Starcrossed: Bringing Shakespeare to Every Student

Bringing Shakespeare to Every Student

Every Student Deserves to Experience Live Theatre

Nearly a decade ago, Gulfshore Playhouse learned something that was difficult to imagine in a community with such a vibrant arts scene: many Collier County students were graduating from high school having never seen a live theatrical production.

The discovery sparked So Much Drama, an initiative created to make sure that every student has the opportunity to experience professional theatre before graduation.

Gulfshore Playhouse has since joined forces with Artis—Naples and the Naples Philharmonic to bring a professional theatrical production directly to Collier County Public Schools students. Professional actors and designers are brought in by Gulfshore Playhouse, while the Philharmonic provides the live musical accompaniment, creating an experience that students could not get from a textbook, a recording, or a screen.

This year, over 4,000 11th-grade students were invited to gather at Artis—Naples for Starcrossed, a 60-minute adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Performed by four actors alongside the Naples Philharmonic, the production weaved together Shakespeare’s text with music from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet ballet, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet opera, and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.

[Photos from Starcrossed Rehearsal and Fight Choreography Rehearsal]

The logistics are impressive: four performances, thousands of students, one stage. But the heart of So Much Drama is much simpler.

For some of the students in the audience, this may have been their first time sitting in a theatre and watching professional actors tell a story live.

And that’s the point.

The goal isn’t simply to introduce students to Shakespeare. It’s to give them the experience of being in a room with other people, watching a story unfold in real time, and discovering what live performance can make them feel, question or imagine.

Ahead of the performances, Gulfshore Playhouse sat down with the four actors and director of Starcrossed to talk about Shakespeare, the power of live music, performing for thousands of teenagers, and what it means to be part of someone’s first experience with professional theatre.

Watch the Interview with the Director and Cast: