Ferris High School students Tallan Avery, Kyla Gurkowski, Olivia Meroshnik and Gavin Johnson came into the KPBX studio to talk about their new production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The show opens its run this evening.
Avery and Meroshnik are playing the title characters, respectively. Gurkowski is playing Lady Capulet, and Johnson is playing Mercutio.
Both Meroshnik and Avery discussed their iconic roles, the cues they're taking from past productions and the ways in which they're bringing fresh approaches to their performances. Meroshnik, for instance, is paying close attention to Juliet's body language as a way of signifying the way the character breaks away from her privileged upbringing.
Afterwards, they performed the famous first encounter scene—"And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."—at the Capulet ball.
Johnson and Gurkowski then took time to outline their characters. Gurkowski noted that Lady and Lord Capulet have been combined into a single role in this production, and she spoke to the overlap in their personalities. Johnson discussed Mercutio's pivotal role in the drama, his character's motivations and the intimate knife combat (as opposed to swordplay) between Mercutio and Tybalt.
The student cast members also described the 1950s West Side Story-style setting for the play, which will include Peggy Lee's "Fever" and Dean Martin's "That's Amore" as part of its score.
Before closing, the actors provided updates on two other groups that are part of the Ferris theater program, Theseperados and Saxon Bards.
Romeo and Juliet runs April 18–19 and 25–27 in the Ferris High School theater (3020 E 37th Ave).
Tickets and more information are available at the Ferris Theatre Arts website.
