The Black Student Theatre Network will be bringing Shakespeare to the park this week with its final production of the school year.
The student organization will be performing the classic play “Romeo & Juliet,” but with a twist. It will be a love story between a black Juliet and a white Romeo.
Kapil Melkote, a second-year in international studies and theater, said that other adaptations of the play have had a black Romeo and a white Juliet. Although the racial identities of the characters have been changed, the play does not focus on “black versus white,” he said.
Melkote said the group strives to bring awareness to diversity issues. In this play the actors stay true to the original text, but they can be black or white or somewhere in between, he said.
“It’s up to the audience to take what you will from it,” Melkote said about the race of the characters.
Race isn’t the only thing the Black Student Theatre Network has changed. Melkote said they have also modernized the wardrobe and dance. Because of the location of the performances, the group has also shortened the play to an hour and 40 minutes.
The performances will be in Browning Amphitheater. Melkote said this allowed for the production to become interactive. He said the actors make use of the space around them such as the amphitheater stairs.
The theatre network began working on the production at the end of Winter Quarter. Melkote said that unfortunately the group has only been able to rehearse on weekends because of student involvement in theater department productions.
He said the actors have been committed to working on their scripts outside of rehearsals. The organization enlisted the help of graduate students skilled in Shakespeare to help with choreography for things such as fight scenes.
This is Melkote’s first production with the organization. He said he auditioned for “Romeo & Juliet” because he likes Shakespeare and he likes to do theater every quarter.
Melkote plays Lord Capulet in the play. He said the role has been a challenge for him because he is usually a soft-spoken actor. Being a sophomore playing a major role has also been a challenge because most of his fellow actors are older than him, he said.
“This role has been a huge learning process,” he said.
Melkote said that sometimes a lot of students are turned off to coming to theater productions because they cost money or because they are located at the Drake Union. He said “Romeo & Juliet” is great because you can come and hang out for free on a spring afternoon.
Melkote said this production is not like a boring high school English class.
“I promise that at the end of the day our audience will feel connected,” he said That’s something we have really been working on.”
