MSUM University Theatre Series presents alternative Romeo and Juliet
Production tackles issues of gender and power
A provocative new adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, opens Wednesday, Feb. 25, on the Gaede Stage in MSUM’s Roland Dille Center for the Arts. R♀mi/E♂ and Juliet is a student production of the MSUM Theatre Department, and is rated R for adult content.
The themes of the play are coming of age, love and the struggle for identity in the modern world. Director Patrick Carriere says he wanted to explore how Shakespeare’s story of love plays out “when it is applied to a love that is equally human and essentially true – but defined by society as outside of the norm.”
In this production, Romeo struggles with his identity in a deeper way than many as he comes of age — he was born into a girl’s body and named “Romi.” Rejected by his own family, struggling to protect and maintain a circle of outcast friends that he constructs as his family, Romi tries to understand what true love is when he finds it in Juliet.
For more information, contact Elizabeth Evert Karnes at (218) 477-2267 or evertel@mnstate.edu. For tickets, go to mnstate.edu/tickets or call the MSUM Box Office at (218) 477-2271 Monday through Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or arrive early and pick up at the door.