"Romeo and Juliet" at Penn State Behrend April 1, 2010

Dance, athleticism and swordplay will share the stage with sonnets, bawdy wit and soul-searching soliloquies when the American Shakespeare Company on Tour brings “Romeo and Juliet” to Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on Thursday, April 1.

The performance in Penn State Behrend’s Junker Center will begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

The American Shakespeare Company’s residence is the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, Va., which was built in 2001 to be the world’s only recreation of William Shakespeare’s original indoor theatre. As they do on their home stage, ASC on Tour actors double roles and eschew the glossy stage trappings of modern theatre. Actors are surrounded by the audience on three sides, and perform with house lights on at all times – actors can see the audience, the audience can see the actors, and, most importantly, the audience can see each other. This inclusive arrangement recreates the festive sense of community experienced by Renaissance-era patrons of Shakespeare’s own Blackfriars in London.

“Penn State Behrend was fortunate to book the touring arm of the American Shakespeare Company, as it is among the best our country has to offer in this field,” Dr. Joe Falocco, a faculty member at Penn State Behrend and Shakespeare scholar, says of the production. “I’m especially pleased that, thanks to underwriting by the college’s English program, Office of Educational Equity, and the Mary Behrend Cultural Fund, we are able to offer this performance to the Erie community free of charge. This will be a rare treat for our audience.”

With its ravishing language and uproarious comedy, “Romeo and Juliet” celebrates love’s triumphs and trivialities. Using the Elizabethan practice of minimal staging allows the audience to “hear” Shakespeare’s rich use of language without visual distraction, says Jim Warren, ASC on Tour artistic director. “The ride Shakespeare intended for us is in his words. The kind of language he wrote for the characters in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is beautiful and poetic and bawdy and full of life, which is perfect for the story this play tells. ASC on Tour’s intention is to let Shakespeare’s language envelope you in the love, the friendship, the humor, the rage, the ache and the fun that make this story of ‘star-crossed lovers’ as exciting and relevant today as it was 400 years ago.”

For additional information about this performance of “Romeo and Juliet,” phone Dr. Joe Falocco at 814-898-6233 or e-mail jrf24@psu.edu.