March 11th to 13th 2020
Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts | Providence, RI
Rose & Julie was an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet rewritten by myself and the students. We worked together for a month and a half to change every line to something modern they would actually say.
The next step of the production was even more of a challenge. The play was to happen simultaneously around the school. Each scene was plotted out to when it would be happening. Some scenes would happen simultaneously and others had space between them. We timed out the whole show and it meant that some characters would need to improvise and adlib lines until other scenes had ended
The entire show was designed so that the audience would arrive and could choose any character they would like to follow and see what happened to them as the play unfolds. This meant that any character could become the lead in the show and had their own storyline. You could choose to follow Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, Sampson, the nurse, or any other character of your choosing. Then you could come back again and follow a different character and see a whole new show. While a technical nightmare, the students handled it with such ease and really showed their talents.
Unfortunately, on the night of the dress rehearsal, the news came that the school needed to close due to the COVID crisis. The show was never performed.
It was a tough blow to the students who had worked so very hard. I am so very proud of them and the work they put into such a challenging show.
