Romeo and Juliet Staged Outdoors July 18 – August 10 at Shakespeare & Company

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Romeo and Juliet Staged Outdoors July 18 – August 10 at Shakespeare & Company

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Shakespeare & Company presents Romeo and Juliet, directed by Kevin G. Coleman and Jonathan Epstein, July 18 through August 10 outdoors at the Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre.

Epstein, who noted he and Coleman have collectively directed more than 20 productions of Romeo and Juliet, said this production explores the pursuit of delight within a difficult and warring world.

“Shakespeare is a master of integrating delight and this play is the archetype of that,” he said. “So, we’re asking: In a world where the common language is about conflict and strife, how can delight make room for itself?”

This production also marks the first outdoor mainstage production of the year at Shakespeare & Company, and the first since it was named one of the Top 10 Outdoor Performance venues in the U.S. by Newsweek. Epstein said he’s excited to see this season’s Romeo and Juliet take shape on the amphitheatre stage.

“You could wait a lifetime to see a Romeo and Juliet capable of filling a space this size with this much intimacy and passion,” he said, noting that he’s also eager to see audience reactions to the production and its interpretations. “This cast as a whole is committed to both the sanctity and the whimsy of telling a story like this, and of all of the productions of this play that I’ve been involved in, this couple [Caitlin Rose, Romeo, and Ashley McCauley Moore, Juliet] takes delight in each other more than any other Romeo and Juliet I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Allyn Burrows agreed that this production of Romeo and Juliet celebrates joy, but also calls attention to timely subjects.

“Once again we are reminded by this timeless classic, replete with soaring poetry, that divisions wrought by ‘adults’ wreak havoc on the lives of youth,” he said. “While the lessons continue to be ignored, the beauty of the story cannot be.”

Preview performances will be held July 15, 16, and 17 with Opening Night on Friday, July 18. Food trucks will be on campus with light dinners for purchase on select evenings prior to the performance, including Saturdays July 19, 26, and August 4.

Tickets range from $22 to $95; $5 Card to Culture tickets for EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare participants are available for in-person purchase or by calling the Box Office. For more information, visit shakespeare.org, or call the Box Office at 413.637.3353.


Photo Caption: Caitlin Rose and Ashley McCauley Moore at The Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre, featured at the titular characters in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, July 18 through August 10. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.

 

About Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company was founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Company offers performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round, and attracts more than 40,000 patrons annually with a core of more than 150 artists.

 

Cast & Director Bios

Kevin G. Coleman

(Co-Director)

Kevin Coleman is one of Shakespeare & Company’s artistic and administrative leaders. He works in the Performance and Training departments as an actor, teacher, and director, and oversees the mission of the Education department. Kevin has been a guest teacher or director at MIT, Harvard, L.S.U., Stanford, Shenandoah Shakespeare, Q.U.T.- Brisbane, Lincoln Center, the Folger Library, Shakespeare Festivals in both Stratfords, and the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, UK. Kevin is the Theatre Director at the Austen Riggs Center, where he has directed over 30 productions. In 2016, Kevin was nominated for the Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. Along with Patrick Toole, Kevin recently produced the soon to be released film, Speak What We Feel, documenting the Fall Festival of Shakespeare.

 

Jonathan Epstein

(Co-Director/ Friar)

Jonathan Epstein has directed or acted in more than 70 Shakespeare & Company productions since 1987 including Walk in the Woods, Creditors, Henry V, Merchant of Venice, Tempest, Cymbeline, Midsummer, Merry Wives, Private Eyes, Brief Lives, Heroes, An Iliad and the title roles in King Lear, Henry IV, Richard III and Macbeth. In 1990, he created the role of The Men in Tina Packer’s original Women of Will. He has performed on and off-Broadway and at scores of regional theatres around the country including Berkshire Theatre Festival (Amadeus, Cuckoo’s Nest, Via Dolorosa, Educating Rita…) and ART (Merchant of Venice, Phaedra, Paradise Lost, Picasso at the Lapin Agile). He is a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award and is Teaching Professor of Classical Performance at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. He was a graduate of the 1988 Month Long Intensive and thereafter taught at more than 30 month-long workshops.

 

Juan Luis Acevedo

(Lord Capulet)

Juan Luis Acevedo is thrilled to be making his Shakespeare & Company debut. His vast New York, Regional and International credits include among others: Anna in the Tropics at Asolo Rep., Henry IV at NY Classical, Destiny of Desire (2020) at Cincinnati Playhouse, Jardin Salvaje, House on the Lagoon, The Mayor of Zalamea, Fuenteovejuna (US & Spain), Tierra del Fuego, Verano Verano, Life is a Dream (US & Spain), As You Like It, Preying on Instinct, Woyzeck, Hamlet, Cuarto adentro, Camino Real, The Order of Things, “Experiencias Clásicas” Spain. Film: Kiss of The Damned, 79 Parts, Fake. TV: Billions, Blacklist, Law & Order SVU and Criminal Intent. Juan Luis is excited to return to Massachusetts where he began his professional acting career performing Shakespeare with CSC in the Boston Commons.

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Rory Hammond 

(Lady Capulet)

This is Rory Hammond’s 35th season with Shakespeare & Company. Last Summer, she played Angelo in The Comedy of Errors which won the Broadwayworld.com award for Best Ensemble. She is currently teaching Voice for the Actor at the University of Hartford (UHat Conservatory). Rory just earned her MFA and Linklater Designation in London, at the Rose Bruford College of Music and Drama. During her London studies, in addition to her concentration on the Linklater Method, she was immersed in the work of Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed, as well as Trish Arnold’s Pure Movement, and the Michael Chekhov technique. Throughout these studies there was an emphasis on devising, working to create one’s own performance pieces through the art of theatrical storytelling. In addition to her studies at Rose Bruford, Rory has also been focused these past few years on directing and teaching Shakespeare to kids from ages 7–18.

 

Luke Haskell 

(Lord Montague / Peter)

Luke Haskell’s roles at Shakespeare & Company include Mr. Elton/Mrs. Bates (Jane Austen’s Emma), Theseus/Oberon, (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), George Wickham, (The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley) Costard, (Love’s Labor’s Lost), Lysander/Flute, (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Paris/ Prince/Gregory, (Romeo & Juliet), Hamlet/Decius Brutus (I Have Had a Most Rare Vision), Roles elsewhere: Rooted Voyageurs: Benvolio/Friar Lawrence, (Romeo & Juliet), Advice to the Players (NH): Duke Vincentio, (Measure for Measure), Lucentio (The Taming of the Shrew). UMass Theater Department: Dwight (Dead Man’s Cell Phone), Roland (Constellations), Van (Dog Sees God), Stephano/ Ensemble/Musician (The Merchant of Venice). In 2019, he was nominated for Best Actor in a Play by the New Hampshire Theater Alliance, for his portrayal of the Duke in Measure for Measure. He has worked for the Education department at Shakespeare & Company since 2016, and is a Month-Long Intensive Alumni, 2018

 

John Leggett 

(Prince, Fight Captain)

All the way from Myrtle Beach, S.C., John Leggett is excited to be in the Berkshires for his Shakespeare & Company debut! Recent Credits Include; Ken Ludwig’s World Premiere Lady Molly of Scotland Yard,Three Musketeers, Goodnight Oscar, Romeo & Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing (Tour), Miss Julie, and Chekov’s Three Sisters at Asolo Rep; Complete Works of Shakespeare: Abridged! and Patches: A New Musical at Piknik Theatre; Unto These Hills Outdoor Drama, Pericles at Shakes in The Park (S.C.). He holds a MFA FSU Asolo Conservatory 2025.

 

Madeleine Rose Maggio

(Nurse, Dance Captain)

Madeleine Rose Maggio’s credits include Adriana, The Comedy of Errors, Hippolyta/Snout, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don John, Much Ado About Nothing, Robert Shallow/Bardolph, Merry Wives, Longaville/Jaquenetta, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Helena, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Elizabeth Bennet, Pride & Prejudice, Marianne Dashwood, Sense & Sensibility, Elizabeth Darcy, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, S&Co Regional Tour: Lady Capulet/ Benvolio, Romeo & Juliet, The Majestic: Lana, The Ladyslipper; The Humanist Project: “Dorkus Hoare”, A Crucible: A Puritanical Celebration of Witches and Turkeys, “Bubbles”, Mad Mad Mad! (A Devised Clown Play), Lavinia, Titus Andronicus. Madeleine attended the two-year professional course at L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, is an alumni of the 2018 Month-long Intensive, studied at The Second City in Chicago, and is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

 

Ashley McCauley Moore 

(Juliet)

Ashley McCauley Moore is an MFA graduate of the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training. Ashley made her professional • debut with Shakespeare & Company in the 2023 season as Raynell for August Wilson’s Fences. In 2024 she was nominated for a Broadway World Berkshires Award for best supporting performer in a play, for her role as the Courtesan in the company’s production of Comedy of Errors. Ashley is delighted to be returning to Shakespeare & Company for her third season. Other notable works include Much Ado About Nothing (Hero/Don Jon), Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), Lynn Nottage Clyde’s (Letitia), Chekov’s Three Sisters (Masha), (Constance/us). Some of Ashley’s television credits include Shonda Rims, and ABC Grown-ish. “The Privilege of Humanity is Experience”

 

Erin O’Connor 

(Benvolio)

Erin O’Connor made her debut in Plays in Process as Hero in Ado. Erin is also a Teaching Artist and Fall Festival Director. Select credits include: Sabine in Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers, Linda in Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Viola in Twelfth Night, Everybody in Everybody, Armande in Learned Ladies (Asolo Rep), Coco in The Cocoanuts, Cassius/Portia/Antony in Julius Caesar, Mrs. Hopkins/as cast in My Fair Lady (Oregon Shakespeare Festival). She is also a proud member of the all female Shakespeare and stage combat group, Vixens en Garde. Big shout out to her parents and her husband, Sean, for their endless love and support. MFA: FSU / Asolo

 

Timothy Oh 

(Tybalt)

TImothy “TT” Oh is a Korean-American actor, writer, and cook who is honored to return to Shakespeare & Company. TT first came to Shakespeare & Company through the Summer Shakespeare Intensive in 2023, after graduating from Ohio University, where he found freedom, community, and the courage to move to New York City. Since then, TT most recently appeared in the Tony-nominated Broadway Production of Romeo + Juliet. “I want to change people through stories that matter. Standing up for the unheard and uplifting their voices everywhere.”

 

Caitlin Rose 

(Romeo)

 Caitlin Rose recently earned their MFA from FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training where she first played Romeo, Julie in Miss Julie, and Natásha in Three Sisters. Recent credits: U/S Rose in Dancing at Lughnasa, U/S Peg in Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, and Don Pedro/Borachio in Much Ado About Nothing at Asolo Repertory Theatre.

A Shakespeare enthusiast, Caitlin produced and acted in Complete Works (Abridged) last summer alongside John Leggett at Piknik Theatre in Colorado. After Romeo & Juliet, Caitlin is moving to Portland, Oregon for love (a true romantic), theatre, teaching, and modeling. Endless love to Jody, Andrea, and the WamFamBam.

 

Rickey Watson, Jr.

(Mercutio)

From New Orleans, Rickey Watson, Jr.’s credits include: Harry Esterbrook – Inherit the Wind (Asolo Rep); Lysander/Bottom – Midsummer Night’s Dream (Asolo Rep Tour); George – OurTown (Triad Stage); Tommy U/S – Grand Horizon (Asolo Rep); George U/S – OurTown (Asolo Rep); Kaa – Jungle Book (Peppercorn Theatre); Mason- Billy and the Golden Pencil (Peppercorn Theatre); Lord Capulet – Romeo and Juliet (Asolo Conservatory); Don Armado – Love’s Labour’s Lost (Asolo Conservatory) Kent (Spoon) – StickFly (Asolo Conservatory): John Dashwood – Sense and Sensibility (Asolo Conservatory); Jeremy • F. – Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (UNCSA); BFA – Acting (UNCSA); MFA – Acting (FSU).

 

J. Austyn Williamson

(Paris)

Austyn Williamson is thrilled to be returning for this season at Shakespeare & Company. Shakespeare & Co.: The Contention: Henry VI, Part II, Regional Theatre: The Inheritance Parts I & II (Trinity Repertory Company), The Tempest (Oak Park Festival Theatre), How To Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theatre), Brown/Trinity Rep. MFA: Ironbound, Cold War Choir Practice, Hamlet, and several more. Austyn is a recent graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep. MFA Acting Program. He would like to thank his family, the B/T ’25 Cohort, as well as his fellow cast and crew for all their love and support!

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