"Romeo & Juliet (Old School)" Concept

"Romeo & Juliet (Old School)" is Shakespeare's classic done in Shakespeare's way: 

with an all male cast.

For most of theatre's long history, females were forbidden to perform on stage.  When females started to appear on the stage, they were typically regarded as loose degenerates or prostitutes.  This was also during the day when actors were not buried on church grounds due to the idea that acting was considered a form of deception.  During Shakespeare's day younger men played women's roles, including Juliet.  This convention was widely accepted during that time, so no one thought twice about it.  Somehow these boys pulled off the act well enough for the audience to cherish the play itself, otherwise we probably never would have heard about dear ol' Shakespeare in the first place.

Today, the conventions have changed, but the objective remains the same, actors of every gender, ethnicity, and background come together on stage to immerse the audience in a story.  Such is our objective, yet nowadays the ancient convention of an all-male cast strikes us as comical.  We are playing up the humor already present in Shakespeare's text, but it certainly won't be a parody.  Immersion is our goal, not controversy, not political stance, just art for art's sake. 

This concept also provides a unique opportunity for our actors to experience this ancient convention and make it work for our contemporary audience.  Learning how to pull off a convincing woman is no small task, and for some it may be more apparent than in others (hence the comedy), but the research is the same, the rehearsal discipline is the same, and the magic of a live performance will still capture the hearts of those who pay attention.