This classic tragedy has moved and inspired audiences since it was first performed in the late sixteenth century. The ugliness of old hatreds thwart the passions of youth and purity of love as Juliet and Romeo seek peace and joy in each others'arms. Yet the sanctity and selfessness of their feelings transcend the earthly limitations of the world around them. Profoundly moving and beautifully told, this is a story as deep and as ageless as the oceans and will capture the hearts of all who see it.

With countless theatrical productions over the eyars (and numerous film versions this century), Rome and Juliet is one of the best-known and best-loved of the thirty-five plys plays in the Shakespearean canon. Its tale of two "star-crossed" young lovers from opposing families locked in an ongoing feud has become an archtype of the joys and tribulatoins of love. Driven by their powerful passions the young Romeo and Juliet risk all they have to be together, only to fall victim to the capricious quirks of fate and the animosities of their warring families. Yet their intimely deaths are not without value, for in their demise the wounds of the torn community are healed and the two families reconciled.

Part of its popularity is that Rome and Juliet resonates with audiences on a variety of levels. Love, in all its manifestations, is the driving force and metaphor of the play. In telling his tale, Shakespeare creates for us a montage of love in all its beauty and ugliness. The story is not one of just the tenderness of romance and the joys of passin; Shakespeare gives us glimpses of the darker side of humans driven by love -- the lies, hatred, murder, and mayhem that love sometimes sparks and fuels. His genius stems, at least in part, from his ability to capture the mercurial and often duplicitous nature of love and loving. Although primarily a play about love, Rome and Juiet also explores other powerful ideas: the nature of community and civic duty, the role of happenstance and fate in our daily lives, the clashes between reason and emotion, and the loyalty of family.

The artistic team for the OSU production of the play explores this multi-faceted and convoluted nature of love. The image of a fragrant and beautiful rose entwined in its thorns with the potential for pain, forms the essence of the production concept. Associate professor Richard George designs the set and lights. MAIS student Elizabeth Holthofer is the production costume designer. Marion O. Rossi directs.

OSU Senior Theatre Arts major, Sarah Ericksen, plays the role of Juliet; Timm McLagan (junior in Liberal Studies) is her counterpart in love, Rome. Other members of the cast include: Erik Hundtoft (senior in Music) as Lord Capulet; Jill Lombaer (Junior, Math) as Lady Capulet; Dan Fisher as Mercutio (senior, Forest Recreation) as Friar Lawrence; Craig Mariannno (Ph.D candidate, Nuclear Engineering) as Mercutio; and Jen Waters (sophomore, Theatre Arts) as the Nurse. Another 15 OSU students from a variety of majors (as well as several others from the OSU faculty and Corvallis Community) complete the production ensemble