Royal Family Productions to Present A Re-imagining of ROMEO AND JULIET

Royal Family Productions will present the inaugural production in a new Young BIPOC Directors series, Romeo and Juliet. This new adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play by Lindsay Price is directed by Lily Ventura. Romeo and Juliet will run two performances only June 17-18th at Royal Family Performing Arts Space (145 West 46th Street, 3rd Floor). Tickets are $20-$250 with $15 student tickets, and can be purchased by clicking www.RoyalFamilyProductions.org

Following COVID Protection guidelines, the audience is required to provide proof of vaccination and remain masked throughout the performance.

Romeo and Juliet will star Hannah Beemer, Sam Wade, Ryan Weintraub, Lucian Zane, Gracie Chase, Oliver Zoduwah Jr., Griffen Duggar Ades, Jaiden Cortez, and Daisy Chase. The creative team includes production supervision by Kyle Conn and production design by Sara Beth Knight.

ROYAL FAMILY's mission is to galvanize the Times Square community by cultivating raw talent, collaborating with seasoned artists, and inspiring audiences with a diversity of lion-hearted theatre. To us, everyone in the theatre community is not only royalty but family. Our programs and productions give artists space at all stages of their careers. We don't want to tell just any story: we want to best serve artists in telling their own stories. In today's political and social climate, it is also more important than ever to celebrate all voices-especially those underrepresented in the traditional theatre space. At Royal Family, we celebrate the work of female artists, playwrights of color, works with LGBTQIA themes, and artists of all ages and body types.

Royal Family has been a creative incubator of original, humanistic plays for over a decade. Bravery and fearlessness are imperative to our process. Artists and audiences alike are challenged in a creative safe space to explore the humor and the tangled truths of the human condition. As actor and first-time playwright Anthony Rapp (Rent, Dazed and Confused, Star Trek: Discovery) observes, "Royal Family is committed to truthful, heartfelt, alive, theatrical storytelling. It's vital to the human experience and hard to come by."

Royal Family was established in 2007 by Katie Avebe, Mary Bernardi, Chris Henry and Andy Theodorou as a home for artists wishing to challenge and transform the traditional theatre canon. Since its launch, Royal Family has developed lasting relationships with highly regarded theatre professionals such as Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America, Tony-Nominee Wit) and Anthony Rapp (Rent, If/Then, Dazed and Confused); and has partnered with artists including John Cariani (Tony Nominee Fiddler on the Roof, The Band's Visit, Something Rotten), Adriane Lenox (Tony Winner Doubt, Tony Nominee After Midnight), Mary Testa (Tony Nominee On the Town, Tony Nominee 42nd Street, Tony Nominee Oklahoma), Stephanie J. Block (Tony Winner The Cher Show, Tony Nominee The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Tony Nominee Falsettos), Andréa Burns (In The Heights, On Your Feet), Maddie Corman (Accidentally Brave, Some Kind of Wonderful, Next Fall), Adrienne C. Moore (Orange is the New Black, For Colored Girls...), Constance Shulman (Orange is the New Black, The Rose Tattoo), Penny Fuller (Tony Nominee Applause, Tony Nominee The Dinner Party), and Taye Diggs (Rent, Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Our productions have been reviewed by The New York Times, Time Out, The Village Voice, The Boston Globe, Time Out London, The London Times, and The Irish Times and featured three years in a row in the esteemed Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Recent highlights include the first annual Female+ Forward Festival, featuring new work by Queen Esther, Rosa Arredondo, and Iman Shuk, curated and directed by Lorna Ventura Women on Fire: Stories from the Frontlines and Women on Fire: Scorching the Dividing Lines which featured a rotating cast of more than 40 women, including Kathleen Chalfant, Maddie Corman, Catherine Curtin, Pamela Dunlap, Penny Fuller, Laura Gomez, Cady Huffman, Adriane Lenox, Cynthia Mace, Adrienne C. Moore, Laila Robins, Constance Shulman, Mary Testa, Tonye Patano, Maryann Plunkett, Alysia Reiner, Lianah Sta. Ana, Ashley Williams and more, the World Premiere of Anne of Green Gables: Part 1 starring Ali Ewoldt, a workshop of Anne of Green Gables: Part 2 starring Doreen Montalvo, and a world premiere workshop, Diary of a Tap Dancer Vol. 4 conceived and choreographed by Ayodele Casel and directed by Torya Beard that kicked off Royal Family's 10th anniversary season. In 2017, thoughts of a COLORED MAN on a day when the sun set too early by playwright Keenan Scott II was a collaboration between stage and television star-turned-choreographer Taye Diggs, choreographer Jenny Parsinen, and Royal Family's Emerging Artist Program. This play is making its Broadway debut next month. In 2016, Royal Family premiered Rock and Roll Refugee, a biographical musical about Genya Ravan, who also wrote the music and lyrics. The Polish World War II refugee and Holocaust survivor broke into the rock scene at a time when it was a predominantly male field, forming the first all-girl band and becoming the first female music producer. The New York Times' Laura Collins-Hughes praised the production as "exciting" and lauded its "strikingly female gaze." Other Royal Family highlights include premiering Tony Award nominee John Cariani's comedy LOVE / SICK, the darker cousin to his widely produced hit play Almost Maine as well as presenting co-productions of Anthony Rapp's Without You with The Menier Chocolate Factory and The New York Musical Theater Festival.

LILY VENTURA: (Director) is a 17 year old director and performer born and raised in New York City. Lily has loved performing since she was two, and has had a strong love for live theater for a very long time. She loves the thrill she receives from a live performance. Lily hopes to pay the way and strives to make the theatre community more inclusive to all!

PERFORMANCE DETAILS:

ROMEO and JULIET

Written by William Shakespeare; Adapted by Lindsay Price

Directed by Lily Ventura

at ROYAL FAMILY PERFORMING ARTS SPACE IN TIMES SQUARE

June 17-18, 2022

Running time 60 minutes

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