Casting was announced today for SHAKESPEARE’S R & J - the fourth play of PrideArts Spring series of play readings. The play by Joe Calarco, for this presentation, is set in an exclusive Catholic boarding school for girls, where a group of girls begin to read ROMEO AND JULIET aloud after school, and they become so enmeshed in the emotion that the rigidity of their lives begins to parallel the lives of the characters in the play.
It will be performed Tuesday, June 1 at 7 pm. Originally performed by an all-male cast, SHAKESPEARE’S R & J is now frequently played by all-female casts, as it will be here. SHAKESPEARE’S R & J’s 1999 premiere in Chicago earned five Jeff Award nominations including Best Play and Best Director) and its Washington, D.C. premiere earned Helen Hayes Award nominations for Best Play and Best Director. The off-Broadway production of SHAKESPEARE’S R & J, which ran for nearly a year, won a Lucille Lortel Award. The play completed a celebrated run on London's West End in late 2003. SHAKESPEARE’S R & J will be performed one night only, on Tuesday, June 1 at 7 pm.
Peter Vamvakas (he/him/his), director of PrideArts’ readings of TWELFTH NIGHT earlier this year, will direct. His cast will be Alicia Berneche (she/her/hers), Risha Tenae (she/her/hers), Jasmine Robertson (she/her/hers), and Harmony Zhang (she/her/hers). Eileen Scandiffio (she/her/hers) will be stage manager.
Top Row L-R: Alicia Berneche, Risha Tenae
Lower Row L-R: Jasmine Robertson, Harmony Zhang
LISTING INFORMATION
SHAKESPEARE’S R & J
Adapted by Joe Calarco
Directed by Peter Vamvakas
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 – 7 pm
Tickets $10.00 available at www.pridearts.org or by phone at 773-857-0222
Four young students at an exclusive girls’ boarding school, tired of going through the usual drill of conjugating Latin and other tedious school routines, decide to vary their very governed lives. After school, one breaks out a copy of William Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET, and they all take turns reading the play aloud. The Bard’s words and the story itself are thrilling to the girls, and their lives begin to parallel the lives of the characters in the play.
Peter Vamvakas (Director)
Peter is proud to again be directing with Pride Arts Chicago where he most recently directed a reading of TWELFTH NIGHT. Other directing credits include 10 musical theater productions for NTYA Musical Theatre for Young Audiences; THE NUTCRACKER (Theatre at the Center); AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITOR, assistant director/fight captain (Chamber Opera Chicago); SEASCAPE, DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER, ROBIN HOOD, BROKEN GLASS (Bowen Park Theatre Company); Shakespeare by the Sword (Theatre of Western Springs); HARMONY HIGH (Kahilu Theatre, HI). Performance credits include Antonio/Sea Captain in TWELFTH NIGHT (Pride Arts Chicago); Captain A.J. Smith in TITANIC (Jeff Award nomination/best musical Griffin Theatre Co.); Dr. Tambourri in PASSION (Jeff Award, best musical-Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre); The Porter/First Murderer in MACBETH and The Player King and Gravedigger in HAMLET (Shakespeare on the Green); Robert Ewell in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and Will in THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC (Apple Tree Theatre).
ABOUT PRIDEARTS
PrideArts tells queer stories on a variety of platforms, including both live and virtual performances. Since its founding in 2010, PrideArts has had several chapters, including operating as an itinerant theater for our first six seasons, and as the developer and primary tenant in the Pride Arts Center from 2016-21. The newest post-COVID chapter is still in development.
Pre-COVID, the company produced full seasons of plays and musicals, as well as events including cabaret, film, and more. The company has earned 39 Jeff Awards and nominations, and six nominations in the most recent (2019) ALTA Awards from the Alliance of Latinx Theater Artists of Chicago. Programming has reflected the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community by including work made by and illuminating the experiences of women, gay men, transgender people, and BIPOC.
PrideArts is supported by The MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard Driehaus Foundation, The Illinois Arts Council, City of Chicago’s City Arts Fund, the Elliott Fredland Charitable Trust, The Pauls Foundation, The Heath Fund, The Service Club of Chicago, the AmazonSmile Foundation, Arts and Business Foundation, Tap Root Foundation, Arts and Business Council, and Alphawood Foundation.
PrideArts is a member of the Smart Growth Program of the Chicago Community Trust. PrideArts is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, Northalsted Business Association, Lakeview East, Uptown United, and The League of Chicago Theatre.
For more information and to donate, visit www.pridearts.org or call 1.773 857 0222.