{"id":366563,"date":"2025-04-01T19:31:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=366563"},"modified":"2025-04-01T19:31:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T23:31:54","slug":"i-visit-a-student-matinee-of-romeo-juliet-at-chesapeake-shakespeare-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2025\/04\/01\/i-visit-a-student-matinee-of-romeo-juliet-at-chesapeake-shakespeare-company\/","title":{"rendered":"I visit a student matinee of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, I ventured back to a student matinee at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore to see their latest production of Romeo & Juliet,<\/em> directed by Molly Moores. It\u2019s an annual rite of spring for this talented group to perform one of the greatest love stories of all time for high school students at 10 o\u2019clock in the morning.<\/p>\n

I arrived just as busloads of students from Bowie High School, Patterson High School, and Mount Washington were swept boisterously into the theater, taking their seats on the red velvet seats surrounding the Elizabethan-style stage.<\/p>\n

All the tumult emanating from Washington, DC, seemed far away. I could sense the annual disengagement of spring fever in the air among the students. That was about to change.<\/p>\n

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The cast of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s student matinee production of \u2018Romeo and Juliet.\u2019 Photo by Kiirstn Pagan Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once all were seated, in a serious nod to Shakespeare, a jester appeared, followed by a joyful live music performance by the cast in full costume. The actors, especially Benvolio (Tyrel Brown), demonstrated that they could connect the 16th century with these 21st-century young adults through their shoutouts from the stage. His robust performance in the pre-show hinted at the bristling, high-energy stage presence he would later share in the play.<\/p>\n

From this moment on, the students knew this was not their parents\u2019 Shakespeare. And that\u2019s the beauty of these first-rate student matinee performances. They make Shakespeare relevant, meaningful, and engaging to students \u2014 they know their audiences as well as they know the original Shakespeare.<\/p>\n

According to Troy Jennings, director of education, over 13,000 students this school year, 2024\u20132025, have experienced their matinees.<\/p>\n

Now, I will confess. I once played Juliet. I was nine or ten in a free summer-in-the-parks camp program in my hometown, New Rochelle, New York. Someone had the idea to bring all the free camps in the parks together for a summer Shakespeare competition and performance. My brother, a year younger than me, was cast as Romeo. I don\u2019t think he ever learned his lines. I, an unkempt tomboy of a Juliet, never forgot hers.<\/p>\n

Wearing a white, itchy dress some cousin once used for her first confession, I belted out: \u201cRomeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? \/ Deny thy father and refuse thy name, \/ Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, \/ And I\u2019ll no longer be a Capulet.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I was recalling my own glory days (actually the one and only time I have ever been on stage), the actors were splitting the students into opposing groups \u2014 the Capulets and Montagues, the warring families at the heart of Romeo & Juliet.<\/em> The students in this performance would take sides, though ultimately, the side they chose was that of the star-crossed lovers.<\/p>\n

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The cast of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s student matinee production of \u2018Romeo and Juliet.\u2019 Photos by Kiirstn Pagan Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And then the play began, and I was just as swept up in the oft-told story as were the students. Mercutio (Josh Williams) just stole hearts as the charming, swaggering, over-the-top Mercutio. His gallant, loyal bravado was matched by the love-struck and tender Romeo (Lloyde Epke).<\/p>\n

The play, running a crisp hour and 45 minutes without intermission, never let the students sit back in their seats, startling them with well-choreographed sword fights, entrances from the multi-leveled theater, and the sly politicking of Juliet\u2019s parents, Lord Capulet (James Stringer) and Lady Capulet (Molly Trice) plotting to marry her to the charming Paris (Danny Sakamoto-Wengel) against her wishes. A special shoutout to the Nurse, played with aplomb by Emily Erickson.<\/p>\n

And Juliet. Oh, Juliet. I have saved you for last. This Juliet (Amber Smithers) is someone I once co-taught with in a middle school theater class. She was the reason I traveled here in the fall (though she had COVID and did not appear in the performance of Macbeth<\/em> that I saw then).<\/p>\n

But here she was as Juliet \u2014 beautiful, on the balcony, projecting all the innocence of romantic ideals and combining it with all the power and smarts of a 21st-century girl who knows herself. Her Juliet is wise to a young man\u2019s love. When she emphasizes that he must show up the next night for marriage, and when he swears that he will, she commands. \u201cO, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that monthly changes her orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.\u201d She is in charge. This is her moment. She is a powerful Juliet.<\/p>\n

Some actors one can never imagine playing Shakespeare; Amber Smithers is an actor born to this manor.<\/p>\n

This Romeo & Juliet<\/em> neared its end as all traditional performances of Romeo & Juliet<\/em> near their end \u2014 in tragedy \u2014 and there was a rapt silence in the theater. The Capulets and Montagues may now agree to end their war, but it is too late. Paris, Mercutio, Romeo, and Juliet \u2014 the next generation \u2014 their future is dead. It might be that in this moment, surrounded by high school students \u2014 perhaps the spirit of these performances \u2014 this Romeo & Juliet<\/em> felt so much more than a romantic tragedy. Still, as I exited the theater\u2019s dark into the bright-lit spring amid a now more pensive group of students, this Romeo & Juliet<\/em> felt like a warning for us adults: Look to the future, not the past.<\/p>\n

Looking to their future, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will announce their 2025\u20132026 season in late April, and tickets will go on sale at that time for student matinees. However, one thing is for sure: Romeo & Juliet<\/em> will return next school year.<\/p>\n

Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes, no intermission<\/p>\n

Romeo & Juliet<\/strong><\/em><\/a> plays through April 28, 2025, at Chesapeake Shakespeare Company<\/a>, 7 South Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD. Admission ($20\u2013$26) is limited to schools for student matinee performances at 10 a.m. Baltimore City public school students are free via a grant from the Mayor\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The cast and creative credits are here<\/a> (scroll down).<\/p>\n