"Romeo & Juliet Deceased"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

30 June, 1998

Subject: Romeo & Juliet, Deceased

UK and US Tour 1998

The West Side Players announce the first American performance of the award winning comedy, "Romeo & Juliet, Deceased." The show, which won the award for Best Original Writing at Buxton Fringe in 1996, opens in the US at Raleigh Park, Portland, Oregon for a five week tour staring on 25th July.

This madcap comedy, has been reviewed by the press as "unashamedly boisterous and wickedly funny," "with little respite between belly aching laughs," and "A very fast paced, laugh a minute comedy."

Set in "limbo", it chronicles the machinations of Shakespeare's romantic characters, speculating how they would behave in the afterlife-a few home truths being revealed first. The classical theatrical device of the love potion being administered to the characters whilst they are asleep takes the plot to the realms of the best farce. Like the original, the star struck lovers do not have it easy when Paris announces that he loves only Romeo. When Romeo shuns Juliet, and indeed all womankind, Mercutio is called upon by the Bard himself to put things right. To add to the confusion the incompetent ego maniac Tybalt and the insane Rosaline conspire to put several spanners in the works.

Director, John Anderberg says, "A few of us had the opportunity to see this show on a recent trip to the United Kingdom. We laughed till we thought we'd die. I was able to contact the author via the internet and we will open the American premiere the same day the show closes in Buxton, U.K."

The West Side Players is an independent non-profit theatre company that tours the Portland area presenting an Outdoor Summer Theatre Tour, children's theatre and various other theatre events. Learn more about the West Side Players by visiting the website.

West Side Players Outdoor Summer Theatre Tour

DIARY DATES

BUXTON FRINGE UK OPEN AIR THEATRE

14TH TO 25TH JULY 1998 INCLUSIVE

7.30 PM

TICKETS £6.50 (£5.00)conc

WEBSITE http://website.lineone.net/~rec.theatre

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 1998

"Romeo & Juliet, Deceased"

West Side Players Summer Theatre Tour

It's been said that the easiest way to know a Shakespearean tragedy is when everyone is dead at the end of the play. So it only stands to reason that if everyone is dead at the beginning of the play it's got to be a comedy.

The West Side Players proudly present the North American premier of Martin Beard's “Romeo and Juliet Deceased.” Of course, Mr. Shakespeare himself, played by Bruce Cramer of Portland, will be present to help Romeo, played by Jason Lewis of Forest Grove, and Juliet, played by Lisa Gagnon of Beaverton, deal with the hysterical strangeness of spending eternity with Mercutio (John Anderberg of Forest Grove), Paris (Sigfried Selger of Milwaukie), Rosaline (Lesa Philips of Forest Grove) and Tybalt played by Roger Monroe of Portland. The production is directed by John Anderberg with assistance by Kathy Kennedy. Stage Manager Heather McGarvey is assisted by Jessica Best and Ernie Hughes. Costumes are designed by Marci Anderberg, all are from Forest Grove.

Mr. Beard's hilarious continuance of Shakespeare's great tragedy saw its first performance in The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and will be revived this summer at the Buxton Theatre Festival in England. The West Side Players' Summer Theater Tour will open July 25 at Raliegh Park in Beaverton, the same night the Buxton Theatre Festival production closes. It will play again July 26 at Raliegh Park and continue August 1 and 2 at McMenamin's Edgefield in Troutdale, August 8 and 9 at Pacific University in Forest Grove, August 15 and 16 at the Murrayhill Amphitheater and August 30 at the Oceanside Community Center. All performances will begin at 6:00 p.m., except in Oceanside, where the curtain will rise at 2:00 p.Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students and seniors.

Reserve tickets or learn more about the West Side Players by visiting the website.