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Elle Lindstrom

Members of the audience, Taylor Hasling and Mrs. Hasling, settle in for the performance.

The Benilde-St. Margaret’s Drama Department recently performed Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet as a part of their Short Shakes Program. This program hosts an annual production of a Shakespeare play every autumn.

The Short-shakes are typically composed of a smaller cast, no more than ten to twelve people. Instead of being the main theater, the play is performed in the atrium. The effect is an audience experience similar to that of Shakespeare’s time, which was more personal. Lighting effects did not exist in the 1500s when Shakespeare was creating these plays, meaning the theater was lit by the sun or by candles. It was up to the actors to create a dark environment in the minds of the audience. BSM actors were also completely visible for the entire play, and atrium lights stayed on for the entire show, even in the nighttime scenes. “Performing in the atrium is very different from the big stage because you can see the audience the entire time; this allows you to interact directly with viewers,” the actor for Romeo, Brody Sellers, said.

Unlike during Shakespeare’s original work, the student actors were not required to memorize their lines, and held their scripts in their hands the entire time. This is mainly due to practice times, as actors only rehearsed for a total of three weeks, which is a short time for a one-hour production. Some lines were memorized, especially the ones in the middle of fight scenes or romantic moments, but overall, the actors were familiar with their lines and often looked up from their scripts to interact with the audience and fellow actors. “This play was a lot of fun to perform; there’s fighting, romance, death, and parties. My favorite thing was delivering a comedic line and receiving a laugh from the crowd,” Lillian Kena said.

Throughout the entire play, countless scenes included interaction between the audience and the actors. At one point, certain members of the audience were given masks and asked to be guests at the Capulet ball, actors even went over to “mingle” with them during the scene where Romeo meets Juliet at the party. During one of her personal monologues, Juliet goes to lie down on an audience member’s lap. Including the audience in the performance is one way to keep them engaged with the story, especially since Shakespeare’s language is hard to understand at times. “Since we only rehearsed for three weeks, I only had some lines memorized, but for the ones I did have memorized, I always looked out into the crowd to keep them engaged in the story,” Scar Scheff said.