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Classic theater, southern Wisconsin. Romeo and Juliet, November 6-21 at the Bartell Theatre.

10/15/2026

Tonight on WORT FM Radio Literature, Romeo and Juliet's Dylan Juni (Romeo) and Wyatt Clement (Friar) in-studio at 7:30 PM, 89.9 FM locally or streaming worldwide.

Wyatt (shown here from May's production of Measure For Measure) "enjoy[s] playing characters who are their own worst enemy," including the pictured Angelo, Guildenstern (R&G Are Dead), Judge Turpin (Sweeney Todd), and John Worthing (Earnest). Naturally, he aspires to play both Coriolanus and King Arthur down the road.

"As the Friar, I'm looking forward to sharing some of the few moments of true optimism in the play, such as his first soliloquy, and the relationship between him and Romeo. I'm also looking forward to sharing the ending, which is one of the most iconic in Western literature," he says. "A couple reasons: the language truly sings and only reveals more the more you hear it. I also think it's themes are so fundamental to the human experience that they never grow old."

Wyatt finds his opposite-side co-conspirator just as compelling. "Juliet's Nurse's life has been filled with tragedy, having lost both her husband and daughter before the start of the play, and yet she has found true joy in her relationship with Juliet. Despite her tendency to talk at length about herself, her actions make here one of the most selfless characters in the play. She helps to arrange Juliet's marriage with Romeo because she sees that's what Juliet truly wants, even if it goes against the Capulets' wishes. It's interesting, then, that she later encourages Juliet to marry Paris, thereby losing her charge's trust, and ends the play having lost arguably more than any other surviving character."

Catch our preview on-air tonight and make your plans to see Romeo and Juliet, coming soon to the Bartell Theatre!

10/13/2026

"Could the Friar's Feign Death potion, taken by Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, be real?" That's probably the wrong question. If it was real, we'd see everyone from frantic young lovers to people looking to get out of family vacations use it over and over again.

Might Shakespeare have been alluding to something he (and/or his audience) believed could be real? Perhaps! According to the BBC, a contemporary book The Herball or General Historie of Plantes by John Gerarde said that atropa belladonna could produce a death-like sleep in just the right quantity. Get it wrong, and the result would be madness or death.

(Probably best to just take the Nurse's advice and marry Paris.)

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140416-do-shakespeares-poisons-work

10/09/2026

What a difference a year makes! At the start of our 2025 Bartell Theatre season, Danielle Bormann Davidson portrayed young Isabella in Women Beware Women, where her story ended in a scalding shower of molten gold. Now she's navigating the highs and lows of life as Juliet's Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. "I’ve been in love with playing make believe and storytelling my whole life. Theatre is a living breathing thing and my favorite part is connecting with the audience in moments of joy, sadness, surprise, fill-in-the-blank."

Count Danielle among the many performers to refine her techniques in R&J scenework. But there's still plenty left to discover. "People come back to it because we age and grow and change. When I was young, I identified with Juliet. As an adult, I can see how crazy it is for a 13 year old to make these massive decisions," she said.

Despite the rough ride ahead, Danielle sees Shakespeare's masterwork as an uplifting experience. "I think people adore this play because it is so hopeful. The moment of falling in love and feeling like nothing in the world matters? It’s beautiful."

10/08/2026

Each year we shape 90 minutes of love scenes and sonnets around the unique strengths and skills of our acting ensemble. Director Birdie La Barre invites you to your opportunity to become one of the elite eight at Auditions for A Valentine's Affair 2027. Auditions are November 9-10 with performances at the Bartell Theatre February 11-13, 2027.

10/06/2026

Just Asking Romeo and Juliet Questions:
Who arrives in a new city and scans their new neighbors specifically asking, "which one of these guys is desperate enough to sell me some poison? Just in case?"
(Mantua's lovely, there are other things to do, Romeo.)

10/05/2026

Madison is a place many talented people move *through*. So although it's been a few years since Amber DePetro last appeared in an MSC rehearsal room (shown here directing 2022's Much Ado About Nothing), her contributions continue. "I love Madison Shakespeare Company, and I always look forward to collaborating with them even from afar."

Amber (now residing and teaching in St. George, Utah at an arts-focused high school) adapted the text from Shakespeare's original for this autumn's presentation of Romeo and Juliet. Although our version won't have one of her top R&J highlights ("Leonardo DiCaprio's naked butt"), it will deliver on the other big themes. "People love the star crossed lovers, kept apart by family demands. Not being able to make our own choices, especially matters of the heart is a theme that many people can relate to no matter the era," she says. "Personally, the story fires me up because I see two teenagers being dramatic, and an issue that could have been prevented all along if they hadn’t taken the weight of the world on their shoulders."

In addition to working on her own script adaptations for future projects, Amber creates physical art from found objects in the Utah desert: see her on Instagram at amberdawn.art.

09/30/2026

In charge of Queen Mab Metaphor and Nurse Needling is Nicky C***r, debuting with MSC in the role of Mercutio. If you needed some time to warm to Romeo and Juliet, you're not alone, as Nicky "wasn’t the biggest fan of it as a required reading in Highschool, but when I worked on it in class at college at LAMDA in the heart of Shakespearean performance, I discovered the beauty of the work."

What changed? An appreciation of Romeo's journey. "He’s a character who we see discover what “true” love is after believing he had already found it with Rosaline. Then we see how far that loves takes him - he abandons his name, his honor, and eventually his life, to be with the person the he loves."

The inaugural Folio Scholar at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts, Nicky is familiar to Bartell audiences from productions including The Butter and Egg Man (Peter) and Twelve Angry Jurors (Juror #10). Future credits include Forward Theater's spring presentation The First Lady of Television.

Why this Romeo and Juliet? "We’re told at the beginning of the show that the lovers die, and it ends the feud between their families. We keep coming back to this show because the journey to that conclusion shows how love grows in the harshest conditions."

bartelltheatre.org/2026/romeo-and-juliet

09/28/2026

Somewhere in a parallel universe, Juliet takes the Nurse's advice and moves on from the banished Romeo to marry Paris. The Nurse and the Friar carry her secret to their graves. Lady Capulet becomes a proud grandmother. She notices that her daughter is sadder than most of the other young mothers in Verona, but never asks why.

And in that version, too, might we find Sheri Meland as Lady Capulet. In our Romeo and Juliet she makes her MSC debut after appearances with numerous area companies, very recently in Stoughton Village Players' presentation of Shakespeare In Love.

She's found new perspective on the turmoil of the young lovers. "It does in fact, turn out to be true that being content with how things are, rather than focusing on how to change them seems to give me more peace. I imagine how the Friar must feel after his plan goes so awfully awry; good intentions be damned, life is short."

Sheri is a product of Grinnell College as well as UW-Madison, and says that questions of control and destiny are what keep people coming back to the star-crossed lovers, generation after generation. "[It's the] illusion of control; [the] reminder that misunderstanding is always possible and sometimes fatal."

bartelltheatre.org/2026/romeo-and-juliet

Address

111 S. Livingston St. #100
Madison, WI
53703

Website

http://www.madisonshakespeare.org/

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