Romeo & Juliet: Lottery Style

Original Cast & Creative Team

Adapter/Facilitator: Katherine Warmka 

Choreographer: Zsofi Eastvold 

Fight/Movement Choreographer: Matthew R. Olsen 

Artistic Development Associate: Irie Unity

Faculty Advisor: Matthew R. Olsen

Fight Captains: Lynnlee Johnson, Olivia Nelson

Ensemble 

Annika Bakke  Lynnlee Johnson

Gabriel Byron Ainsley Knox

Conor Johnson Heidi Mintz 

Sophia Nelson

Chorus: Olivia Nelson

This show started as a project in my directing class at the University of Minnesota - Duluth.

My whole life I battled with the concept of type and my weight was often something that negatively effected how I was viewed in this industry. Not only did I experience this, but I watched so many others I looked up to struggle with the same thing. This frustrated me and honestly made me anxious about going in to theater professionally.

Well, one of the strongest ways to combat anxiety is to create, so that is what I did.

I was then give the opportunity to facilitate the production as a part of UMD Theater’s Lab Series Season. This gave me the opportunity to adapt for the first time ever and share something I love so deeply with others. The process was four weeks long and concluded with 4 public performances that completely sold out!

The process had its ups and downs as all do, but it solidified my love for ensemble based worked and helped me find a new love for Shakespeare.

Often times it can feel unapproachable; like you have to be a genius to understand and perform classical texts, but Shakespeare wrote for the common folk.

By having the cast learn all the parts, they get to explore so much. We are all lovers, best friends, mentors, enemies. We’re complex. This adaptation allows actors to experiment outside their “box” and maybe learn something new.