The Celtics and the Lakers got into a heated fight last week — in the Wildfire Theater at Shalhevet. NBA Commissioner David Stern even had to break up the intense brawl. Well, not in real life, but it did happen in one of the freshman plays reenacting Romeo and Juliet: a modern version of the fight between the Montagues and the Capulets.
“We wanted something that we would be able to relate to,” said freshman Danny Silberstein. “So we made it a fight scene between the Celtics and the Lakers.”
Younger generations may find it difficult to connect with and understand Shakespeare, but Ms. Nancy Sterman tries to make it easy for her freshman English classes. Using the theater space as a classroom, students were required to perform variations of Romeo and Juliet, choosing a scene to act out, then modernizing it and performing both the original and the revised scene from May 31st to June 2nd, during the week before finals.
“It gave us a chance to take the play and make it our own,” said Max Lipner. “It required us to dissect the actual play to fully understand it.”
Yael Wiener updated Juliet’s famous balcony scene with a cellphone. She had Juliet texting a different boy when Romeo arrived at her door to ask her out. Other scenes saw a modern Juliet dying in a car accident instead of from drinking a potion, and a Jewish Juliet falling in love with a Muslim Romeo instead of with the guy who her parents were setting her up with.
Students said the exercise helped them understand the difficult Shakespearean language as well as the play’s content.
“I was confused about what was going on, but seeing it acted out and put into modern versions cleared it all up for me,” said Rachel Friedman.
Ms. Sterman said that was exactly the point.
“Choosing one scene to focus on allows the students to dig deeper into the language and storytelling of Shakespeare,” she wrote in an e-mail. “It helps them gain clarity on the characters and the plot that they may not have garnered from the initial reading.”
The freshmen put a lot of preparation into their parts. Aside from creating their own sets, they had to mentally get ready for their acting roles.
“I was nervous at first, because I have stage fright,” said Bailey Bieda, who in the modernized version played a pregnant Juliet called “Jamie,” who’s boyfriend, Ryan, killed himself after thinking Jamie was dead when she fainted from her pregnancy. “I just calmed myself down a bit, and it was pretty good.”
In the days leading up to the performance, freshman could be seen in the junior parking lot practicing their lines and walking around with things not usually seen at school. To bring their plays to life, they brought in many simple props such as swords made of tin foil and cardboard, water guns, hats, and homemade costumes which they adapted to fit both modern and original versions of the play.
Moriah Raviv’s scene had Romeo crash the Capulet party at a restaurant. “My group brought a tray and aspirin, and we made menus,” she said.
Along with their fellow freshmen, students from previous years came to watch the performances, remembering their own freshman efforts.
“They were really funny and intelligent,” said sophomore Yonah Nimmer, who had done the project last year. “In one scene, the Jonas brothers were fighting with Hannah Montana. And [freshman] Adam Wannon came out in a wig.”
Ms. Sterman is happy with the plays’ outcome and the freshmen’s efforts.
“I am proud of the freshman and love this project because it highlights some talents that may otherwise not get show-cased,” Ms. Sterman said. “I would say that the students get a lot out of it.”
