A new Mahoning Valley theater company is moving its Shakespeare production with LGBTQ+ themes to Warren after Boardman Park officials canceled its contract to stage the production there.

“I think it’s discrimination,” Twilight Theatre Artistic Director Joe Soriano said.

In a statement emailed Monday, Boardman Park Recreation & Engagement Director Karen McCallum wrote, “We have no further comment beyond the following: The original project, as presented to the Park, was changed.”

The production of “Romeo & Juliet,” scheduled to open June 30 on the last day of Pride Month, portrays both title characters in the tragic teen love story as female. Soriano said the Montague family dresses in the rainbow colors of Pride, while the Capulets dress more conservatively, and Romeo’s friend Mercutio dresses in drag.

Soriano is an Austintown native and Kent State University graduate who has worked as an actor, director, stage manager and combat choreographer in Akron, Canton and Cleveland.

“I noticed in the area there are very few opportunities for actors and artists to get paid for their work,” he said. “There’s Easy Street Productions, which is exclusively musicals and the Opera (Western Reserve). But I wanted to create financial and artistic opportunities for locals and the surrounding areas to do predominantly straight plays. … I wanted to bring a lot of what I learned from the surrounding areas back here.”

“Romeo & Juliet” is Twilight Theatre’s inaugural production, a first step toward creating that vision. Soriano said he reached out earlier this year about staging the Shakespeare play at the park’s Maag Outdoor Arts Theatre. He had a verbal agreement by the beginning of April and signed a contract May 5.

Auditions were held May 8 and 9, and Soriano said the decision to cast both Romeo and Juliet as female came from those auditions.

“There was definitely an openness to nontraditional casting,” Soriano said. “I had a couple of concepts walking in, but theater and casting is such a collaborative process, it depended on who came to auditions and what ideas got sparked from that.”

EMAILS AND AUDIO

Rehearsals started May 23. Soriano shared email exchanges with McCallum and an audio recording of a meeting he had June 6 with McCallum and park Superintendent Gabe Manginelli.

Soriano sent an email to McCallum on May 30 that stated, “Rehearsals are underway and the cast is fantastic! I realized I neglected to mention that both Romeo and Juliet are being played by females. There is an LGBTQ+ theme to the production. As we had discussed before, we are keeping it family friendly.”

McCallum responded later that day, “I think we need to plan on meeting to discuss the going forth of the production so our visions align. Also to make sure the staging details are understood. When do you have availability this week?”

At that June 6 meeting, Soriano shared costume concepts and rehearsal videos showing how the fight scenes would be staged.

“There is suicide. There is murder,” he said. “I stated up front that ‘Romeo & Juliet is a tragedy, and it’s a tragedy for a reason. We intended to have suicide prevention resources at the performances and as part of the curtain talk (before the show), ‘You are not alone. If you are struggling, please reach out.'”

On the recording from that June 6 meeting, McCallum says, “The email threw me for a bit of a loop because it wasn’t what we discussed … I would be (remiss), with what’s going on in the world today, not going, ‘Let’s see what the vision is.’ I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

Manginelli added, “We’re not trying to question what you’re doing. When I read the words a theme was involved. Anymore, I don’t care which end of the theme it’s coming from. Part of the park’s thing is we’re not political … We’re just a park, we’re not here for the politics. It doesn’t matter which end of the spectrum we’re at, we just try to stay away from it.”

PRIDE MONTH

Battles over gay rights, transgender issues and drag representation have been prominent in the news lately, from legislation in many states to national boycotts of brands and retailers that embrace Pride Month.

In a June 7 email informing Soriano of the park’s decision, McCallum wrote, “Please understand that there is not an issue with the themes themselves or with the LGBTQ+ representation. The issue arises with the lack of communication as the production vision has evolved since the original communication with Karen. Being that a number of changes have occurred, there is concern that further undisclosed changes may come up. Being that we have had previous past occurrences, it is out of an abundance of caution that we cannot proceed forward.”

“Getting the email, I was deeply disappointed and confused, trying to wrap my head around why the park reached its decision,” Soriano said. “I believe based on that email chain that we are being discriminated against.”

After telling the cast, they immediately started looking for alternative sites. Both Westside Bowl in Youngstown and Modern Methods Brewing Company in Warren were willing to host the production, but Westside Bowl only was available for one of the two scheduled dates, Soriano said.

The show now will be staged at 7 p.m. June 30 and July 1 at Modern Methods’ Darlene Lounge on West Market Street in Warren. Admission is free.

“It’s super exciting to be working with a new theater company, especially one reimagining a very classic show to include more LGBTQ+ representation, especially during Pride Month,” Modern Methods / Darlene Lounge co-owner Sarah Braun said.

The change in location is requiring significant changes in the staging, and far fewer people will be able to see the production in the indoor venue compared with the outdoor park.

“I haven’t gotten an official capacity count from Modern Methods yet,” Soriano said. “It’s been a whirlwind of a week.”