Plague Mask Players Present Romeo & Juliet
By Wiliam Shakespeare
Director Michael McMillan
Asst Director Shea McMillan
Producer Savannah Lloyd
Stage Manager Alexandra Skowron
Costume Designer/Marketing Samantha Calatozzo Cobb
Set Designer Aidan Wright
Lighting Designer/Board Op Andres Vasquez
Prop Master Aida Liberman
Music Composer Jared Cobb
Fight Choreography Modus Martial Arts, Bobby Garcia and Jeff Colangelo
Intimacy Director Mandy Raush
Outreach Coordinator Erin Everywhere
Front of House Samantha Johnson
Casting Director Courtney Mentzel
Wardrobe/Dressing Head Tori Dez
My thoughts on Romeo & Juliet…the AARP version
When I heard that Romeo and Juliet was going to be produced using older people as the star-crossed lovers, I rolled my eyes and thought the results would be a desecration of the play that was so influential in my life. I became an English/Drama teacher because of the play and the way Mrs. Barbara Earnhardt taught it to my ninth grade English class. Well, the results are far from disastrous, and I think even Mrs. E would approve.
Casting older actors in the pivotal roles brings out new aspects of the play. The generational conflict is still there, but it is turned on its head when Juliet must depend on her daughter and son in law for her existence and is basically seen as a child. This actually shines a light on the treatment of women during the period as well.
There have been some judicious cuts in the script and a few words changed to make the story work for the mature Romeo and Juliet. They did keep all my favorite lines, but I did miss the famous “Two households both alike in dignity…” prologue.
Director Michael McMillan brings the Bard’s tale to life on a gray platform stage designed by Aidan Wright that serves well for every scene in the play when augmented by props and the lighting by Andres Vasquez. I appreciated the use of red lighting to indicate those bloody sword fights. There is also excellent transition music throughout the play written by Ja red Cobb. The costumes designed by Samantha Calatozzo Cobb are mostly modern dress in muted tones and black and white with adornments such as pearls and chains that suggest the time period of the play. Director McMillan keeps the play paced so well that I don’t think even a 10-year-old would get bored and kiddos of that age would really enjoy the sword fights courtesy of Bobby Garcia and Jeff Colangelo.
McMillan has assembled a group of strong actors who kept me enrapt for the two and a half hours. Everyone was “in the moment” and there were very few line flubs on opening night. The servants, pages and other small roles are very well played by Cameron Wisener, Jasmine Mesre, Sinan Beskok, and De’Aveyon .
Jake Lawrence Geary is on stage only briefly but makes an impressive Montague. I would have liked to have seen more from him.
Tony Magee makes Juliet’s undesired suitor Paris a model of the upper class and gets to show some convincing anger in the final act.
Carissa J. Olsen is a powerful Prince commanding the battling citizens of Verona to do her bidding, but Olsen also showed genuine grief when the deaths of the lovers are revealed.
Trey Smith, in the night’s most colorful outfit, is terrific as the quick to anger Tybalt, but I have no idea what the interesting black tear drops on the side of his eyes represent. Smith makes Tybalt an easy to dislike villain.
Samantha Calatozzo Cobb and Eduardo Velez III appear as the Capulets, the daughter and son in law of Juliet. Cobb, looking regal in pearls and a chic wardrobe, showed a remarkable range of emotion from glee to grief and Velez was similarly strong going from charming host to spouting hateful words to his noncompliant mother-in-law.
Alexander De La Cruz as Benvolio, who is Romeo’s son in this production, brings a soft-spoken quality to the character. De La Cruz is an appealing actor and his care and concern for his father and his friends was apparent in his gentle demeanor.
I remember a college professor of mine saying that Shakespeare had to kill off the character of Mercutio early or he would steal the show. With Cody Magouirk in the role, that statement holds true. Magouirk’s swaggering Mercutio rules the stage, delivering his lines with power and assurance. He is a peacock with a wit and a temper.
In most productions of this play the role of the nurse is played as an elderly woman, but here the nurse is much younger than Juliet and KT McGinn has a field day with the part giving the nurse vitality and vivacity. She is impossible to ignore on stage.
As Friar Laurence E.A. Castillo is a revelation. The friar’s role is usually a character that fades in comparison with rest of the cast. However, this friar, in the very talented hands of Castillo, is a major force. Castillo is simply stunning. Every expression, every movement is spot on. Whether being jovial or consumed by guilt, Castillo brings total credibility to the character.
As our doomed lovers, Steven Young and Sara Weeks are just about perfection. It’s tough to believe that love at first sight is possible for teenagers, and even harder to believe for seniors, but Young and Weeks are so skilled that I fell for them as much as they fell for each other. Romeo is usually described as impetuous, but in Young’s portrayal, it becomes more of a quiet desperation, a sort of last chance at happiness that wins our sympathy. Ditto for Weeks as Juliet. The widowed Juliet is living at the mercy of her daughter and son in law and Romeo is both her love and her rescue. Weeks and Young speak Shakespeare’s lines as if they were just coming into their heads making their love for each other feel even more tender and real.
Director McMillan and the Plague Mask Players have done the Bard proud with this mounting of Romeo and Juliet. I am a tough audience for Shakespeare plays and I was completely engaged in this classic tragedy. It is a new take on the play, but it is done respectfully and works beautifully.
