CONTACT: Brad White
Marketing and Publicity Manager
Center for the Arts, Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90263
(310) 506-4055
brad.white@pepperdine.edu
BOX OFFICE: (310) 506-4522
http://arts.pepperdine.edu/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

THE PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
FINE ARTS DIVISION THEATRE DEPARTMENT
Mary Pickford-Stotsenberg Performances Series

presents William Shakespeare's

ROMEO AND JULIET

Jason Chanos directs a Pepperdine student cast.

Tuesday-Saturday, April 5-9, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University
24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is transported to a futuristic setting in Pepperdine University Fine Arts Division Theatre Department's production of the classic tragedy at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday-Saturday, April 5-9, at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre in Malibu.

Tickets, priced at $15 for the public, $10 for full-time Pepperdine students with ID, and $12 for Pepperdine faculty and staff with ID, are on sale now through the Pepperdine Center for the Arts Box Office at (310) 506-4522. Tickets for the general public are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787. Information online: http://arts.pepperdine.edu/

Perhaps the most famous love story in all of literature, this tale of the star-crossed relationship between two young lovers has been fast-forwarded to a post-apocalyptic world.

Jason Chanos directs the student cast, which includes Brooke Lowry as Juliet and Pepperdine graduate Ken Korpi in a guest-starring role as Romeo.

"The violence of the family feud in R&J has never resonated with me when it was set in its traditional world of tights and rapiers. In my lifetime, I have been exposed to a much different type of gang warfare. When I considered who will be watching the show, I felt it would be better received and understood if we brought it into our modern context," Chanos said.

"The one difficulty in doing this is justifying Shakespeare's heightened and classic text. To solve that problem and the challenge of having an all-college-aged cast, we are adopting the idea that the families in R&J are more akin to tribes. Instead of two feuding Italian families, ours is a band of children refugees who survived the aftermath of world catastrophe, perhaps an earthquake, by banding together to protect their resources. Therefore, the heightened language is a product of isolation learned loosely from religious doctrine and old books," he explained.

Chanos earned his bachelor's degree in theatre arts from the University of Northern Colorado in 1994 and his master's degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1997. He specialized and double-majored in acting and directing at both schools.

Since then he has worked professionally as a regional stage actor and performed in over 40 stage productions across the country with companies like Playwrights Horizons in New York, Kansas City Repertory, Denver Center Theatre Company, and Utah Shakespeare Festival. He has also directed dozens of shows and made numerous TV, voice-over, and print commercials.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 2005, he has performed with the award-winning companies A Noise Within, Rubicon Theatre, and Boston Court; filmed a short film titled Love; and co-starred on episodes of Cold Case and Numb3rs for CBS.
 
Romeo and Juliet is presented as part of Pepperdine's Mary Pickford-Stotsenberg Performances series. There will be a talkback with the cast and director following Wednesday's performance.

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