By CARRIE NEAL
A Seat on the Aisle
It’s almost impossible to think of a love story more widely revered than William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
Studying the text as a high-schooler was a rite of passage long before my time, and my daughters and their peers are still reading it in 21st-century classrooms. The tale is part of our DNA, and there’s something about the idea of “star-cross’d lovers” that heightens the romance of the situation.
With a narrative most of us know so well, the inherent challenge is how to make the play feel fresh and new. Director Emily Rogge Tzucker’s answer to this question is to create an adaptation that clocks in at a taut 90 minutes with no intermission. The set design by Ryan Koharchik is spare but beautiful, and the costumes by Adrienne Conces are a distinctive mix of contemporary and what we’ve come to view as traditional Elizabethan wear. Current music is interspersed into the action as well; this is definitely not your parents’ Romeo and Juliet.
Rebecca Piñero as Juliet and Kendrell Stiff as Romeo. (Photo by Zach Rosing)
As Romeo and Juliet, Kendrell Stiff and Rebecca Piñero’s performances are worth the price of admission; both are utterly believable and heartrending. Stiff is an ardent and stirring Romeo, and his beautiful singing gets the production off to a strong start (though I would have preferred more accompaniment on the guitar). Piñero is simply breathtaking as Juliet, with a poise and soulfulness far beyond her 18 years. She’ll break your heart in the final scene.
Other standouts in the cast include Kelsey VanVoorst as Chorus, which is really an amalgamation of many smaller characters. Her impressive facility in conveying the language of Shakespeare makes it look easy. As Friar Laurence, Steve Kruze is humorous and immensely likeable, and he acquits himself well with his expositional monologue towards the end of the piece. Angi Parks makes the most of her comedic material as The Nurse, but I would have liked to see more of her. The role sadly falls victim to the chopping block of a 90-minute run time.
A final star of the evening deserving of honorable mention is Ryan Koharchik’s stunning lighting design. The multicolored ombre backdrops were one of my favorite parts of the evening, and backlit the actors’ silhouettes as they were moving into place for the next scene in a striking, unusual manner. His exceptional design had just one drawback: when scenes took place on top of platforms, there were times when the guard rails and supporting beams partially obscured the actors’ faces.
This trimmed-down reworking of a classic is beautiful to look at and would be a great way to introduce someone to Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet runs through Feb. 24 at the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre in Carmel, and tickets may be purchased online at civictheatre.org.
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