Romeo is a Chinese-American. Juliet is a...

Romeo is a Chinese-American. Juliet is a black Jamaican-American.

What better way to typify the tensions between Shakespeare’s feuding Capulets and Montagues than to have an Asian and a black cast in the lead roles?

So reasoned film and television actor Eric Waterhouse, an Arcadia resident who is directing the innovative staging of “Romeo and Juliet” that opens Friday at 8 p.m. at Pasadena High School.

The production is part of an effort to give students at seven San Gabriel Valley high schools the chance to work on stage with adult professionals, who serve as mentors. Half of the cast of more than two dozen was drawn from auditions at public and private schools in Pasadena, Monrovia, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, Duarte and South Pasadena.

Brandon Toh, 17, of Pasadena’s Polytechnic School, plays Romeo and Breata Simpson, 18, of Pasadena High, is Juliet. The cast also includes four former gang members who now live in a halfway house for parolees.

The rest of the cast consists of acting professionals who have appeared on Broadway and in Southern California stage productions, and on film and television. These include Kate Linder, a 10-year regular on the daytime soap opera, “The Young

and the Restless,” who is playing the Nurse, and Chou-Le Chi, whose credits include Broadway productions and nine years on the nighttime soap, “Falcon Crest,” as Lord Montague.

As a way to address problems related to cutbacks in arts education, Waterhouse, 37, two years ago decided to start a theater company. In the spring, as he was trying to still finish organizing his “Theaterquest” project, “L.A. started burning and I realized we had a responsibility to meet the needs of the community right away.” With that, Waterhouse rounded up volunteer professionals and donations from local businesses, schools and individuals.

“So far, we’ve got the students hoodwinked into thinking the community cares. If no (audience) shows up . . . it really will be a tragedy, much more so than what happens on stage in the play.”

The performances are scheduled for Fridays and Saturdays: July 24, 25 and 31, and Aug. 1, 7 and 8. Tickets are $10. Senior citizen admission is $8.50 and children under 12, $7.50. Group discounts are available. Tickets can be bought from Theatix (213) 466-1767. The theater is located in the high school at 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd.