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No person, firm, or entity may receive credit larger or more prominent than that .... to keep suitors from getting close to her. at the start of the play, ... know why he loathes the Montagues so much, especially ... Though generally characters speak in meter, they lapse into prose ..... and calls me pussy-chaser, I lose naught.
Romeo and Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending (1st ed. - 09.13.13) - romeojuliet_fraistatBes Copyright © 2013 Ann Fraistat and Shawn Fraistat ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Copyright Protection. This play (the “Play”) is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations, whether through bilateral or multilateral treaties or otherwise, and including, but not limited to, all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, and the Berne Convention. Reservation of Rights. All rights to this Play are strictly reserved, including, without limitation, professional and amateur stage performance rights; motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video, and sound recording rights; rights to all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction now known or yet to be invented, such as CD-ROM, CD-I, DVD, photocopying, and information storage and retrieval systems; and the rights of translation into non-English languages. Performance Licensing and Royalty Payments. Amateur and stock performance rights to this Play are controlled exclusively by Playscripts, Inc. (“Playscripts”). No amateur or stock production groups or individuals may perform this Play without obtaining advance written permission from Playscripts. Required royalty fees for performing this Play are specified online at the Playscripts website (www.playscripts.com). Such royalty fees may be subject to change without notice. Although this book may have been obtained for a particular licensed performance, such performance rights, if any, are not transferable. Required royalties must be paid every time the Play is performed before any audience, whether or not it is presented for profit and whether or not admission is charged. All licensing requests and inquiries concerning amateur and stock performance rights should be addressed to Playscripts (see contact information on opposite page). Inquiries concerning all other rights should be addressed to Playscripts, as well; such inquiries will be communicated to the author and the author's agent, as applicable. Restriction of Alterations. There shall be no deletions, alterations, or changes of any kind made to the Play, including the changing of character gender, the cutting of dialogue, the cutting of music, or the alteration of objectionable language, unless directly authorized by Playscripts. The title of the Play shall not be altered. Author Credit. Any individual or group receiving permission to produce this Play is required to give credit to the author as the sole and exclusive author of the Play. This obligation applies to the title page of every program distributed in connection with performances of the Play, and in any instance that the title of the Play appears for purposes of advertising, publicizing, or otherwise exploiting the Play and/ or a production thereof. The name of the author must appear on a separate line, in which no other name appears, immediately beneath the title and of a font size at least 50% as large as the largest letter used in the title of the Play. No person, firm, or entity may receive credit larger or more prominent than that accorded the author. The name of the author may not be abbreviated or otherwise altered from the form in which it appears in this Play. Publisher Attribution. All programs, advertisements, and other printed material distributed or published in connection with the amateur or stock production of the Play shall include the following notice: Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com) Prohibition of Unauthorized Copying. Any unauthorized copying of this book or excerpts from this book is strictly forbidden by law. Except as otherwise permitted by applicable law, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means now known or yet to be invented, including, without limitation, photocopying or scanning, without prior permission from Playscripts. Statement of Non-affiliation. This Play may include references to brand names and trademarks owned by third parties, and may include references to public figures. Playscripts is not necessarily affiliated with these public figures, or with the owners of such trademarks and brand names. Such references are included solely for parody, political comment, or other permitted purposes. Permissions for Sound Recordings and Musical Works. This Play may contain directions calling for the performance of a portion, or all, of a musical work not included in the Play’s score, or performance of a sound recording of such a musical work. Playscripts has not obtained permissions to perform such works. The producer of this Play is advised to obtain such permissions, if required in the context of the production. The producer is directed to the websites of the U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov), ASCAP (www.ascap.com), BMI (www.bmi.com), and NMPA (www.nmpa.org) for further information on the need to obtain permissions, and on procedures for obtaining such permissions.

The Rules in Brief 1) Do NOT perform this Play without obtaining prior permission from Playscripts, and without paying the required royalty. 2) Do NOT photocopy, scan, or otherwise duplicate any part of this book. 3) Do NOT alter the text of the Play, change a character’s gender, delete any dialogue, cut any music, or alter any objectionable language, unless explicitly authorized by Playscripts. 4) DO provide the required credit to the author(s) and the required attribution to Playscripts in all programs and promotional literature associated with any performance of this Play.

For more details on these and other rules, see the opposite page.

Copyright Basics This Play is protected by United States and international copyright law. These laws ensure that authors are rewarded for creating new and vital dramatic work, and protect them against theft and abuse of their work. A play is a piece of property, fully owned by the author, just like a house or car. You must obtain permission to use this property, and must pay a royalty fee for the privilege—whether or not you charge an admission fee. Playscripts collects these required payments on behalf of the author. Anyone who violates an author’s copyright is liable as a copyright infringer under United States and international law. Playscripts and the author are entitled to institute legal action for any such infringement, which can subject the infringer to actual damages, statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees. A court may impose statutory damages of up to $150,000 for willful copyright infringements. U.S. copyright law also provides for possible criminal sanctions. Visit the website of the U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) for more information. THE BOTTOM LINE: If you break copyright law, you are robbing a playwright and opening yourself to expensive legal action. Follow the rules, and when in doubt, ask us.

Playscripts, Inc. 450 Seventh Ave, Suite 809 New York, NY 10123

toll-free phone: 1-866-New-Play email: [email protected] website: www.playscripts.com

For the original cast, crew, and treecube, who brought this show to life. And for Rosaline, Romeo and Juliet’s forgotten heroine.

Cast of Characters ROMEO, Is Romeo in love with love or in love with a girl? Does he live for lofty ideals or is he down-to-earth when it really counts? Who knows? Because the audience decides. Romeo’s priorities and his understanding of love change every night, but he is always quick-witted, brave, poetic, and sensitive. Sometimes way too sensitive. JULIET, A headstrong romantic with a bit of a temper inherited from her Capulet family. She has trouble controlling the strong emotions that are so new to her (after all, the character is technically only thirteen…). ROSALINE,*In her late teens and, strangely enough, also a Capulet. (Yes, that actually is mentioned quickly in the original play. See Lord Capulet’s party invitation refer to her as “my fair niece Rosaline” in Act I, Scene 2.) In this play, she is Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt’s sister. She is older and more cynical than Juliet. She has no patience with men and thinks them incapable of being faithful. She’s brilliant, but uses her quick wit as a shield to keep suitors from getting close to her. At the start of the play, she has already rejected Romeo and is planning to become a nun. MERCUTIO,Romeo’s best friend. He’s lively and makes fun of almost anything, but has a dark, moody side lurking under his jovial exterior. He’s loyal, but can be forgetful. He loves parties, illegal substances, and dressing up in drag. BENVOLIO, Romeo’s cousin. In this play, Benvolio often plays the part of Juliet’s true (or not so true) love. He loves talking about his moral ideals, but he’s a scaredy-cat and hypocrite. TYBALT, Juliet’s cousin, Rosaline’s protective brother. Tybalt doesn’t know why he loathes the Montagues so much, especially Benvolio and Romeo—he just does. In Tybalt’s mind, his pride and the honor of his family are always at stake. THE FRIAR,* Clever, well-intentioned, and increasingly put upon as the play develops. He is the person everyone goes to, expecting instant solutions to impossible problems. He accepts this role, but not without some irritation. LORD CAPULET, Father of Juliet, uncle to Tybalt and Rosaline. Lord Capulet is a patriarch with a terrible temper and can’t stand to be opposed.

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PARIS, Juliet’s suitor, relative of Mercutio and the Prince. Paris is, in his opinion, God’s gift to women and the world. Especially proud of his physique. THE NURSE, Juliet’s nurse. Talks too much and rarely to the point. Has a strange fascination with male posteriors. Doesn’t have to be played by a man in drag with an outrageous British accent, but it wouldn’t hurt. THE PRINCE,* The Prince of Verona, kinsman to Mercutio and Paris. Fed up with the Capulet/Montague feud. LORD MONTAGUE,* Romeo’s father. THE LADY,* An attractive lady Mercutio badly hits on. FRIAR JOHN,* The Friar’s forgetful friend. *Denotes a character that only appears on certain tracks of the play. Casting Notes There are 14 roles in the script, which can be played by as few as 6 actors. Not all roles appear in all 8 tracks of the play. For a cast of 6, the recommended breakdown is as follows: Actor A (Male): Romeo Actor B (Female): Juliet, Lady Actor C (Female): Rosaline, Friar Actor D (Male): Mercutio, Nurse, Friar John, Lord Montague (only on JDA track) Actor E (Male): Benvolio, Lord Capulet Actor F (Male): Tybalt, Paris, The Prince, Lord Montague (every track but JDA) If this casting recommendation is followed, please note that there are certain scenes where quick costume changes and creative entrances and exits will be required. For instance, in Act IV (JLA), Scene 5, Benvolio may die onstage behind the tomb, change costumes while hidden from the audience’s sight, and pop up to enter suddenly as Lord Capulet. In the original casting, all actors’ ages were between 20-25.

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On the Language In addition to material quoted from the original Romeo and Juliet, substantial portions of this play are written in iambic pentameter. Though generally characters speak in meter, they lapse into prose in a number of circumstances. First, characters speak in prose when they are clowning, especially when making quick asides or dirty jokes. Second, characters sometimes fall into prose when they are uncomfortable with the sentiment they are expressing or are disenchanted with the world of the play. For example, Romeo and Juliet both begin speaking in prose on the JDB track once Romeo decides not to drink the poison. The reverse of this also holds true. Characters are more likely to speak in verse if they are not disenchanted with the world of the play and if the sentiments they are expressing are particularly consonant with their character, e.g., Rosaline begins the play talking in prose, but starts to speak in verse as she falls progressively in love with Romeo. In moments of particularly vehement and characteristic emotion, they may even begin speaking in couplets or sonnets. Tybalt, for instance, becomes increasingly poetic the more hateful he’s being, talking in couplets on several occasions and even lapsing into a “hate sonnet” in Act III (RL), Scene 1. When a complete iambic line is divided between multiple characters, we have indicated this with the symbols: >> and BENVOLIO.> BENVOLIO.> ROMEO.> BENVOLIO.> MERCUTIO.> MERCUTIO.> MERCUTIO.> MERCUTIO.> BENVOLIO.> BENVOLIO.> MERCUTIO.> NURSE.> JULIET.> NURSE.> ROMEO.(Aside, building excitement:) > JULIET.> FRIAR.> ROMEO.> FRIAR.> (TYBALT under ROMEO’s arm stabs MERCUTIO, and exits.) MERCUTIO.> BENVOLIO.> PRINCE.>



Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending 49

BENVOLIO.> ROMEO.> ROMEO.> MONTAGUE.> BENVOLIO.>



Romeo & Juliet: Choose Your Own Ending 61 (PRINCE enters.)

PRINCE.> PARIS.> BENVOLIO.> JULIET & BENVOLIO.(Unison:) > (JULIET exits.) > MONTAGUE.> NURSE.> JULIET.>

92 Ann Fraistat & Shawn Fraistat NURSE.> ROSALINE.> ROMEO.> BENVOLIO.> MERCUTIO.> ROMEO & JULIET.(Unison:)