Photos by Katelyn Townsend/The Collegian
By Matt Koper/ne news editor
NE Campus will perform one of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragic plays.
Romeo and Juliet will run Feb. 25-28 at 7 p.m. and will be performed in the NFAB theatre.
Set in Verona, Italy, this play highlights the love of the two main characters and illustrates how their deaths stop the ancient feud between their two families: the Montagues and the Capulets.
NE drama associate professor Stephen Thomas, who is directing the play, likes to includes Shakespeare.
“We do a Shakespeare show every year because it challenges students and gives them a high mark to reach to,” he said. “It’s a pretty straight ahead play with beautiful language.”
NE student Jake Blakeman plays the lead as Romeo with fellow student Meredith Stowe portraying his lover Juliet.
Blakeman said he is thrilled to do Shakespeare.
“Doing Shakespeare is really an honor, honestly,” he said. “Shakespeare is very much a classic, and being able to do that is a real pleasure.”
Actor selection is key to the play’s success, Blakeman said.
“There has to be chemistry between the actors that play Romeo and Juliet,” he said. “And that very passionate, fiery, pre-pubescent love is very important to try and portray.”
Stowe, who plays Juliet, also agreed chemistry is important, she said.
Photos by Katelyn Townsend/The Collegian
“I picture him as Romeo and myself as Juliet, so it’s not so much me and Jake as it is Juliet and Romeo,” she said.
Student Stephen Devereaux, who plays Mercutio, Romeo’s closest friend, believes this was the role for him, he said.
“The entire time he’s making inappropriate jokes, and you know fooling off. He’s always wanting to fight. He’s really feisty,” he said. “So I just get in that mindset, which I’m already kind of in half the time anyway. He’s like a secret dream role that I never knew I wanted till I got him.”
Student Riley Mendez, who plays Tybalt, Juliet’s angry cousin, knows he has done well if the students leave the play hating his character, he said.
“I want them [the audience] to hate me,” he said. “I really do. That’s how you know the work of the villain has been done. When the audience thinks back on the show, they’ll be like ‘I hate that guy because he made all that happen.’”
Romeo and Juliet
7 p.m. Feb. 25-28
2 p.m. Feb. 28
NE Campus
NFAB theater
Admission:
Free for TCC students,
faculty, staff
$3 for other students or seniors
$6 for the general public
Reservations:
neplayhouse@tccd.edu
