This isn’t our first ‘Romeo’. Artistic Director Andrew Cecon debuts and stars as Romeo in SIR’s infamous downtown rooftop production of Romeo and Juliet in 2003 (pictured above left). Former GM Matthew Moreau stars as Romeo in SIR’s inagural production of Romeo and Juliet in 1994 (pictured above right).
In Elizabethan England, the legal age for marriage (with parental permission) was twelve-years-old for girls and fourteen-years-old for boys. Romeo and Juliet was originally played by an all-male cast. Female roles were most often played by pre-pubescent boys with high-pitched, “feminine” voices. Juliet would have been played by a boy until the late 1600s, when it first became acceptable for women to appear on the English stage.
Author Stephenie Meyer says that, in New Moon, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is “really the theme of the novel.” The whole “missed connection” aspect to the plot doesn’t really hold up in an era when all Edward would have had to do is make one quick phone call (or text message!) to see if Bella is still alive.
