BU Today: What makes this production of Romeo and Juliet different from other versions of the play?

Yarovoy: I’m very excited about this play because I’m a big advocate for accessible theater, and this is, by far, the most accessible play I have ever been a part of. It is outside in the park, it is completely free. And even when we’re rehearsing certain scenes outside, you’ll see that people will start gathering. There will be kids running around with their parents, and they’ll just start looking and paying attention to our rehearsals. So, it really does feel like something for the community of Chelsea. 

Laird:The bilingual aspect does bring a different element that not a lot of Romeo and Juliet productions have. I think that when people hear of a bilingual production of Romeo and Juliet, they assume that the languages are divided like the houses are in the story, but in our production, that’s not at all what it’s like. There are a lot of characters who are bilingual on both sides to show that these enemies have a lot more in common than normally perceived. I feel like it’s a great production because it encourages connection and participation.

Kuang: The audience isn’t going to be just sitting there looking at the stage. We’re going to close down the streets, and the park, and the audience is going to be immersed into the world of our story. And they’re going to be following us and joining us, such as in a party scene—they’re going to become the members of the party. And you know, every story is different depending on who’s in it, and who’s telling it, and who the director is. And I think for this one, the cultural aspect of having Spanish and English will be a big part of it, as well. And having a diverse cast, I think, is also going to play into it.

BU Today: What was the audition process like for each of you, and what was your reaction when you learned you had landed your respective parts?

Yarovoy: Before the pandemic, I was working with the Apollinaire Theatre Company on The Importance of Being Earnest. We were halfway through rehearsals when everything got shut down because of COVID, so Danielle had sort of known my work from that. She asked me to record a little monologue essentially reading for Romeo and I did—I just made a self tape from home. When I was making the videos for Danielle, I was visiting my family in Russia. So, it was like such a bizarre thing because there was this crazy time difference. And then we were doing callbacks with all the Juliets on Zoom, and I was in Russia, so it was like two in the morning for me. 

Laird: This past school year, I was introduced to working with Shakespearean texts. And after that class, I was aching to have experience within a Shakespeare production—I hadn’t done a Shakespeare show in my entire life. So, when I saw a post for the Apollinaire production of Romeo and Juliet, I went out on a whim and was like, “I don’t have much to do this summer,” so I submitted an audition tape. I heard back within a week about callbacks and they sent me lines for Juliet, as well as some of the characters. I later got a call from Danielle when I was on the phone with my sister, so I hung up on my sister and answered the phone call. She offered me the role of Juliet, which was baffling to me, because I went into the process thinking that this was just me going out on a whim and that I’d be an ensemble member. 

Kuang: The first step was to send in pre-screens, which is basically just like videos of you doing a monologue. I sent two videos to them and they gave me a callback. And they were like, okay, here are the dates that we’re auditioning in person in the theatre. About 24 hours before the in-person audition, they gave me a couple of scenes to do and also said, “If you have any special skills, bring them.” So, I brought a little original rap I wrote and I also break danced. I thought it was really great because it was one of the first in-person things I’d done in a while because of COVID. I auditioned in the afternoon and Danielle actually called me at 7 pm that night and said, “I’m giving you the role of Tybalt.” I was very happy. I told my mom and we celebrated. It was very exciting.

BU Today: Do you have any preshow rituals that help you get into character?

Yarovoy: I really love listening to music. I find that it really gets me into this story’s world. I’ve been mostly listening to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, from the ballet. I’ve been listening to that to find the character and stuff like that. So, probably music is the most helpful for me. 

Laird: I’m still developing what helps me access these parts of myself for Juliet, I have been experimenting with activating my body through things like spine activation exercises and centering of my body. I also find images with Juliet that kind of bring her to life for me, like imagining that Juliet had wings like a bird: that helps me find that part of myself and act from that kind of childlike energy and curiosity and explore and see things from a different point of view. These images transform throughout the play as well, since it’s not a static thing. 

Kuang: I think for me, it’s really getting into my body, so like stretching. We actually have a preshow, where the audience is going to be watching us and that’s kind of like a warm-up. People will be doing all sorts of things. For me, I’m doing rap, like a character rap that has to do with Romeo and Juliet, and it’s written from the perspective of my character. So, I think that will really vocally warm me up, and physically put me in the mood. Plus, drinking lots of water.

BU Today: What have you discovered about yourselves and your characters during rehearsals?

Yarovoy: I think Shakespeare’s characters can sometimes feel larger than life, they can seem and feel so dramatic and so huge. Even for me, going into this I definitely paid some judgment to Romeo for his actions and how impulsive he is. But when I actually got to explore the world through his eyes, I noticed I’m a lot more similar to him than I thought I was. Generally, these characters are people with very real, valid feelings and problems that we can all connect to.