R+J: AN ULTRAMODERN FANTASIA

Written by William Shakespeare | Adapted by Joy Nesbitt and Devonne Pitts

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Staff

Director – Joy Nesbitt

Director – Devonne Pitts

Executive Producer – Pinwheel Productions

Executive Producer – The Office for the

Arts at Harvard

Producer – Allison Scharmann

Stage Manager – Anisa Ahmed

Stage Manager – Abbie Sage

Lighting Design – Finn Bamber

Sound Design – Clay Oxford

Sound Design – Ian Chan

Scenic Design – Sabah Shams

Publicity Design – Annie Harrigan

Production Advisor – Julia Smeliansky

In R&J: An Ultramodern Fantasia, Shakespeare’s best-known play gets a makeover for the modern age. In the original text, our titular star-crossed lovers take the family hatred that divides them and defy it with naive love. We, too, are divided — not only in the ideological sense, but in our ability to share physical space with one another. This abridged production of Romeo and Juliet explores these divisions, using audiovisual elements to recreate and revitalize the closeness we have lost. Fair Verona is not forced into the exact conditions in which we find ourselves today. We lay our scene in a dream-like plane, using film, live performance, and a score of original music by Harvard students to imagine a world in which we are intimately connected — no matter the physical or emotional distance between us.

This was a production presented on zoom by Harvard BlackCAST during the summer of 2020. In addition to the online production streamed on youtube, I mixed and mastered a soundtrack for the show created by fellow student artists. This production was also a fundraiser for The Black Arts Futures Fund.