在威廉·莎士比亚（William Shakespeare）的“罗密欧与朱丽叶（Romeo and Juliet）”中表达的许多想法和动态中，标题角色的英勇与卡伦·扎卡里斯（KarenZacarías）共鸣。
“勇敢的”is a word she uses freely when the Mexican-born playwright speaks of adapting arguably the most popular love story in history. She and director KJ Sanchez knew that if they wanted to tell the ancient tale the way their hearts desired, a brave commitment to uncompromised bilingualism was necessary.
大流行之后取消计划the show’s world premiere in September 2020, Zacarías’ new bilingual adaptation, “Romeo y Juliet,”is finally scheduledto open Wednesday, May 25, as part of California Shakespeare Theater’s 2022 season. While Zacarías and Sanchez are ecstatic about their long-awaited premiere that centers a story of Latinidad within a classical text, the time away from the piece strengthened the duo’s resolve to lean more deeply and unapologetically into the show’s concept.
扎卡里亚斯在华盛顿特区的家中告诉《纪事》：“我在2020年对西班牙人来说更轻松，在2020年对此更加自觉，但是每个人都一直在要求更多西班牙语。然后我意识到生活很短。这部戏已经完成了一百万次，所以为什么不呢？我们致力于双语的越多，两种语言都能以他们的光线显示。”
One of those people who pushed hard for a higher level of bilingualism was Sanchez.She realizedthat making one language more dominant than the other was counterproductive.
“凯伦（Karen）确实为双语观众写作。但是，对于只说英语的人来说，西班牙人在特殊的情况下，这清楚了这一点。她在Cal Shakes的最后一个导演项目是2018年广受好评的“ Quixote Nuevo”的制作，这是Miguel de Cervantes撰写的17世纪初小说《 Don Quixote》的重新构想。该节目由得克萨斯州本地人Octavio Solis改编，他在搬到俄勒冈州之前在旧金山工作了很多年。
莎士比亚的原始资料为每位艺术家都有丰富的历史。扎卡里亚斯（Zacarías）在2008年与芝加哥导演亨利·戈德内斯（Henry Godinez）进行了对她的改编作品。那本书的舞台和屏幕演员伊丽莎白·佩尼亚（ElizabethPeña）饰演capulet夫人。桑切斯（Sanchez）在1993年毕业于研究生院时也扮演朱丽叶（Juliet），这为扎卡里亚斯（Zacarías）提供了对标志性莎士比亚女性的广泛而批判的见解。
The firm commitment to provide both languages equal billing means there are no supertitles投影high above the stage. For Zacarías, that choice is built from her unwavering faith in the audience.
“People need to trust that they will understand more than they fear,” said Zacarías, a Stanford University alumnus. “That’s what I had to go through. I had to trust that the play would open up to me if I surrendered to it, in a sense. This play is about people surrendering to love. When KJ and I surrendered (to our vision), the play grew.”
对于“莎士比亚和拉丁美洲人”的书，合着者卡拉·德拉·加塔（Carla Della Gatta）研究了150多个以拉丁裔为主题的莎士比亚作品和改编作品，发现超过四分之一以“罗密欧与朱丽叶”为基础。
“Integrating Latinidad with classics can provide an entry point for those unfamiliar with Latinx cultures to learn about them through familiar stories, and vice versa,” said Della Gatta. “Whenever classics are adapted and interpreted through another culture, it illuminates something new about the story. It also reminds us that stories (and people) need to adapt to stick around.”
在“罗密欧·朱丽叶”中，德拉·加塔（Della Gatta）指出了很少有组件provideimperative texture to thefamiliarstory. The first is the setting, which places the action in unsparing Alta California in the colonial period of the 1840s and the site of the征服加利福尼亚. In order to end the Mexican-American War in 1848, theTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo被实施，导致墨西哥将其55％的土地割让给美国。两年later，加利福尼亚成为联盟第31个州。
The玩otherkey在莎士比亚文本中，动态破坏了拉丁语代表年鉴中的新基础。
Della Gatta说：“这是我与罗密欧和朱丽叶作为女性角色的第一个以拉丁裔为主题的改编作品。”
在突破性改编中扮演标题角色的两个任务是Vero Maynez，使她的Cal Shakes首次亮相朱丽叶（Juliet）和受欢迎的湾区表演者SaritaOcón，扮演罗密欧（Romeo）的角色。
将剧本重新构成在顽强的历史环境中是一个酷儿叙事，这是剧作家和导演都想探索的机会。
桑切斯说：“在1848年加利福尼亚州危险的时候，将一个酷儿的故事完全提高了赌注。”“这个地方感觉像是每个人都容易暴力的绝对压力锅，这一点非常重要 - 关于那个时候的真实暴力有很多证明。”
提供一个新鲜的游戏的固有的弦乐器ence and crafting new ways to access the text with like-minded collaborators is a blessing these days after the past two years decimated the theater industry. Many artists still find themselves picking up the remains of their robust careers as live shows began to return from the pandemic. Zacarías, one of the most produced playwrights in the nation,也不例外。
两年ago, her long-standing regional hit “Destiny of Desire”was scheduled for a runat the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis before moving to a Broadway opening, her New York debut. However, multiple COVID variants shifted those plans indefinitely.
Despitesuch setbacks，扎卡里亚斯（Zacarías）坚定地专注于新机会。单词和故事告知她所做的一切和永恒的tale在两个只想彼此相爱的青少年中，已经成为她的指导灯之一。
“This story has survived world wars and plagues and everything and we’re still presenting it, because good art survives, right?” she said. “I think that’s informed my bravery. I’ve become a lot more brave, for sure.”
“罗密欧Y朱丽叶”: Written by William Shakespeare. Adapted by Karen Zacarías. Directed by KJ Sanchez. Opens Wednesday, May 25. Through June 19. $30-$70, subject to change. Two hours, 40 minutes with an intermission. California Shakespeare Theater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda. 510-548-9666.calshakes.org