Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to perform free "Romeo and Juliet" shows for Boston students

Thousands of Greater Boston students will soon experience live Shakespeare, and for some, it will be their very first time.

The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's Stage 2 performance series creates live theater with productions designed just for middle and high schoolers.

This year, the company will perform half a dozen student matinees of "Romeo and Juliet."

Bryn Boice, the director of education and training, explained, "We're really privileged to be able to bring Shakespeare to them in the way that it's supposed to be received, which is in performance, not just reading. "

Six thousand students are expected to see the play this month for free, all thanks to a partnership with Rodman for Kids' Theatre for Kids program.

"It's really cool to have English teachers so happy that they're like, 'We studied this. We studied this play, but you brought it to life for them, and now they understand how understandable Shakespeare actually is, how approachable he is," Boice said.

The CSC2 performances use 90-minute abridged versions of original Shakespeare texts, like "Macbeth," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "Romeo and Juliet," with a focus on themes that will resonate with younger audiences.

"What's so exciting about these Stage 2 performances is just seeing the kids having these visceral reactions to live theater," Founding artistic director Steve Maler explained.

Boice added, "They're screaming when somebody gets in a fight. They're screaming when somebody dies in a sword fight, or has their first kiss, or betrays someone. They really get into the emotional aspects of the play."

Maler hopes the performances will help the students understand the origins of what they see in popular culture, which are often derived from Shakespeare.

"For us, the ability to democratize these narratives, share them with everyone, make them really be common wealth, that's the vision of the company. That this is material and stories and narratives that are to be shared," Maler said. 

And having a cast that is close in age to audience members makes the whole production more relatable.

"There's such curiosity by the young people of the actors about their craft, their process, their point of view, how a piece of staging came together," Mailed explained. 

"It's incredible how many comments that we have gotten about how they're going to read more now that they know that it is so understandable," added Boice.

While the student matinees are just for local schools, there will be two public performances of Romeo and Juliet as well.

Both are on Saturday, May 30th, at the Strand Theater in Dorchester. And this summer, Shakespeare on the Common performances of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will help mark the company's 30th anniversary.