Plaid-clad 'Catholic schoolgirls' stage Shakespeare in Princeton, Central Park

In the latest Shakespeare production on campus, Romeo sports knee-highs, penny loafers, a plaid skirt, and a button-up blouse.

Titled "St. Mary's Catholic Girls School English 201 Class Presents: Romeo and Juliet," the play interprets the Elizabethan classic through the eyes of ten Catholic school girls and their Nun/Teacher figure.

The show goes up for a preview performance on March 8 and will be presented in Central Park throughout the month of June.

In more ways than one, it is not your typical college production.

The idea behind the play came about in Professor Christopher Sanderson's fall Theater 301 class when students were working on cross-gender scenes. A student suggested doing a full length cross-gender production. Sanderson offered to direct the show and produce it under his New York-based Gorilla Rep Theatre Company.

By November, the idea had solidified enough to begin casting. While the show features several girls from the class, Sanderson and his students also hand-picked actresses from the Princeton community to join them, in-cluding two Princeton High School students and one professional actress working in New York City.

Memorizing their lines over winter break, the actresses came back ready to begin rehearsal. Since then, the girls have been rehearsing three to four times a week in a variety of places. Since Sanderson is teaching at Yale this spring, rehearsal has revolved around his commuting schedule.

The show's premise is unique because it is produced within a fictionalized parameter. The cast portrays a class of Catholic school girls who are staging the play. They each have individual schoolgirl character traits in addition to their Shakespearean parts.

The cast sits in the front row of seats as if they were sitting in a classroom. The teacher of the school girls plays the Nurse in the play-within-a-play "Romeo and Juliet."

This parameter adds an extra dose of youthful energy to the drama. It is acted as though it were the first time the school girls had been able to pull the production together; the actresses even laugh at jokes in the play, balancing their roles as schoolgirls and Shakespearean characters.

Another goal of the play is to get the audience in and out in two hours. This means no intermission, but it makes for a fast-paced performance.

"It's high energy, in your face, and hopefully you won't be bored," said Rachel Koblic '04, who plays Mercutio. "If Shakespeare tells us it's supposed to be under two hours, we want it to be under two hours," she continued, referring to a line in the Prologue which says, "the two hours' traffic of our stage."

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The costumes are authentic and were ordered from a school uniform supply company. Other props suggest a school setting, such as the use of a field hockey stick instead of a saber. The show is being performed in Frist 302, adding to the classroom atmosphere.

Since the production is not sponsored by an on-campus theatre group (though it is going up on Friday in association with Muse) the actresses have had to take production matters into their own hands. From ordering costumes to prop-shopping in New York City to advertising, the cast has taken on the responsibility themselves.

"It's been interesting and eye-opening to see how to pull a production together," said Koblic, who is co-producing the play with Frances You '04, who also plays Romeo.

In addition, it shows that the actresses are in the production because they love theater. Their dedication has been tested for sure. They had to pay for their own costumes and props and have made arrangements to be in New York for June.

"All of us really love what we are doing. We have really bonded because we are not here because we have to be," said Koblic.

The show will preview here at Princeton on March 8, allowing the cast to get some audience feedback and make some final changes before the show goes up in a band shell in Central Park.

The cast members will live in or around New York City, performing three to four times a week throughout June.

"It's exciting exposure. We're expecting big audiences," said Koblic.

In line with Gorilla Rep Theatre Company's objectives to bring theatre to the people at low costs, the show will be free of charge, both at Princeton and in New York.

As for the satanic sign advertising the play, Koblic explained that the action begins when one of the girls is caught wearing her skirt too short. As punishment, she must repeatedly write "Only Satan's whores wear short skirts" on the chalkboard.

And that's just the beginning.