Mimi Lee ’22: Romeo and Juliet, Prologue 1-14 

“While I think this is a basic choice, I am interested in this sonnet because I think it so strikingly sets the foundation for the play and establishes its themes,” Mimi said.  “I remember doing a lighting design project in my theatre class freshman year for the prologue and being captivated by the word ‘star-crossed.’  While not only giving me ideas of imagery to use in my project, it really made me think about the external forces that influence our lives versus our own choices.  What I love the most about Shakespeare’s writing are the ways in which theatre artists have been able to harness these centuries-old texts and return to them over and again, each time bringing a new life and a fresh outlook.  I find it so interesting and inspiring how productions make unique choices in performance, design, and setting, many of which differ greatly from Shakespeare’s time, and are able to pluck out new themes to emphasize.  However, I think that regardless of a production’s choices, what makes Shakespeare’s plays so compelling is that at each of their core are fascinating, multi-dimensional characters and such witty, beautiful language that is up for interpretation.”

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,
And the continuance of their parents’ rage,
Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.