'Juliet & Her Romeo' Comes To The Park In South Orange In July

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — People in town will be able to enjoy Shakespeare in the park, with an abridgment of the classical "Romeo and Juliet", called "Juliet & Her Romeo", coming soon to South Orange.

The show will run between July 9 and 11 and July 16 and 18 at 8 p.m., outside in Flood's HIll.

Admission is free and seating will be festival style, first-come, first seated.

Local artists Nathan Darrow and Susan Hyon have assembled a cast of three actors in their teens from Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ who will collaborate with three experienced professionals.

“Juliet & Her Romeo, like its source, has a dramatic spine that is very simple — it is two young people, full of the greatest power the universe has ever known, trying, with everything they have, to reduce the social distance between their bodies,” Darrow said in a statement.

After the challenges the pandemic has introduced, the artists looked at this production as a way to find some relief.

"With summer activities opening up, our event is in tune with the needs and hopes of community members, who are seeking nourishment in the arts. The pandemic has clarified the human body’s basic need for contact," Hyon said. "Adolescents understand this with a particular keenness. The young actors we are working with have a generous and powerful impulse to share this understanding."

The production is a partnership with South Orange and Maplewood Departments of Recreation and Cultural Affairs.