thursday through Saturday’s show, with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday.
Cast of the first show includes Jasper Rood as Romeo, Carley Hutson as Juliet, Luke Smith as Mercutio, Milo Olinger as the Friar, Chase Ralston as Benvolio, Ty Panos as Lord Capulet, Jordan Stivers as Tybalt and Lydia Benesh as the nurse.
The second show is known as Romeo and Juliet 1978 and runs Friday, Aug. 5, through Sunday, Aug. 7. Friday and Saturday’s productions have curtains rising at 7 p.m., and Sunday is a 2 p.m. matinee.
Cast of the second show includes Natalie Spinsby as Romeo, Grace Hromidko as Juliet, Ali Ott as Mercutio, Audrey Sellon as Friar, Lillian Bishop as Benvolio, Charlie Krob as Lord Capulet, Carley Hutson as Tybalt and Chase Ralston as the nurse.
Both productions will be outside of First Street Community Center, near where the bleachers for First Street Community Center field begin. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own chairs or use the bleachers provided for the show. The shows are free-will offering endeavors, with any proceeds raised to help Trude and Rick Elliott’s expenses in replacing the roof of the First Street Community Center this past year.
Director Grant Freeman said the outside venue is important to the shows he is staging.
“I originally thought of using the gazebo at the nearby park, but it makes more thematic sense that we utilize what used to be the old playground at the middle school,” Freeman said. “The concept of Open Arenas theater is that we make thought-provoking theatre in almost any venue.”
Freeman said the version of Hamlet he saw a few years ago was staged in the parking lot of a former fast-food restaurant, and this was no different in elevating the words of the Bard off the page and making them more accessible to everyone in the community.
The greatest challenge for Freeman has been shifting from working with speech students, where micromanaging is expected, to working with college age theatre students where he expects them to have their own ideas and interpretations of the characters.
Natalie Spinsby plays Romeo in the 1978 version of Romeo and Juliet.
“It’s a really fun take on the Shakespeare story we’re telling, and it’s fun to see those different contexts,” Spinsby said. “It’s much different acting in this production than it was in the play I remember reading in high school.”
Spinsby said memorization of Shakespeare’s blank verse has proven to be one of the most difficult portions of the show.
She was approached by Freeman to audition for the show, and she said she always has a great time working with him as a director.
“It’s a great show full of youth from these communities,” Spinsby said.
Carley Hutson plays Juliet in the Teddy Bear version and Tybalt in the 1978 version of the show.
“I really like playing Juliet,” Hutson said. “I love being able to take something that is usually so serious or sad and give it a different spin or take.”
She is working on choreography of a fight scene in the 1978 production.
“That’s something I’ve never had the chance to do before, and I am excited about learning how to make these fights look real,” Hutson said.
Hutson concurs with Spinsby that the number of lines is daunting for the lead.
“These shows have a real small and homey vibe, and there’s a lot of interesting and unique things each show is tackling,” Hutson said.
Carley Hutson and Jasper Rood perform in the Teddy Bear Shakespeare production in Mount Vernon.