Click below the Act Titles to Listen and Here or the Read the Text tab to read along.
Act I
Directed By Marc Friedman
Cast
Mercutio, Friar John, Montague, Watch, and Old Man Capulet – Greg Alexander
Benvolio – John Ellington
Musician 3 – Marc Friedman
Lady Capulet and Paige – Linda Goertz
Friar Lawrence, Gregory, and Citizen – David Loftus
Prince Escalus, Chorus, and Abraham – Sam Mowry
Nurse, Apothecary, Lady Montague, and Servant 2 – Kendra Ortner
Capulet, Sampson, and Watch 2 – Chris Porter
Romeo – Nick Sherbo
Paris, Tybalt, Servant 1, Peter, and Balthasar – Paul Susi
Juliet and Musician 2 – Emily Ward
Crew
Marc Friedman – Director and Sound Editing
Ben Shergy – Production Assistant
John Sayles – Music
Linda Goertz – STS Board Liaison
Sam Mowry – Willamette Radio Workshop
Jerry DeLaunay – OPB Station Manager
Special Thanks to the Portland Mennonite Church for our rehearsal space, Willamette Radio Workshop for recording space, to OPB Golden Hours for Recording Space, and to Professor Philip Weller for the annotated text.
Greg Alexander
“R&J” marks Greg’s sixth recorded performance for Speak the Speech, having voiced nearly 20 roles so far. He resides in Portland (OR), where his recent onstage credits include “Tales of Ordinary Madness” (Coho Theater), “The Sisters Rosensweig” (Profile Theatre) and “In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer” (Northwest Classical Theatre Company). He works regularly with Willamette Radio Workshop and can be heard in the dark, sci-fi audio series “Dry Smoke & Whispers” (www.drysmoke.com) and in several stories online at International Tales (www.internationaltales.com).
David Loftus
David loves to read and act Shakespeare. For Speak-the-Speech.com he has already played characters in “As You Like It,” “Henry IV, part 1” and “Henry IV, part 2,” and he hopes to be in more plays for this site. His first Shakespearean stage role was Benvolio in a college production of “Romeo and Juliet” almost 30 years ago. In 2006 he played Macduff in a Portland Actors Ensemble production of “Macbeth” for Shakespeare-in-the-Parks. He also has appeared in productions of Chekhov, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Tom Stoppard, and played a singing, dancing elementary school principal in NW Children’s Theatre’s “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business.” David does live monthly readings of literature called “Story Time for Grownups” at Grendel’s Coffee House and Umpqua Bank. He also performs regularly with the Willamette Radio Workshop, and has recorded characters for “Afterhell” and “Dry Smoke and Whispers.” He is the author of several books and writes reviews for the Oregonian and the Web zine The California Literary Review. For more information, visit his Web site at www.david-loftus.com.
Chris Porter
Chris (Lord Capulet) is a speak-the-speech.com veteran, having ‘appeared’ as Prospero, King Henry IV, and Sir Toby Belch, with a Cassius in the works. He grew grizzled in the ranks of Tygre’s Heart Shakespeare Company, and is a frequent guest artist with Northwest Classical Theatre (www.nwctc.org). He has been active in Portland theatre since 1977, and his full resume is too extensive for this segment of cyberspace.
Emily Ward
Emily is currently teaching drama at a middle school in McMinnville, OR. She obtained her BA in Theatre and her MAT from Pacific University. Besides teaching, Emily dabbles in all aspects of theatre. Her Portland acting debut, in the summer of 2006, was with the Classic Greek Theatre of Oregon, where she was in the chorus for Orestes. She also has worked as the box office manager for Profile Theatre, CoHo Productions and Home Planet Productions. Emily designs and maintains six websites.
