African-American Shakespeare Company Recreates ROMEO & JULIET For The Times We Are In

The African-American Shakespeare Company will present for only the second time in its history, Romeo & Juliet. This updated version from the company's Artistic Director L. Peter Callender will stay true to what Shakespeare wrote but with a different ending.

Originally commissioned by American Stage Company in St Petersburg Florida in 2021 by Interim Artistic Director Kristin Clippard, Callender knew he wanted to bring it to San Francisco immediately after staging it. "Everyone knows the story of Romeo & Juliet. They both die from suicide after knowing each other for less than 3 days. But I think the play can offer something else, which is hope. There is always hope where there is love."

While changing the ending has been done before, the source of this change is different. Callender was in the adaptation process when he began to consider the recent trend lines regarding teen suicide. "This production comes from me being ultra-sensitive about teen suicide and dead bodies of color on stage. Plus with so much death and sadness in the world, I felt the need to do something with an uplifting end while still telling the story Mr. Shakespeare wrote."

The company first produced Romeo & Juliet in 2015 with an all teenage cast as a way of underscoring the young age of the protagonists. And as noted above, there have been versions of the play with changed endings before-including the Soviet ballet version with a score by Prokofiev in the 1930s. That though was quashed by the authorities due to its "modernist inclinations" and by the time its debut, the original ending had been restored. Josef Stalin wasn't much for happy endings.

Conceived and Directed by: L. Peter Callender
Romeo: Khari Haynes
Juliet: Shelby Ronea
Benvolio: Justin P. Lopez
Friar: Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher
Mercutio: Devin Parker Sullivan
Capulet: John Elelby
Nurse/Lady Montague: Layce Kieu
Ensemble: Tajianna Okechukwu