Romeo Is Bleeding

Romeo Is Bleeding follows poet Donté Clark and his efforts to heal a community reeling from violence so constant and deep no one can recall when it started. With the help of teacher/mentor Molly Raynor, Clark collaborates with youth at RAW (Richmond Artists With) Talent to adapt Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to modern-day Richmond, CA. Instead of Verona and Mantua, Te’s Harmony unfolds in Central and North Richmond and tells a tale of love, revenge and murder amid poverty and family disintegration, with the lines delivered in slang-filled iambic pentameter and hip-hop metaphors. Occasionally, the new script incorporates Shakespeare’s words, adding an extra layer of meaning. Through interviews with the young writers of RAW Talent and residents of Richmond, and with police patrolling the city streets with loaded shotguns, the sense of violence that permeates this community is palpable. Further underlining the play’s story are numerous real-life events—some tragic, some hopeful—in the lives of the cast and crew and their families. Although Clark questions whether his work will save any lives, when the play is mounted at a local high school, the catharsis, both for the actors and the audience, is as powerful as any Shakespeare ever wrote. —Alejandro Murguía