They’re coming full circle!
The theater company Smith Street Stage will present the violent delights of “Romeo and Juliet” for its 10th-annual Shakespeare in Carroll Park series in June. The tale of star-crossed lovers was also the company’s first production in the park, which makes it especially appropriate for the anniversary, the group’s founder and artistic director announced at its Winter Wassail gala on Feb. 9.
“Ten years ago, we came to Carroll Park, and fell in love. Fell in love with the people, fell in love on stage, and fell in love with a new community and artists we’d never worked with before,” said Beth Ann Hopkins. “We’re very excited to bring one of the most beautiful love stories of all time back to the place where we first fell in love with it.”
In addition to its Shakespearean tale of woe, the company has ambitious plans for its 10th season, with three more shows planned for 2019.
The company will workshop two different shows as part of its “Early Stages” program. First up will be “The Artists” in April, a new play inspired by the amateur actors who stage the play-within-a-play of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” written by award-winning prop designer Noah Mease. The group will also workshop an original stage version of the novel “Little Women” in May, adapted by Smith Street Stage regular Hannah Sloat.
In September, the company plans to produce an adaptation of the tragedy “King Lear” titled “Lear’s Shadow,” which will run at a theater in Manhattan.
Hopkins said that, despite the move across the river, the company would never abandon its home in the borough of Kings — the Manhattan show is just an opportunity to expand its audience.
“We’re never leaving Brooklyn! We’ll be in Carroll Park every summer,” she said “It’s just the next step for our company as we grow.”
