Photo Flash: First Folio's ROMEO AND JULIET

Closing the season with its annual Shakespeare-under-the-Stars, First Folio will present one of the Bard's darkest romances. Two families under a mysterious, age-old curse; children thrown together in the face of a dark fate; young men dying violently and needlessly; a strange priest dabbling with experimental drugs; a young woman haunted by visions of tombs and ghosts. This is Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, set in the Age of Romance and Revolution--amidst gorgeous poetry, brutal fights, elegant dances, where the dream of love turns into an eerie nightmare, taking the audience on a ride that hurtles them from a young woman's bedroom to a corpse-filled tomb. With direction and fight choreography by artistic associate Nick Sandys, this tale of star-crossed lovers will chill and thrill audiences anew. Tickets are available online at www.firstfolio.org or by calling the box office at 630-986-8067.

Taking on the role of Shakespeare's most famous teen hero is Will Allan, who returns to First Folio
after playing Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing in 2008. Recent Chicago credits include Billy in The
Goat or, Who is Sylvia? at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company, as well as appearances in The Seagull at the Goodman Theater, A Separate Peace at Steppenwolf, and in the role of Scripps in Timeline's smash hit production of The History Boys. Portraying the distaff half of the star-crossed duo is Kelsey Brennan who makes her First Folio debut as Juliet. Chicago audiences will have seen her in The Gospel According toJames at Victory Gardens Theatre and The Importance of Being Earnest at Remy Bumppo Theatre.

Regionally, Kelsey has appeared in at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, and
American Players Theatre. Another actress making her First Folio debut is Jeff Award winning actress, Annabel Armour, who will be playing the role of Juliet's Nurse. Ms. Armour is an artistic associate with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company where she has appeared in more than a dozen productions, including Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Philadelphia Story, A Delicate Balance, and The Road to Mecca. She most recently appeared in theJeff Recommended production of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia with Nick Sandys. Her film work includes Amityville Horror, Conviction with Hillary Swank and the upcoming Contagion with Matt Damon.

The production will be directed by Jeff Award winning director and fight choreographer Nick
Sandys, who is an Artistic Associate with both First Folio and Remy Bumppo. His other directing credits include Fiction and American Ethnic with Remy Bumppo; Taming Of The Shrew, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Merry Wives Of Windsor with Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park; and Macbeth with First Folio.

His Jeff-award-winning work as a fight director has been seen all over Chicagoland, including more than 2 two dozen shows at The Goodman and three dozen at Lyric Opera of Chicago as well as productions at Steppenwolf, Remy Bumppo, Victory Gardens, and The Metropolitan Opera and Manhattan Theatre Club in NYC. He is a certified Fight Director with The Society of American Fight Directors and is adjunct faculty at The Theatre School at DePaul.

All performances take place in Mayslake Hall, a 30-room Tudor Revival style mansion originally
built by coAl Baron Francis S. Peabody. Completed in 1922, the mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places. Mayslake Hall is located on the grounds of the Mayslake Peabody Estate, which is owned and operated by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Located at 31st St. and Rt. 83 in Oak Brook, First Folio is easy to get to from either the East-West Tollway (I-88) or the Stevenson Expressway (I-55). Free parking is available on the grounds. First Folio Theatre is supported in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, a State Agency, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, and the DuPage Community Foundation.

Photo Credit: D. Rice