KMC Brings Shakespeare's Classic Love Story to Life

by Rebekah Johnson

Romeo and Juliet was the first play of the year by the Kapaun Mt. Carmel Theater Department. The show was performed Sept. 26-Sept. 28. 

The play is one of many well-known plays by William Shakespeare. The story is known for Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet meeting at a party held by Lord Capulet, and ends with them both dying a tragic death. 

Sophomore Hadley Hott, who played Juliet, shared delight in performing the play.

“I absolutely loved it,” Hott said. “Being on stage is where I'm most happy, and I just like sharing my talents with other people, and the people I got to perform with were really, really sweet. It's like a family.”

Hott said preparation for the play had its difficult moments.

“I was very nervous,because four weeks to memorize a lot of lines, especially Shakespeare, was a lot,” Hott said. “But everyone was so helpful. Probably the hardest part was trying to find the emotion inside of me to impersonate Juliet because she's striving for love but doesn't want to be separated with her family and she's a very complex character.”

Senior CJ Dixon, who played Romeo, Juliet’s love interest, said that being in the play was difficult.

“My first few thoughts were, this is going to be a challenge,” Dixon said. “I've never done a Shakespeare play before, and it's going to be a lot of lines, but I was also really excited, because it was different from any other character I played before.”

Dixon said that he has been doing KMC Theater for many years.

“I've been doing high school theater long enough where I really don't get nervous,” he said. “I think I was more nervous for other actors, especially Hadley, because it was her first show.The hardest part of being in the play is probably figuring out how to put emotion in lines that people aren't going to understand.”

This was the first play by new director Gabe Heffernan.

“I thought the play went well,” Heffernan said. “I was proud of the work the students did in such a short amount of time. They really locked in and gave it their all. I'm very happy with the audience's response as well. 

“I enjoyed the challenge of putting on Shakespeare in such a short amount of time. I had always wanted to direct Romeo and Juliet so I loved the novelty of making bold choices, seeing certain scenes I had imagined in my brain come to life on stage. Additionally, sharing my love for Shakespeare with students was awesome.”