Shakespeare in LA

[Production update 1/8/15: This production has been indefinitely postponed] Tom Payne will star as Romeo and Ana Khamis as Juliet in Filament Theatre Company and Skinny Lee Productions’ Romeo & Juliet. The apocalyptic, immersive, multi-media & cinematic adaptation will be directed by Derek Magyar.

The most enduring love story of all time is set in a world that has mostly been destroyed and only two families remain; the Montagues and the Capulets. Can true love save civilization or is all mankind damned for eternity? Utilizing for the first time the Riverside Studios in Atwater Village, audiences will be transported to a world gone mad with a visually rich design that will immerse them in an environmental experience that no Romeo & Juliet has yet attempted…the end of days. Or are they?

This is a darker version than most,” says director Derek Magyar. “I am really testing the limits of intimacy, sex and love, bringing them to the forefront in an end of the world scenario.”  

Contemporary form and Elizabethan text merge as this production delves into our most primary feelings of sexuality, lust and desire and explores the roots of programmed ideas and feelings about love, god and life. This story is not about tragic young love. It is about the tragedy of adhering to codes of behavior that are inherited and not freely chosen.

The seeds for this production were planted in 2004 when Magyar and Filament Theater Company co-founder Max Truax did an original play Farewell Juliet at the Santa Monica Playhouse. Then in the spring of 2011, Magyar was asked by his alma mater, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), to guest direct for six weeks a production workshop that enabled him to continue to explore his obsession with the fundamental themes in Romeo & Juliet.

That undertaking brought together professional actors from stage and screen with CalArts students and alumni, and enabled further professional training for the students. In addition, key crew members from the CalArts family are attached to this production in the various technical fields.

Magyar’s connection to CalArts is deeply rooted, not only because of the education he received there – but also because its multi-disciplinary approach to the arts has continued to influence him as both an artist and as a person. Thus this new production of Romeo & Juliet will utilize diverse multi-media, live action video, live music, a full film-like score, dance as a form of primal expression and a thrilling crew of actors and craftspeople to create an unforgettable vision of this classic.

In addition to Payne and Khamis, the cast will also include Fran Bennett as Friar Lawrence, Amielynn Aballera as Benvolio, Justice Nnanna as Mercutio, Alex Hyde-White as Lord Capulet, Celeste Den as Lady Montague, Marcello Tubert as Lord Montague, Martha Hackett as Lady Capulet, Matthew Van Oss as Tybalt, Laura Slade Wiggins as Paris, Lindsey McKeon as Nurse, and Francisco Pryor Garat and Gabriella Rhodeen as Ensemble.

ROMEO & JULIET
Jan. 22 – Feb. 7, 2015 (Gala opening Friday Jan 23 at 8pm)
Riverside Studios, 3352 N. San Fernando Rd. in Atwater Village.
Preview Tickets are $35; Tickets for Friday’s performance including after-party are $60. All other tickets are $50 with a student price of $40.
Tickets: (800) 838-3006 or brownpapertickets.com
romeoandjuliet2044.com