VENTURA COUNTY NEWS : 400-Year-Old Play Provides Timely Lessons

On a wood stage, as morning sunlight broke through the trees of Oak Grove School, youngsters sat captivated by the world’s most beloved tragedy.

The modern audience merged with the classic setting Thursday to watch an abridged version of “Romeo and Juliet,” the timeless story of star-crossed love, two families’ hate and the devastating consequences of both.

“The issues are still relevant,” eighth-grader Jessica Cornwall said. “It’s similar to what’s going on today, like in Kosovo.”

Whether it’s warring ethnic groups or families like the Montagues and Capulets, hate leads to destruction, loss and tragedy.

That is one of the lessons the Ventura-based Rubicon Theatre Company hoped to impart to students countywide. The nonprofit group has visited 10 schools with a 1 1/2-hour version of the play.

“It’s about the terrible consequences of gang violence and blind hatred,” said Karyl Lynn Burns, co-artistic and executive director of the company.

And with such important themes, said Burns, the company wanted to give kids a chance to hash them out for themselves. So after each production, including Thursday’s, the cast made up mostly of Equity actors spent another few hours leading workshops for the students.

Tim Moore, who played Benvolio in the Rubicon’s production, got his start as a thespian at Oak Grove School, where he was a student from fifth to eighth grade. Plays there got him interested in what has become his craft.

“My perspective on theater has changed since I’ve gone from the audience to the stage,” Moore said. “It’s just magical, and that’s what we’re giving to the kids.”

During the workshops, students discussed the play’s themes and the period in which it was written. They ran lines from a scene or two.

Jessica, a 13-year-old Ojai resident, was eager for a chance to read the scene when Romeo and Juliet first meet and fall in love.

Eighth-grader Jason Maynard’s primary interest was in how the fight scenes were choreographed. He watched in wonderment as actors discussed the types of weapons they used and how they prevented injury during the fast-paced fight scenes.

“I liked the stage combat,” Jason said. “It’s more real, but it’s less horrific. It’s nicer that way.” And the Ojai resident said that though exciting, the fight scenes taught him a real life lesson: That hatred can lead only to loss.

“Through drama and theater you can examine the actions of people and the consequences,” said James O’Neil, the company’s artistic director, adding that many students don’t have dramatic outlets in which they can act out their emotions. Kids, he added, need an environment “to think about something before they would actually do it.”

At 14, Juliet is about the same age as members of Thursday’s audience. And many of the young woman’s struggles are still faced by American teenagers today: talking to parents who they think don’t accept or understand them, stopping violence, breaking a cycle of hatred.

Ultimately, said O’Neil, it’s “about making your own choices or the right to make your own choices.”

“Romeo and Juliet” is Rubicon’s fifth production since launching a theater company a year ago. Along with the performances for students, there were three fund-raising events, which included the abridged play, at the Bella Maggiore Inn in Ventura.

The show’s two-week tour, which included high schools throughout the western part of the county, concludes today at Nordhoff High School, the 18-member cast’s final stop.

But the company has plans to continue to provide professional theater for school-aged youth.

“It’s a way of discussing societal issues, what we want society to be about,” O’Neil said. “That’s what the theater is about.”