Shakespeare's Timeless Tragedy Speaks to Modern Crisis of Youth, Hope, and Survival in Bold New Production Opening April 9 

Colorado Springs, CO — March 23, 2026 — When the world crumbles around you, where do you place your hope? For Theatreworks Artistic Director Max Shulman, Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet has never felt more urgent—or more necessary. 

Opening April 9 at the Ent Center for the Arts, Shulman's bold reimagining transports the star-crossed lovers to occupied Verona during World War II, where bombed-out streets and the constant threat of violence mirror the pressures facing today's young people. In his first production as Theatreworks' Artistic Director, Shulman returns to the Bard with a vision that honors the company's very first Shakespeare production in 1976 while speaking directly to 2026. 

"Coming out of the pandemic and working with university students, I've watched young people struggle with the experience of suddenly everything vanishing—all the foundations they thought were solid disappearing overnight," says Shulman. "We're in a political and cultural moment where it feels like the ground beneath us is unstable. Young people don't see clear paths forward, and they throw themselves desperately into love, into ideas, into danger—seeking any way to move from darkness into light." 

A THREE-DAY RACE AGAINST TIME 
Romeo & Juliet is one of Shakespeare's only plays where audiences know exactly what day and time each scene occurs. The entire tragedy unfolds in just three days—from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. 

"Shakespeare is obsessed in this play with what happens when people try to speed the world up to get what they want, and the world isn't ready to move that fast," Shulman explains. "That feeling when you're young—I need things to happen now, I need everyone to catch up with my desire—that's the engine of this story. By setting it during wartime, where every decision carries life-or-death weight, we understand why these characters move with such urgency." 

The 1940s Verona setting isn't arbitrary. The city was bombed during World War II, and Shulman uses this historical reality to create a world where young people live in constant crisis—where hedonism, romance, and recklessness become survival strategies when the future feels impossible to imagine. 

MUSIC IN THE RUBBLE: THE CELLIST WHO REMEMBERS 
One of the production's most striking innovations is an original character inspired by the Cellist of Sarajevo—a musician who played in the ruins of war to honor the dead and remind the living of their humanity. 

"We've created a character we call the busker, who plays live music throughout the production," says Shulman. "He's a witness to everything that unfolds, and his music becomes a kind of ritual—a way of carrying us from darkness into light, from grief into memory." 

The busker embodies one of Shulman's central questions about the play: What is the ritual that moves us from youth to adulthood, from trauma to healing? "It's a ritual that takes time. It takes community. It takes all of us playing our roles—father, mother, lover, advisor, friend. This play is about what happens when that ritual is fumbled, when we're moving too fast or not paying attention to each other." 

SHAKESPEARE'S RADICAL SHIFT: FROM MORAL WARNING TO HUMAN TRAGEDY 
Most audiences don't know that Shakespeare adapted Romeo & Juliet from a 16th-century English poem by Arthur Brooke—a cautionary tale warning young people to obey their parents. 

"Shakespeare takes that moralizing story and flips it," Shulman notes. "He makes it about the dangers of how parents misbehave, how young people are at the mercy of adult failures. The Capulets and Montagues are so consumed by their petty feuds that they can't see the destruction they're causing. We live in a world like that—where we fiddle while Rome burns, where we cling to our biases and hatreds regardless of what's happening around us." 

The production also addresses a common misconception about Juliet's age. While the play specifies she's nearly 14, Elizabethan audiences would have found that shockingly young—not normal. 

"The average marrying age in Shakespeare's time was around 20, much closer to ours," Shulman explains. "Only royalty married that young, for political reasons. Shakespeare wanted his audience to be uncomfortable with their youth—to recognize that when the only option in life is desperate desire, when you put all your hope in another person because the world offers nothing else, that's dangerous." 

A QUESTION FOR OUR TIME 
If audiences leave with one question, Shulman hopes it's this: How do we move from darkness into light in a way that doesn't cause catastrophe? 

"What is the way we care for each other that allows us to make that journey?" he asks. "Because it's not about finger-wagging or telling people to be better parents or better children. It's about recognizing that we live in a world that fails to pay attention, where the focus is only on ourselves. This play reflects where we are. And maybe, if we slow down and truly see each other, we can find a different path." 

PRODUCTION DETAILS 

WHAT: Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare | Directed by Max Shulman, Artistic Director of Theatreworks 
WHEN: April 9 – May 3, 2026 | Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:00 p.m. | Matinees on Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 4:00 p.m. 
WHERE: Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theatre | Ent Center for the Arts | 5225 N. Nevada Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 
TICKETS: Available at entarts.org or 719-255-3232 | UCCS students always free with valid student ID 
CONTENT NOTE: This production contains violence, suicide, and themes of intergenerational trauma. 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

• World of the Play – Thursday, April 9, 6:15 p.m. Pre-show conversation with the director and the production dramaturges 
• Opening Night Toast – Friday, April 10 Post-show celebration with cast and creative team 
• Prologue: Shakespeare's Timeless Tragedy – Sunday, April 19, 2:00 p.m. Free conversation with Dr. Michael Witmore, former Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Kevin Landis (UCCS Theatre and Dance Professor), and Max Shulman 
• Community Convo – Saturday, April 11, 5:00 p.m. Post-matinee dialogue with Dr. Andrea Trocha-Van Nort (USAFA), expert on Shakespeare and War Learn More 

Press inquiries may be directed to: 
Elyce Gronseth Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications, Ent Center for the Arts 
719-255-8365 egronset@uccs.edu 

About Theatreworks Colorado Springs 
Theatreworks Colorado Springs, based at the Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS, is a professional theatre company committed to producing works that engage, challenge, and inspire audiences. With a robust season of diverse performances, Theatreworks connects the Colorado Springs community through the transformative power of live theatre. 

About the Ent Center for the Arts 
The Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS is a multi-venue arts complex that serves as a cultural hub for Colorado Springs. Home to Theatreworks, the Galleries of Contemporary Art (GOCA), and other artistic programs, the Ent Center fosters creativity and collaboration across disciplines, providing a space for artists and audiences to connect in meaningful ways.