Theatrefolk Featured Play – Drop Dead, Juliet! by Allison Williams

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. More love, less death! Drop Dead, Juliet! by Allison Williams is an adaptation of the classic Romeo and Juliet story that goes well beyond your classic spoof.

Juliet has had enough! Enough with the poison, enough with the stabbing, and especially enough with the dying. She wants a new story and she wants it now.

Romeo and Juliet will never be the same – or will it? Not everyone’s so keen on the changes. And why is Romeo sneaking off with Rosaline?

Why did we publish this play?
I remember seeing this play in an audience filled with students who did not know Shakespeare, and they laughed. A lot. They loved the characters, and that’s when I knew the play was a hit.

Not only is the play a loving spoof of the original, it also addresses the importance of the original. There’s a reason Romeo and Juliet is timeless. In the play Juliet learns to respect her story and I think that’s a great lesson to learn.

Let’s hear from the author!

1. Why did you write this play?
I’d just directed Romeo and Juliet at Jenison High School in Grand Rapids MI and working through the customs and meanings and Elizabethan mores with the student actors really made me realize how much fun there was in questioning the script.

2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences.
Truth in storytelling is valuable—stories don’t work if you try to twist them into something they aren’t.

3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play?
The death of Juliet.

4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be?
Play it for real, not for laughs – the comedy comes from characters desperately wanting things they can’t have, but wanting them for real.

5. Why is this play great for student performers?
Lots of parts for a true ensemble, because there are a ton of crowd reactions in the big scenes.