MEM: How did you come up with the idea of aging the couple and placing them in an assisted living home?
CHRISTIAN LEBANO: Let me correct you, Verona Village is a retirement community for active seniors – not an assisted living facility! These characters are vital, and lusty, and very, very, sharp! Over 10 years ago, I was hiking with a good friend who is also a director and we were talking about different plays and concepts and Romeo and Juliet came up. As we were talking about the play, I asked her if she thought an age-reversed production would fly. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I’m thrilled that I am seeing what that random question about the play has led me to. We have changed very little of the verse, the themes of the play are still there but so many others come out when seen from this perspective. AND it’s amazing what mature actors with over 50 years of experience bring to the playing of this story.
What background story did you come up for the titular characters and their respective families?
Creating a backstory for the conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues was vital since I thought it should be done in a modern setting. Since the families are rich, I thought it was likely that they were in business together at some point in the past – and that the Montagues were cheated out of their share of the business by an unscrupulous Capulet – though the Capulet’s perspective on the affair would be completely different! – and the two families have harbored ill-will towards each other ever since. The Capulet we meet in the play would be the grandson of the founding Capulet and Romeo would be the son of the founding Montague. Juliet was the dutiful wife of a cold Capulet and her relations with her son would be frosty. Romeo and his daughter (Montague) would be the opposite – loving and close.
How long was it from concept to page to stage?
Once I had shared the idea with Alan Blumenfeld and Katherine James (my Romeo and Juliet) and we decided that it was worth pursuing, I started to work on the adaptation – that was March of 2025. We had a “proof of concept” informal reading of the adaptation in early June and then I presented the idea to Martha Demson, the Artistic Director of Open Fist Theatre, and she invited me to direct two public readings of it in our First Look Festival that August. After that we began discussing mounting it fully in 2026 and landed on November 13 for its opening. The adaptation has gone through many versions as we’ve refined and honed it.
Why do you think this timeless story is still popular to watch and read?
Love. All of us have pursued love or been in love or been hurt in love; we each have made decisions hastily out of passion, impetuousness, we’ve let our hearts overrule our minds. We each have families and those dynamics are often complicated – and our families and friends have expectations about whom we should love or opinions about who we have declared we love. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has written so much truth that we can’t help but recognize ourselves, our friends, our families. Anyone can watch the play and relate to some aspect of it. That’s why his plays have endured and will endure.
What do you hope the audience will take away from the show?
O so many things! I hope our production shows that passion is not felt only by the young. That we can find our one true love at any point in our lives. That growing older doesn’t mean growing colder. That sexuality doesn’t stop at 60. That love overwhelms reason. That families are complicated. That enmity is ultimately dangerous. That friendship is not the province of the young. AND that the plays of Shakespeare are still vital and meaningful texts which contain riches.
What other upcoming projects do you have?
I acted in a new play in the most recent First Look Festival that I will produce and be in next spring. It’s called Trigger Warning written by a company member, Lawrence Keller. A very interesting play about four teachers during an active shooter drill in a high school. I’m also hoping to finally produce Arthur Kopit’s Wings – a very beautiful play that I would love Katherine James to do with me. We have a surprise reading to be announced soon that we’ll do during the Romeo and Juliet run. And I have two plays I’m hoping to find homes for – Ted Tally’s Terra Nova about Scott’s expedition to the South Pole and Arden of Feversham an anonymous, but sometimes credited to Shakespeare, play that is considered the greatest domestic tragedy of the Elizabethan era. I’ve hoped to direct that since I read it in high school!