Romeo and Juliet Play Guide

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ABOUT THE ROMEO AND JULIET PLAY GUIDE

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

Bite-Sized Shakespeare: A Top 10 List

This play guide is a standards-based resource designed to enhance your theatre experience. Its goal is twofold: to nurture the teaching and learning of theatre arts and to encourage essential questions that lead to enduring understandings of the play’s meaning and relevance. Inside you will find history/ contextual information and vocabulary that lay the groundwork of the story and build anticipation for the performance. Oral discussion and writing prompts encourage your students to reflect upon their impressions and to analyze and relate key ideas to their personal experiences and the world around them. These can easily be adapted to fit most writing objectives. The Bridgework connects theatre elements with ideas for drama activities in the classroom as well as integrated curriculum. We encourage you to adapt and extend the material in any way to best fit the needs of your community of learners. Please feel free to make copies of this guide, or you may download it from our website: ActorsTheatre.org. We hope this material, combined with our pre-show workshops, will give you the tools to make your time at Actors Theatre a valuable learning experience.

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An Interview with Philip Allgeier, Media

Romeo and Juliet student matinees and play guides address specific EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: • Students will identify or describe the use of elements of drama in dramatic works. • Students will analyze how time, place and ideas are reflected in drama/theatre

3 Romeo and Juliet Synopsis, Characters and Setting

Technologist 6-7

True Love Never Dies: or, Why We’re Still Watching

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Teens and Technology in Romeo and Juliet

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Humor and Horror, Comedy and Tragedy: the



Mirror Structure of Romeo and Juliet

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“Shaping the Larger Picture:” An Interview with



Romeo and Juliet director Tony Speciale

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Grasping How He “Words His Words”

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Communication Portfolio, Discussion Questions

13 Bridgework 14

Other Reading and Works Cited

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Glossary of Terms

Actors Theatre Education

Steven Rahe, Director of Education Jacob Stoebel, Associate Director of Education Jane B. Jones, Education Associate Liz Fentress, Resident Teaching Artist Keith McGill, Resident Teaching Artist Gabriel Garcia, Education Intern/Teaching Artist LeShawn Holcomb, Education Intern/Teaching Artist Lori Pitts, Education Intern/Teaching Artist Christina Shackelford, Education Intern/Teaching Artist Play Guide by Dominic Finocchiaro, Whitney MillerBrengle, Hannah Rae Montgomery, Lacy Mudd, Christine Noah, Steven Rahe, and Jacob Stoebel Graphic Design by Mary Kate Zihar

• Students will explain how drama/theatre fufills a variety of purposes If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our play guides, please contact Steven Rahe, Director of Education, at 502-584-1265 ext. 3045.

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The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, supports Actors Theatre of Louisville with state tax dolars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

SYNOPSIS Two warring families live

CAST OF CHARACTERS

in the same town. So what happens? A fight breaks out between the tempestuous youths of both households. Prince Escalus comes to keep the peace and warns that no more bloodshed better occur in his streets— or else. Romeo, the sensitive son of the Montague house, shows up and tells his best friend Benvolio that he’s in love with Rosaline. Romeo and Juliet Meanwhile, Paris asks Lord Capulet for his daughter Juliet’s hand in marriage, but Capulet shrugs him off and invites him to a masquerade. Romeo and his crew find out that Romeo’s girl will be at the party, so they decide to crash it. When Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio arrive, Romeo and Juliet set eyes on one another—and fall madly in love (Rosaline who?). Capulet’s nephew Tybalt gets pretty miffed that Romeo’s crossing the line. Later, Romeo sneaks over to Juliet’s house, and they profess their ooey gooey love for one another. They decide to secretly get hitched the next day by Friar Laurence.

The Capulets

After they’re married, Tybalt starts stirring up trouble in the streets, challenging Romeo to a fight. Romeo tries to put him at ease, but his friend Mercutio and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt end up going at it. When Romeo comes between them, Tybalt kills Mercutio. A vengeful Romeo kills Tybalt before fleeing the scene. Escalus arrives and banishes the newlywed Romeo. Romeo goes and spends the night with Juliet before he has to skip town. Soon after, Lady Capulet tells Juliet that she has to marry Paris in a few days, and Juliet refuses. Will the two lovers be reunited? Will their families ever stop fighting? See the show to find out!

the bawdy servant of the Capulet household, raised Juliet from birth and is seen as her most loyal confidante.

- Christine Noah

SETTING Traditionally, the story is set in Verona, Italy, but this production will take place in modern American suburbia. It’s summertime: school’s out, the swing set’s ready for swinging, the treehouse is ready for imagination and the basketball court is ready for a pick-up game. Cellphones, video games and video cameras abound. With no homework, no responsibilities, and plenty of room in the pool, time may just stretch out forever. But when reality sets in, the sprinklers turn off and the Xboxes get left behind, the mirage of carefree youth dissolves into a world of uncertainty.

Juliet

is a beautiful, young woman from the Capulet family who faces domineering parents and the stress brought on by the rivalry between her family and the Montagues. She instantly falls in love with Romeo.

Capulet

is Juliet’s father and head of the Capulet family. He refuses to end the feud with the Montagues.

Lady Capulet

Benvolio

is Romeo’s cousin and close friend who attempts to be the peacemaker when things go awry between the rival families.

Abram

is a Montague servant who fights the Capulet servants at the beginning of the play.

Balthasar

is Romeo’s loyal servant.

Additional Characters

is Juliet’s mother. She has little connection with her daughter and pushes her to marry the wealthy Paris.

Friar Laurence

Tybalt

Mercutio

is a hotheaded Capulet youth and cousin to Juliet.

Nurse

Sampson and Gregory

are Capulet servants who fight a Montague servant at the beginning of the play.

Peter

is a Capulet servant who attends to the Nurse.

The Montagues

is Romeo’s mentor who longs to see the end of the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.

is Romeo’s witty, temperamental, mischief-making best friend.

Paris

is a wealthy young nobleman seeking Juliet’s hand in marriage.

Escalus

is Verona’s head law enforcer and defender of the peace.

The Apothecary of Mantua

reluctantly sells poison to Romeo though the law prohibits it.

Rosaline

is the object of Romeo’s short-lived affection at the beginning of the play.

Romeo

Pages, Servants, maskers, is a Montague teen who would rather spend his time daydreaming Attendants, Citizens, and about girls than fighting with the Guards also inhabit the play. rival Capulet family. He falls in love with Juliet the instant he lays eyes on her. Lady Montague

is Romeo’s emotional and sensitive mother. She is a single mom in our production.

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BITE-SIZE SHAKESPEARE: A TOP-10 LIST OF SHAKESPEARE’S MOST TASTY MORSELS Wondering why William Shakespeare remains the world’s most widely read, studied and produced playwright? Chow down on this bite-size smorgasbord of delicious knowledge nuggets. Your friends will no doubt be impressed, your parents delighted and your teachers stunned!

10) His plays are timeless. While other play-

wrights’ moments in the spotlight have come and gone, Shakespeare wrote plays that are still relevant today more than 400 years later. For example, Romeo and Juliet is about young love and rivalry, subjects that everyone deals with at some point in life.

9) He’s got rhythm. Shakespeare’s plays have a

natural rhythm to them. Look at the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet, for example. If you read it out loud you will notice a rhythm with an accent on every second syllable. (But, SOFT! what LIGHT through YONder WINdow BREAKS?) Even though his verse might feel forced at first glance, it turns out that iambic pentameter approximates the rhythms that we speak in everyday life. Just eavesdrop on a conversation at your school and you might be surprised.

8) His history is shrouded in mystery.

Though we know quite a bit about our friend Willy, there is still so much we don’t know. Some believe that he did not even write most of the plays credited to him! It is also widely believed that he died on his birthday at the age of 52. Another popular rumor is that some of his romantic sonnets were written about The Earl of Southampton. We may never know the truth, but it is fun to ponder!

5) He was a jack of all trades in the theatre! Though Shakespeare is most recognized in the theatre world for his plays, he was also an actor! He even acted in his own plays; not many playwrights today can say that. He also had a hand in managing the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, his acting company in London that later became the King’s Men.

4) Men played the roles of women!

In Shakespeare’s time, Juliet would have been played by a young man. Usually the women’s roles would go to young boys who had not started to grow facial hair and still hadn’t yet acquired deeper voices.

3) He’ll make you laugh and cry!

Shakespeare was a master of comedy as well as tragedy. Most have heard of the tragedies Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, but if you have never read Twelfth Night or The Taming of the Shrew, you are missing out on some serious comedy!

2) He was a trendsetter.

Even though Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet way before any of us were around, we still love to retell and reimagine his works. There are countless modern spins on this classic tragedy everywhere, such as the musical West Side Story, Disney’s High School Musical, or the more recent, computer-animated film Gnomeo and Juliet.

1) We speak Shakespeare every day!

There are more than 2,000 words used in the English language today that were first recorded in Shakespeare’s works, as well as commonly used phrases such as “foul play”, “in a pickle”, and “flesh and blood”. - Lacy Mudd

7) His characters are human! Though some of

Shakespeare’s characters seem larger than life, such as fairies and kings, their hopes and struggles are recognizable. Romeo and Juliet are the protagonists of the play, but they each have what we call a hamartia, also known as a tragic flaw. After all, nobody is perfect! In fact, one could argue that every human emotion and experience is reflected in his plays.

6) He was a rebel. While his plays are still resonant

today, Shakespeare made political statements that spoke to the moment. He based certain characters on noblemen, and even kings and queens of the time, and risked getting into some serious trouble—but the crowd absolutely loved it. Good thing Queen Elizabeth I was a supporter of the arts! William Shakespeare

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AN INTERVIEW WITH PHILIP ALLGEIER MEDIA TECHNOLOGIST

Philip Allgeier

Media Technologist Philip Allgeier, now entering his fifth season with Actors Theatre, is the head of all things video and projection: he designs for shows, makes production and marketing videos and helps with other technology needs around the theatre. Education Intern Christine Noah sat down with him to discuss his career, media’s role in theatre and plans for our production of Romeo and Juliet. How would you define your job description? The interesting thing about my job is that it serves the entire organization; I take care of all of the mediarelated tasks that the organization needs to complete. In a lot of places you would have to hire a video engineer, video technician, shooter, editor, programmer, designer. And I do all of those things. My primary responsibility is to take care of anything that happens onstage, so that includes any time video is used in projection, anytime there’s a television with a video signal on it. We’ve had computers and iPads that have had videos playing on them. And then the second side would be anything marketing-related. That’s shooting promo videos, , the monitors that you see in the lobby, stuff for the web, stuff that goes to news stations. You’d be surprised how often video gets used. How did you get into this field? Why media/technology? Why theatre? In high school I started doing lighting and set design, and then became an actor, so I’ve been immersed in theatre since I was a teenager. And video was just another one of the classes that I took that really interested me. Then I went to Western Kentucky University, and majored in mass communications with a minor in theatre. My job at Actors sort of combines the two things that I’ve spent my life learning and doing. So this job allowed me to not have to choose. What kind of role do you see media and technology playing in the theatre in the future? It’s not going away. I once read an article titled “Whether You

Like It or Not, Video Is Here to Stay in the Theatre.” There are a lot of purists who don’t want to have that element infecting the live performance, but I think that it really does enhance what’s going on onstage. I think it’s just one more thing in the toolbox to create a show that’s interesting and fun to watch. It’s great to have directors and designers come in and dream big and think of a really grand idea using video, and to be able to accomplish that. One really good example would be The Hour of Feeling, which was a show we did for the Humana Festival last year. A significant percentage of the dialogue for that show was in Arabic, so we projected translations of what the actors were saying on the back wall of the set. That allowed the author to have this language onstage that people aren’t accustomed to hearing, and it added another level to the play because language was such an important theme in it. Do you have a favorite show that you’ve worked on? Oh, wow. I think The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, because video was such a big part of that show. It was about professional wrestling, and the tackiness and the spectacle that comes along with it. And so we got to make the most ridiculous videos that we could. And it was fun. The product was really good, and you left having noticed the video and its enhancement of the performance. So how does the process go when you’re working on a show? Where do you start, what are the steps? We start with a set design. The set designer will collaborate with the director and then they work with the technical director and figure out what we can do, what we can’t do, what’s right for the space, what are the best choices for sightlines. And then for video, they’ll say, “Here’s our set. We want to project onto this scenic element or that scenic element,” and I have to go in and figure out what projectors I need, what lenses, what software, where we can get power for all these devices without blowing everything up. Then I start on content and I work with the director. I’ll throw some ideas out there, start building sequences. Sometimes it’s found footage, compiled. And then I’ll start loading in and we’ll focus everything. After all the gear’s tested, we’re ready for technical rehearsals (where all of the technical elements come together over the course of a very long weekend), and that’s a crazy thrill ride for many days in a row. And then we open and we get to breathe again. So do you know what exactly will be the role of technology in Romeo and Juliet? I know that video will be an element. Obviously Shakespeare didn’t have video in mind when he was writing the play, so we’re going to have the director’s treatment of the script determine how the video gets used. Tony Speciale’s idea is to make Romeo kind of a budding filmmaker, and so he’ll have a camera and you’ll see live footage that he shoots. We’re incorporating those elements to flesh out the character in a modern way. - Christine Noah

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TRUE LOVE NEVER DIES: OR, WHY WE’RE STILL WATCHING ROMEO AND JULIET

Have you ever experienced the thrilling obsession of first love, felt that your world revolved around one special person like the Earth around the sun? Have you ever loved someone you weren’t supposed to, adding to the thrill of infatuation the thrill of the forbidden? Have you ever had to stand up for who you love—or who you are—against bullying pressure from peers or the recycled resentments of an older generation? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you can relate to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Really, if you answered yes to any of these questions, at some point in your life you’ve been Romeo and Juliet. These star-crossed lovers, like the stars themselves, have endured in our collective consciousness for centuries. When he wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 1590s, Shakespeare himself pulled from earlier incarnations of the same classic plot, tapping into a grand tradition of romantic tales that end in tragedy. For example, Roman poet Ovid’s account of Pyramus and Thisbe in his Metamorphoses closely parallels Shakespeare’s plot: two young

Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet

people fall in love despite families who despise one another, and Pyramus is eventually fooled into thinking his beloved Thisbe is dead. (If you’re familiar with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, believed to have been written around the same time, you might recognize Pyramus and Thisbe from the play-within-a-play that Bottom and his clownish troupe of actors rehearse in the woods.) Closer to home, in 1562 a poem entitled The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet hit the English presses, followed in 1567 by a story called “The goodly History of the true and constant love of Rhomeo and Julietta.” Both of these texts were already popular when Shakespeare put pen to paper to usher the story onstage. So what distinguishes Shakespeare’s version from the others, enabling it to remain so famous while its counterparts have faded into relative obscurity? For one, Shakespeare manages to masterfully blend elements of comedy into the inevitable tragedy. The first half of his Romeo and Juliet brims with boys-will-be-boys hijinks, with Mercutio as the wise-cracking ringleader. There are self-effacing yet impassioned declarations of ever-lasting love, light and joyous with the perceived promise of forever, and the romance culminates in the lovers’ marriage, as did all traditional comedies in Shakespeare’s day. Oh, and don’t forget the endless string of sexual innuendoes embedded in the Montague boys’—and the Nurse’s—dialogue. Such comic touches create snapshots of youth that we can easily relate to today: many of us were probably pulling pranks with our friends and sneaking around behind our parents’ backs, falling headover-heels at first sight, and pushing the boundaries of adolescent humor. The startling violence of Mercutio and Tybalt’s deaths in the middle of the play, however, sets the action on an inexorable course toward tragedy.

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Indeed, it’s the heavy hand of fate shadowing Shakespeare’s characters that also makes his rendition of Romeo and Juliet so resonant. As the body count mounts, we’re forced to wonder whether it’s just an unfortunate result of ordinary human hatred and miscommunication—or whether the lovers were doomed from the second they laid eyes on one another, already caught in the web of a feud that they were powerless to untangle. Some of these questions that Romeo and Juliet face loom large in our own daily lives as well. Can we ever truly transcend the biases that we inherit from our parents? Can we choose not to participate in a culture of violence? How much control do we have over who we fall for and want to spend our lives with? What is the cost of trying to deceive the people we love? Grappling with these questions is part of the difficult process.

- Hannah Rae Montgomery Baz Luhrmam’s Romeo + Juliet

West Side Story

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TEENS AND TECHNOLOGY IN ROMEO AND JULIET This contemporary production of Romeo and Juliet will highlight both the growing role of technology and media as well as the influence of violence and bullying on the lives of young people. More and more, technology and violence seem to go hand in hand. An estimated 93% of children ages 8 to 18 have computers at home, while about one in 17 young people have reported being harassed online. So what is the connection between these two powerful forces, and what does it mean for students? Cyberbullying The most common use of technology for violence is cyberbullying, which entails any kind of harassment or threats sent on a technological platform (email, Facebook, Twitter, texting). It may not sound much different from traditional bullying, but, as Thomas Aberli, principal of Atherton High School, notes, “Instead of having an audience of whoever’s standing around you, they have an audience of whoever they want to add into the conversation. So they can increase the level of victimization because it spreads much more virally than it would in a face-to-face conflict.” Because technology allows for anonymity, it’s much more difficult to pinpoint perpetrators.

Why is it such a big problem? As Heidi Glascock, a counselor at Western High School, points out, cyberbullying didn’t really reach the vernacular until kids started taking their own lives. The problem lies in the medium: cyberbullying occurs on platforms that allow for an immediacy that parents and school administrators may underestimate. Kids are often too embarrassed or afraid to report cyber-attacks and threats. Unlike a face-to-face conflict, where one student may exceed another in size or strength, cyberbullying gives everyone the power to do harm, allowing roles to shift and victims to become perpetrators. It may not be any more prevalent than traditional bullying, according to Aberli, but its impact is much greater: victims of cyberbullying are nearly twice as likely to commit suicide as those who are not targeted.

Looking for Solutions So what can students, parents, and schools do to combat this misuse of technology? Aberli says the answer is education. “The people in our society who care about doing something positive need to continually work towards giving kids avenues for making good choices and give them proper models to deal with tough situations.” At Atherton, students can be a part of what’s called the Green Dot Program, a social violence awareness program. “Imagine a red dot being an act of violence that’s posted on a map, and green dots being acts opposing that violence,” Aberli

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explains. “You can choose to either be a bystander to violence or an upstander. The purpose of the Green Dot Program is to help young people understand what they can do instead of just what they can’t do when they see acts of social violence.” Until education becomes more widespread, however, Glascock has some simple advice for students to avoid cyberviolence: Don’t get too caught up in what happens online. If a post or a text makes you feel uncomfortable, report it to an adult. Most of all, when you really need to communicate your feelings about something, do it in person—chances are, you’ll choose your words more carefully.

Discussion questions: 1) What are the differences between communicating online and communicating in person? Which do you prefer? 2) Do you have any experience with cyberbullying? 3) How prevalent would you say it is among your peers? 4)How do you find cyberbullying to be different from a faceto-face conflict? 5) Is the pen, or keyboard, really mightier than the sword? 6) How might today’s relationship between technology and violence be reflected in a modern telling of Romeo and Juliet? - Christine Noah

HUMOR AND HORROR, COMEDY AND TRAGEDY: THE MIRROR STRUCTURE OF ROMEO AND JULIET SPOILER ALERT: If you don’t know how Romeo and Juliet ends, skip this article until after reading the play or seeing Actors Theatre’s forthcoming production. Romeo and Juliet remains one of William Shakespeare’s most well-loved plays, and even those unfamiliar with the Bard’s work are likely to recognize its narrative of star-crossed love. Much of this familiarity comes from Hollywood’s willingness to adapt and reinterpret Shakespeare’s text, from West Side Story to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. However, perhaps what is most compelling in the work is that which is most constant— the instantly recognizable story of young love fighting against insurmountable odds. By utilizing a clever mirror narrative structure, Shakespeare allows that fight to achieve its full dramatic force, weaving a tale of equal parts love and death, comedy and tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, at first blush, appears more in structural step with Shakespeare’s comedies than it does his tragedies. One need only look at the play’s first scene, with its bawdy serving men bantering about “maidenheads,” to get the sense that this is not Hamlet’s Elsinore. Although comedic elements are typical in Shakespearean tragedy, usually such elements occur sparingly— think of the Gravediggers in Hamlet, or the Porter’s speech in Macbeth. In Romeo and Juliet, however, such humor is rampant throughout the first half. Even the burgeoning love story, culminating in marriage, feels typical of Shakespearean comedies such as As You Like It and Twelfth Night. In this context, the ongoing threats of violence and the constant attempts to separate the young lovers feel less like the mortally serious plots of Shakespeare’s greatest villains, and more like the harmless schemes of the ineffectual scoundrels that populate his comedies.

Romeo and Juliet reveals itself as more than simply a familiar love story; it is also a finely crafted narrative whose very structure undermines our expectations. reflected in the form of the unfortunate friars of Act Five, Scene Two, whose inability to deliver a message dooms the lovers. A similar structure is seen in Acts Two and Four; while the former charts the rising love story of the couple, the latter paints the portrait of their downfall. In these ways, the final two acts of Shakespeare’s masterpiece can be seen as the tragic counterpart, the deadly reflection of the humorous love story that dominates its first two acts. In such ways, Romeo and Juliet reveals itself as more than simply a familiar love story; it is also a finely crafted narrative whose very structure undermines our expectations. By allowing the audience to experience Romeo and Juliet’s early courtship as comedy, Shakespeare makes the inevitable destruction of their love story—and their lives—all the more jarring and all the more tragic. By creating such a mirror structure, such a transition from comedy to tragedy, Shakespeare heightens the narrative tension and surprises his audience, leaving us, much like his young lovers—woefully unprepared for the traumatic actions that will occur at the play’s conclusion. - Dominic Finocchiaro

All of this changes, however, at the play’s midpoint and the fulcrum of its action: the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt and the resulting banishment of Romeo. At this point, the stakes are raised, and the action of the plot picks up speed, leaving its comedic elements behind. Romeo and Juliet’s hopeful naiveté is replaced with a realization of the mortal consequences of their love, and their dream of a happy union fractures as the story rushes towards its now inevitable, bloody climax. The first half ’s humor-underscored foreboding is transformed into fatal action, the young lovers’ marriage plot realized in their shared demise. Shakespeare achieves this narrative trajectory, this subtle shift from humor to horror, by employing an expertly crafted mirror construction, so that the first act’s lighter scenes are paralleled with their darker, inverse counterparts in the final act. The confrontation between the warring families in the play’s first scene is mirrored in their reconciliation through shared sorrow at its conclusion; the hapless messenger of Act One, Scene Two is

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“SHAPING THE LARGER PICTURE:” AN INTERVIEW WITH ROMEO AND JULIET DIRECTOR TONY SPECIALE This fall will be a homecoming of sorts for Tony Speciale, as the former Actors Theatre Acting Apprentice returns to Louisville, this time as the director of Romeo and Juliet. Since leaving Actors Theatre’s Apprentice Company, Speciale has gone on to lead a successful directing career and serve as the Associate Artistic Director at Classic Stage Company in New York City. Speciale took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions and offer his advice to aspiring directors. Actors: What led you to become a director? Tony Speciale: I first started out as an actor. Well, I guess I should say that before that, I played piano and thought I wanted to be a classical pianist when I grew up. I went to high school at Manual and the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) for piano performance. While I was in my freshman year, I was introduced to theatre through an afterschool acting class. I was always a very shy kid and could barely walk and say my name at the same time, but quickly I grew to love the class and the people in it. Then, Billy Bradford—who is now retired—gave me my first acting role at YPAS as a chorus member/understudy in Babes in Arms. I became hooked and the rest is history. I owe the theatre for bringing me out of my shell and for giving me confidence and access to a larger creative community. I ultimately decided to attend The Boston Conservatory with a focus in musical theatre. While in my senior year, I took an elective in directing (really as a bet with my best friend), and discovered my deep passion and love for directing. After college, I continued acting for several years, occasionally directing a friend’s solo show or new play until I built up enough credentials to apply to graduate school. In 2008, I received my M.F.A. in directing from Columbia University. Looking back, it makes a lot of sense that I transitioned into directing, because I was never really interested in being in the spotlight myself. I’m much better on the outside, guiding people and shaping the larger picture. But like a lot of people, my introduction to theater was through acting, and I’m grateful for the inside view it gave me of the craft. How did your time at Actors Theatre influence your career? The wonderful thing about being an Apprentice at Actors Theatre was that I got a chance to learn about every aspect of the theatre. It gave me a unique perspective into the sometimes complicated and various components that make theatre possible on a daily basis. Being an Apprentice gave me a wide education in a lot of different areas: marketing, management, casting, education and outreach, stage management, lighting, carpentry, backstage life, wardrobe and running crew. I ran lines with

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actors, assisted a puppet master in the construction of his design, created a solo show of my own and attended countless classes with master guest artists. Most importantly, I got a taste of how difficult it was to work in the theatre and how devoted one must be in order to be successful in this competitive business. I also met several mentors, friends and colleagues with whom I continue to collaborate to this very day. What are some of the rewards and challenges that come with your line of work? For me, one of the biggest challenges is also one of the biggest rewards. With every new production—for a short time—the people you work with become a sort of surrogate family. The good thing about that is that you keep expanding your network, your circle of artists who inspire you. The challenge, though, is that with every new production you start from ground zero. That can be energizing and refreshing, but it also can be difficult because it requires a leap of faith each time and an enormous act of trust. You have to develop a unique vocabulary with each new company in order to collaborate efficiently and cohesively. Theatre has a very short shelf life. People gather together for a finite amount of time to create something special for that specific moment in time. Then it’s gone forever. That’s what makes it so magical, but also bittersweet. And as a director it can be even sadder because once you open the play your job is essentially over, while the actors and stage managers and crew continue on with their journey. What specifically is rewarding about working on a Shakespeare play? Speciale: Shakespeare is the best psychologist in the history of time, and he continues to teach us so much about each other, and ourselves, if we open ourselves up to his plays. I think that is remarkable. As a director, I love working on Shakespeare because his plays are like puzzles that require you to use every aspect of your mind, heart and soul. You could say working on Shakespeare is like going to the gym. It keeps you creatively fit. What is your advice for aspiring directors or students considering directing? I would highly encourage any aspiring director to look into some sort of apprenticeship or internship at a major theatre because nothing compares to the hands-on experience that I received at Actors Theatre and other theatres. I would also encourage young artists to see as much theatre as you possibly can because that will inspire you and help you find your own point of view and who you might like to work with. I learned as much from productions that I hated as I did from the ones I loved. Observing other people’s work and discussing it with your friends afterwards can help you develop your own critical eye. Because at the end of the day, a director has to be articulate and have a point of view.

GRASPING HOW HE “WORDS HIS WORDS” Google the words “teaching” and “Shakespeare”, and titles such as No Fear Shakespeare and The Friendly Shakespeare: A Thoroughly Painless Guide to the Best of the Bard pop up. Indeed, the very mention of the name Shakespeare has been known to elicit from teens everything from confusion to disgust to white-faced terror. In anticipation of our preshow workshop, where teaching artists prepare students for Romeo and Juliet, we asked area teens why Shakespeare might inspire such feelings of fear or pain and, when given the effort, why he just might be worth it. What’s the problem with Shakespeare? Why do so many teens, and people in general, wince a bit, maybe even groan some, when they hear the words “William Shakespeare”? They don’t interpret how he words his words – his poetry speaks to you in a different way.  You have to re-read and keep going back at it to figure out what he’s trying to say to you.”  - Gerald White, Academy @ Shawnee   “The language is a whole new world.  Very complex.  It’s hard to break the code when you’re inexperienced.  – Andrea McKinney, Atherton High School   “It looks old-timey. When students see the words, they are intimidated.  What stands in the way is true understanding of the language.”  - Joe O’Neil, Academy @ Shawnee     Well, why do so many people LOVE Shakespeare?  Does he really deserve his reputation?  Why bother wading through all those words?    “I feel pure joy when I understand Shakespeare.” - Tatiyana Dean, Tates Creek High School   “When you see Shakespeare it makes it much easier to understand

– you get to experience how the actors interpret it.  It’s relatable.” – Mollie LaFavers, Boyle County High School   “One of the coolest things about Shakespeare is that you can read it multiple times and still pull new meanings out of it that you didn’t see the first time.” – Bryce Rowland, Male High School   “I think we can learn how to love from Shakespeare.  A lot of people today don’t know what love is – they don’t know anything about love.  It’s like – they’re not in touch with their emotions.  Shakespeare can show what love is and how to love.”  - My’Zirria Abdul Shaheed, Academy @ Shawnee   “I think reading Shakespeare made me a better learner.  Now when there’s something I don’t understand, I take more time on it like I did with Shakespeare’s language.  I slow down, pay more attention, and try to understand before I freak out.”  - Joe O’Neil, Academy @ Shawnee   “Once we got into it, we saw it as our own.  We had fun with the script.  We saw it as our own.  Shakespeare opens up a mind to creative things – even if you’re not creative, you have to move outside of your comfort zone (especially when reading the language) and the experience makes you more creative in the end.”  - My’Zirria Abdul Shaheed, Academy @ Shawnee   “Shakespeare easily expresses all of this emotion, and he communicates so much.  I can appreciate how he expresses himself when it’s a challenge for me.”  – Andrea McKinney, Atherton High School  

Any final thoughts on Romeo and Juliet?

  “Saddest thing I’ve ever heard of.  All due to timing . . . oh, man.”    - Tatiyana Dean, Tates Creek High School   “I love Romeo and Juliet.  Once that story is in your life, it’ ll always be there.”  - Corey Tynes, Atherton High School Special thanks to Stacy Geyer, English teacher at the Academy @ Shawnee; Andy Perry, drama teacher at Atherton High School; and Conrad Newman, drama instructor with the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program for connecting us with these students.

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COMMUNICATION PORTFOLIO NARRATIVE

If you had the chance to rewrite the ending of the play, what events might you change? Which characters would you involve in the new telling? Why? Write your own alternative ending to the play.

ARGUMENTATIVE

Who is the protagonist, the main character, in this story? Is it Romeo or Juliet? Both? Neither? Drawing upon multiple specific references from the story, explain who the main character is and why.

INFORMATIVE Shakespeare’s Birthplace

If you could cast yourself in a production of Romeo and Juliet, who would you play? Why? Now, pretend to be that character and create a letter or note to another character. What do you need to say? What do you want from the other character? Why?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS PRE-SHOW QUESTIONS

POST-SHOW QUESTIONS

1. Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most popular tales.

1. Did our production meet your expectations of a live

2. Love is a universal and timeless theme. Make it a “star-

2. What decisions have you made impulsively that you later

Based upon what you have heard or seen, what do you think happens in the play? Why is it such a popular story? Why is this particular Shakespeare play so frequently taught in school? cross’d love” and you immediately introduce conflict, a key ingredient of a play. What is the role of conflict in a story? Why is conflict so important to good stories? What are other examples of conflicts in Romeo and Juliet?

3. Romeo and Juliet is considered a tragedy, yet moments of

our production intend to make the audience laugh and have fun. Why might a playwright interweave funny characters and circumstances through a tragic tale? What role does humor play in Romeo and Juliet?

4. Misunderstandings, miscommunications, and mistakes are

just as pervasive today within romantic relationships as they were in the Elizabethan Era. What is it about love that inspires such mayhem?

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production of Shakespeare? Were there any parts that took you by surprise? Did you predict correctly how a specific moment was interpreted? How and why? regretted?

3. Do you view the suicides of Romeo and Juliet as the tragic result of fate or two impulsive teenagers acting with free will? Why?

4. What arguments would you use to talk Romeo and Juliet

out of suicide? How would they differ from the ones that adults might use?

5. Strong theatrical design is critical to telling stories onstage.

• How did you respond to the set design? Did you always know where you were? Why or why not? • Did the costume design reflect anything about the characters? Pick a favorite character and consider how his or her costume expressed personality. • Was the lighting design helpful in setting the mood? What moods were created? How? What are other ways lighting can help tell a story onstage? • What role did the sound design play in the production? Describe the sound and music that you heard. Did they all contribute to the storytelling? • Did the props (the hand-held objects), seem to fit into the world of this specific production? Why or why not? • Would you be interested in being a designer? If so, what type and what kind of play would you like to design? Why?

BRIDGEWORK BUILDING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STAGE AND CLASSROOM The following assortment of discussion starters, exercises and activities offer theatre concepts aligned with state standards. By exploring drama as a mode of learning, students strengthen skills for creative problem solving, imagination and critical thinking.

AT YOUR DESK ACTIVITIES 1) Using the Play Guide glossary as a reference, identify how Shakespeare expresses both love and hate in Romeo and Juliet. How can we translate and modernize Shakespeare’s language? How do we express love and hate today? Are we able to translate our modern language into Shakespearean-inspired words and phrases? Can you follow Shakespeare’s lead and invent new words to express these emotions?

2) Divide the class into five groups, and assign each group an Act from Romeo and Juliet. Identify the major events of the Act and then storyboard them by sketching them out. Students can use comic books or anime as inspiration. Review all five Acts in consecutive order. What moments from the play stood out?

ON YOUR FEET ACTIVITIES 1) Write down your favorite questions and statements from Romeo and Juliet on index cards. “Hang thee, young baggage, you disobedient wretch.” “Here’s a drink—I drink to thee.” “They have made worms meat of me.” “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?” “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” And so on. Divide the students into even groups. (A class of 30 would have five groups of six.) Each group would receive an even number of statements (3 questions/3 statements) per group. Have each group improv a modern day scene, but each student in the group has to state the Shakespearean line somewhere in the scene. The result? An electric mix of modern language with Shakespeare. -Submitted by Judy Chandler, recently retired teacher at Bullitt East High School. 2) Post five or so large blank sheets of paper around your room. At the top of each, write open-ended statements or questions, one per page. Provide markers for each student and ask they write responses to each poster in any order. Silently. This activity works well for any topic that could benefit from an inclusive discussion. Suggested statements for Romeo and Juliet are: “When I read Shakespeare, I . . .,” “Tragedy means . . .,” “Love is . . .,” “Romeo and Juliet makes me feel . . .,” and “Hatred can be found . . ..” Students can place checkmarks by comments if someone writes exactly what they are thinking. Review the responses as a group afterwards, noting those ideas that received multiple checks and those that may have appeared multiple times. Use these ideas to help frame your exploration in class.

Shakespeare in Love

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IF YOU LIKED ROMEO AND JULIET... BOOKS

Innocence Shattered: A Modern-Day Romeo and Juliet by Heather Koontz Sprouse Romeo and Juliet: A Vampire and Werewolf Love Story by H.T. Night

FILMS

West Side Story Shakespeare in Love William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet Dir. by Baz Luhrmann (1996) Romeo and Juliet Directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1968) Romeo & Juliet (Royal Ballet) (1966)

ON THE WEB

Internet Shakespeare Editions: InternetShakespeare.uvic.ca Luminarium Anthology of English Literature: Luminarium.org Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet: Shakespeare. Palomar.edu Open Source Shakespeare: OpenSourceShakespeare.org The English Speaking Union: English-SpeakingUnion.org Shakespeare’s Globe: ShakespearesGlobe.com The Royal Shakespeare Company: RSC.org.uk

Mark Morris Dance Group's Romeo and Juliet

WORKS CITED “51 Random Facts About William Shakespeare.” Randomhistory. com. Randomhistory.com, 2012. Web. 20 Jun 2012. .

Hartmann, Tilo, and Peter Vorderer. “It’s Okay to Shoot a Character: Moral Disengagment in Violent Video Games.” Journal of Communication 60.1 (2010): 94-119. Web.

Aberli, Thomas. Telephone interview. 25 June 2012.

Holladay, Jennifer. “Cyberbullying.” Teaching Tolerance 38 (2010): 42-46. Web.

Allgeier, Philip. Personal interview. 13 June 2012. Barak, Azy. “Sexual Harassment on the Internet.” Social Science Computer Review 23.1 (2005): 77-92. Web. Bushman, Brad J., and Craig A. Anderson. “Comfortably Numb: Desensitizing Effects of Violent Media on Helping Others.” Psychological Science 20.3 (2009): 273-77. Web. Feinberg, Ted, and Nicole Robey. “Cyberbullying.” Education Digest 74.7 (2009): 26-31. Web. Glascock, Heidi. Telephone interview. 25 June 2012.

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Stover, Del. “Treating Cyberbullying as a School Violence Issue.” Education Digest 72.4 (2006): 40-42. Web. “William Shakespeare.biography.” Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC, 2012. Web. 20 Jun 2012. .

GLOSSARY References to Love Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs

(Romeo, Act I scene i)—A joke about the fact that lovers are known to sigh a lot. It seems Romeo is poking fun at himself.

If love be rough with you, be rough with love; / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down

(Mercutio, Act I scene iv)—If love tries to mess with you, mess with love (with a sexual pun). Benvolio is telling Romeo not to let Rosaline’s rejection get him down, but to go after what he wants.

My life were better ended by their hate, / Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love

(Romeo, Act II scene ii)—Romeo would rather Juliet’s family kill him than to live without Juliet’s love—an expression of how serious his feelings are for her.

Do not swear at all; / Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, / Which is the god of my idolatry, / And I’ll believe thee

(Juliet, Act II scene ii)—Swearing may not prove true; that is, unless Romeo swears by himself, whom Juliet now worships as a god. (Perhaps a bit much for a first encounter, Jules.)

O, I have bought the mansion of a love, / But not possess’d it, and, though I am sold, / Not yet enjoy’d (Juliet, Act III scene ii)—Juliet’s using a sly metaphor to say that she hasn’t yet been able to consummate her marriage to Romeo—and she’s not too happy about it!

These times of woe afford no time to woo

(Paris, Act III scene iv)—Paris wants to skip all of the courting and get right to marriage with Juliet, and the death of Tybalt is the perfect excuse.

Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, / Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof! (Benvolio, Act I scene i)—Love always looks nice, but it turns out to be painful when you experience it. According to Benvolio, relationships aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

References to Hate Bite your thumb

(Abram, Act I scene i)—in Elizabethan England, this was the equivalent of giving someone the finger. When Sampson, a Capulet, bites his thumb, the Montagues immediately take offense.

My only love sprung from my only hate!

(Juliet, Act I scene v) —Juliet, Romeo’s one true love, is the daughter of Montague, his family’s bitterest enemy. (What are the odds, right?)

Now I have stain’d the childhood of our joy / With blood removed but little from her own? (Romeo, Act III scene iii)—Romeo has marred the beginning of his happiness with Juliet by murdering her cousin Tybalt.

See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love

(Escalus, Act V scene iii)—So much evil results from the Montagues’ and the Capulets’ hate that heaven decides to teach them a lesson by using love to take away their happiness.

One fire burns out another’s burning, / One pain is lessen’d by another’s anguish

(Benvolio, Act I scene ii)—Misery loves company! Although really the point Benvolio is trying to make here is that Romeo should fall in love with someone besides the cold Rosaline. (He must be psychic!)

A plague o’ both your houses! / They have made worms’ meat of me

(Mercutio, Act III scene i)—The hatred between the Capulets and the Montagues is what leads to Mercutio’s death. In the end, Mercutio is saying, nobody benefits from the feud.

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SPONSORED BY THE NORTON FOUNDATION,

Fund for the Arts Members Agency

SHOCK US!

WITH YOUR BEST TEN-MINUTE PLAY.

Attention: Young Playwrights! Actors Theatre of Louisville is seeking submissions for our New Voices Ten-Minute Play Contest. Students grades 6-12 living in the Commonwealth of Kentucky or the (812) area code of southern Indiana are invited to submit their very best ten-minute play to New Voices, Actors Theatre of Louisville’s annual ten-minute play contest for young playwrights!

Deadline for submissions: October, 31 2012, Halloween

Guidelines, tips, examples and submission details are outlined at ActorsTheatre.org/NewVoices. You may also email your questions to [email protected].

New Voices Young Playwrights Festival Winning plays will be fully produced at Actors Theatre of Louisville in April 2013 and will be published in our New Voices Anthology!

Missed the deadline? Send us your play anyway! We’ll automatically enter it into next year’s contest.