ROMEO & JULIET to Air on PBS via Great Performances

Great Performances will continue its partnership with The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park with the Bard's timeless tale of two young lovers from warring families. In this new staging, the play unfolds in English, but Romeo and Juliet speak to one another in Spanish. Filmed in June from the Delacorte Theater in New York City's Central Park, Great Performances: Romeo & Juliet premieres and streams Friday, November 13 at 9/8c on PBS, pbs.org/gperf and the PBS app.

The Montagues and Capulets are torn apart by ideology and violence spills into the streets of the border town of Verona. Romeo and Juliet dare to defy a world determined to keep them apart. Ra'Mya Latiah Aikens stars as Juliet with Daniel Bravo Hernández as Romeo and features Tony Award winners Francis Jue (“Yellow Face”) as Friar Lawrence, LaChanze (“The Color Purple”) as Lady Capulet, and Deirdre O'Connell (“Dana H.”) as the Nurse. The Public's Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director Saheem Ali directs.

The cast also includes Caleb Joshua Eberhardt (Mercutio), Ariyan Kassam (Tybalt), Zack Lopez Roa (Benvolio), Glenn Fleshler (Lord Capulet), Jason Manuel Olazábal (Lord Montague), Mariand Torres (Lady Montague), Martin K. Lewis (Paris), Jessica Pimentel (Escalus), Sergio Mauritz Ang (Friar John/Ensemble), Reece dos Santos (Balthasar), Rachel Crowl (Apothecary/Ensemble), Marlon Xavier (Pedro), Andrés Nicolás Chaves (Ensemble), Jacquernst F. Filias (Ensemble), Gilda Mercado (Ensemble), Fedra Ramírez Olivares (Ensemble), Tina Muñoz Pandya (Ensemble), Piper Runge (Ensemble), and Miles Segura (Ensemble).

For more than 50 years on PBS, Great Performances has provided an unparalleled showcase of the best in all genres of the performing arts, serving as America's most prestigious and enduring broadcaster of cultural programming. Showcasing a diverse range of artists from around the world, the series has earned 68 Emmy Awards, a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre and six Peabody Awards. The Great Performances website hosts exclusive videos, interviews, photos, full episodes and more. The series is produced by The WNET Group. Great Performances is available for streaming concurrent with broadcast on PBS.org and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

Great Performances: Romeo & Juliet is a production of The WNET Group in association with The Public Theater. Directed by Saheem Ali and directed for television by Annette Jolles. Spanish translations are by Alfredo Michel Modenessi. Choreography is by Mayte Natalio. Scenic design is by Maruti Evans. Costume design is by Oana Botez. Lighting design is by Christopher Akerlind and Maruti Evans. Sound design and sound system is by Mike Tracey. Original music is by Michael Thurber. Hair, wig, and makeup design is by Krystal Balleza. Prop management is by Jessica Zivny. Fight direction is by Thomas Schall. Intimacy direction is by Kelsey Rainwater. Spanish dialect and text coaching is by David Jarzen.