An 1870 oil painting by Ford Madox Brown depicting Romeo and Juliet.
After the relative success of ETC's Hamlet last fall, the creative ensemble returns to the Bard and applies their innovative techniques to another of Shakespeare's famous plays: Romeo and Juliet. Producing Partner John Thomas Cecil sums up the process with "We knew we wanted to do another Shakespeare and we were setting up this whole idea of collaboration across artistic mediums; with Romeo and Juliet falling in love at a dance, it made perfect sense that this would be the project for us." Garry Posey (Founding Producing Partner and Resident Director) then set down with the script and begin editing Shakespeare's play to allow for ETC's economically-sized casts, "editing was simple, I wanted to emphasize the ideals of love - what it does to us, what it causes us to do, how it makes us feel. Anything that didn't contribute to that idea, we edited out." Posey met earlier in the year with choreographer Ann Law to discuss the possibilities of her involvemen, "Garry is a very creative thinker and when he explained the concept to me, I was sold." Posey's concept is to make the story more accessible by integrating dance at key parts. "Shakespeare intiidates some people, it certainly did for me until a couple of years ago; by integrating the dance, I afford the audience a bit of reflection time while continuously stimulating their imagination, engaging the imagaintaion like this is one of the key points of our mission statement at ETC," mentions Posey.
ETC's dance and theatre production of Romeo and Juliet by WIlliam Shakespeare welcomes four new actors to the St Andrews Center Theatre stage. Trace Cline,Amber Hall and Daniel Pound mark their debuts with ETC, while Mattie Waters returns to perform with ETC after a hiatus. Dancers Cornelius Heard and Monica Coates round out the eclectic cast. As mentioned earlier, Posey directs while Ann Law choreographs. Brenda Schwab provides the costumes.
Additionally, since the this play is on the reading list for Hamilton County Schools, schools can request a tour of ETC's Romeo and Juliet. For more information, please call Garry at 423-987-5141.
Romeo and Juliet runs Fridays at 7:30, Saturdays at 2:00 and Sundays at 3:00 for three weekends beginning August 27th and ending Septemeber 12th. Tickets for the show are $10/adults and $8/students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at www.ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com, for more information you can email them at ensemble.theatre.chattanooga@gmail.com or call them at 423-987-5141.
