This fall, the Hallettsville One Act Play Company will perform at the Hallettsville High School Cafetorium on Oct. 13 and 17 at 6 p.m. Their show this year is a parody of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet titled Zombeo and Juliet, written by Kathy Martin and Phil Nohl.
This humorous, witty play follows the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet, but with a little twist. Instead of a long, serious play in an impossible to understand language, Zombeo and Juilet is a fun, entertaining, modern experience.
Instead of living during the boring Shakespearean era, the characters are set in the present-day, doing fun things like going to the mall, drinking Orange Julius and fighting zombies- not doing boring Shakespearean things like writing poetry and dying from lack of adequate medical care.
This play follows the two families; the Decapitates and the Montgomerys (a playful spin on the original play’s Capulets and Montagues). As it was in the original story line, the two families are constantly at a difference. However, in Zombeo and Juliet the main cause of this rivalry is that the Decapitates are zombie hunters and the Montgomerys are…well, zombies!
Our main-man Romeo is a zombie, so of course it would be impossible to love Juliet, a hunter. That doesn’t stop him from trying to hide his identity to be with her. But he can’t hide who he is forever, Juliet will inevitably find out and chaos will erupt.
This year, the cast and crew of OAP are filled with amazingly talented students, underclassmen and upperclassmen alike. With the team they have, their plays will be ones to remember.
There are high hopes for success this year, despite the OAP company’s disadvantages in the past years, including the struggle to find a director. The last three years, the program has had three different directors. This has been a battle for everyone involved, and the lack of consistency has made it difficult to keep things organized. However, the company is confident in their abilities and ready to showcase their talent on the stage for another year.
The changes that have been taking place are not easy to overcome, but there is no doubt that the Hallettsville OAP Company will continue to thrive. As the company continues to work hard to perfect their production of Zombeo and Juliet, they hope to do well and find success in every show they produce this year.
