Romeo & Juliet

Calgary Young People’s Theatre — October 2025

Directed by Jamie Dunsdon

Scenic Design and Construction by Jake Rose

Stage Managed by Tonisha Kroeger

Lights by Tauran Wood

Sound by Kristin Eveleigh

Wardrobe by Rebecca Toon

Props by Jamie Dunsdon

When Jamie asked me to design Romeo and Juliet, I immediately wanted to do it in an alley configuration. With a unique opportunity to cast the play age accurately — adults playing the parents to the teenagers who go through a tumultuous couple days played by actual teenagers— I wanted the audience to face each other and confront each other about youth suicide.

Framing the play through the eyes of Friar Lawrence, who both marries Romeo and Juliet, and helps contrive the plan for Juliet’s fake death, we introduced elements of botany, science, that would play off the romantic imagery and portrayals of the play. By poking at the romanticism and mythos the play has taken on, sometimes leaning into it, and sometimes averting it, we inspected the ways in which we justify and excuse youth violence. The canopy overhead and the paint on the floor of the stage were my explorations of this.

For scenes that needed a table, a bed, or a tomb, we made use of a mechanical lift. A seemingly solid block emerged from the floor of the stage and could raise up to 32”.

Our original design had utilized sliding and pivoting plexiglass panels, that were coated with a special rear-projection film that allowed actors to be seen while the glass caught the images from the projections. This concept did not make it to the final product, but would have indicated settings through the use of classical paintings.