By the Lower School Newspaper Club |

On May 14 and 15, the Class IVs performed Romeo and Juliet as their iteration of Winsor’s 95th annual Shakespeare play. As one of the many Class IV traditions, the grade performed two plays with the same script: one set in the Renaissance and one with a modern theme chosen by Performing Arts faculty member Mr. Johnson, the director. This year, the theme was the Wild West. The actors in the Wild West and the Renaissance show had the same lines, but the costumes, set, props, and blocking were different. Mr. Johnson explained, “When you change the time or location of a play from its original locale, you need to make sure that there is a strong reason for the change.” He described that he found the “lawlessness [and] vigilante justice” of Romeo and Juliet similar to “America in the mid to late 1800s.”

 Since February, Class IVs have been collaborating to put together costumes, sets, music, and scenes. Garden Gall ’30, who worked on the costume committee, said, “My favorite part was having costumes come together.” She loved finding one piece of an outfit and digging through the bins in the costume shop to find other parts. In the Renaissance production, actors wore pantaloons and vests if they were playing a male character and traditional Renaissance dresses or skirts if they were playing a female character. In the Wild West production, actors wore vests, jeans, and cowboy boots if they were playing a male character, and western-patterned dresses if they were playing a female character. 

Zadie Schopf ’30 of the set committee explained how she “picked out the set pieces for the Renaissance play. We used AI to come up with some of the lighting ideas—we would put in a prompt and then it would come up with a picture so that we could show Mr. P.” Performing Arts faculty member Mr. Puigbo oversaw set and lighting design, helping the show run smoothly.

The music committee was responsible for playing music during transitions and fight scenes. Committee members had to be prepared for cues and learn how to time them to the actors’ lines. Rianne Chen ’30 says that the hardest struggle on the music committee was “syncing and collaborating with the other members, all of whom were extremely talented and helpful.” 

The biggest challenge of the Shakespeare project for many was the acting. Many students had not participated in a play before, so the project offered them a chance to try acting and take risks. Students worked to memorize lines, and practiced fight and dance scenes over and over.

The 95th Shakespeare play brought the class of 2030 together as a grade, pushing students out of their comfort zones and challenging them to make big acting choices. Despite a few challenges, the teamwork and dedication of all the cast and committee members made both shows a great success!

The cast of the Wild West play | Image Source: Student Photographer