The fairest stars 'Romeo and Juliet' springs to life this week on Cayuse Prairie stage "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!" - William Shakespeare,

The Daily Inter Lake

OK," Cayuse Prairie's drama, literature and language teacher Joan Creek calls out orders to the eighth-graders scurrying around the stage and gym. "Let's do the final scene."

"Oh good!" Sydney Schroeder gave a little hop and clapped her hands. "From the very beginning?"

She's beaming at the opportunity to transform herself into Lady Capulet in the 16th-century Verona churchyard. There, various Montagues and Capulets, Friar Lawrence and Paris and others congregate on the spot where literature's most famous star-crossed lovers have just taken their own lives.

Servants eventually bear the secretly married pair on a bed of lace and flowers to the public square, where the families publicly bury their long-standing feud along with their beloved children.

One of the best-known tragedies penned by the Bard, "Romeo and Juliet" has become the career-capping highlight of every eighth-grader wrapping up his or her time at Cayuse Prairie School.

The latest performance of the 14-year tradition will take the stage Thursday for parents and public alike to witness the uncannily talented troupe bring Shakespeare to life.

Action begins at 7 p.m. May 25 in the school gym, with free admission and refreshments courtesy of eighth-grade parents.

A sneak preview is planned at 9 a.m. the day before, when seventh-graders will haul back the curtains and serve as the stage crew for the upperclassmen as they entertain the younger students.

An academic quarter-and-a-half of delving into the life and times of William Shakespeare, practicing the 16th-century English that rings foreign in today's ears, following the plot twists and turns of "Romeo and Juliet," and learning just what makes a good sword fight has paid off.

Once again this year, Creek can boast of a cast that takes its roles seriously and pulls them off with promising skill.

Each of the 25 students is required to play at least four parts throughout the drama, with casting changes at each new scene. This year's 2-1 ratio of boys to girls in the eighth-grade class means that many girls also take on at least one male role, and most of the boys play six or seven roles.

All of this is teaching the 13- and 14-year-olds much that reaches far beyond literature into life itself.

"For a lot of us, it developed social skills," young actor Robert Herriott said. "We'd have scenes together with people we wouldn't normally talk with … then we'd end up bonding through it all."

"A lot of the teachers at the high school are so impressed with how comfortable our kids are with Shakespeare," Creek said of the Cayuse Prairie alumni who go on to theatrical and literary studies at Flathead High.

"You forget you're dealing with eighth-graders," she said. "They do such a good job. I'm so proud of them."

Memorization was tough for some.

Schroeder said that was her struggle in her roles as Lady Capulet, the Montague family servant Balthasar and others. She missed the first week for a tonsillectomy but said that she finally got her lines mostly committed to memory last week.

For a few of the boys, wearing tights started out as a bit of a detriment.

"I pretty much didn't want to wear tights," Mitchell Wassam said, summing up what several of his classmates had been saying. "But now it's OK."

A requirement to kiss members of the opposite sex had some wondering whether their parents ought to stay home Thursday night.

"I have the balcony scene," Wassam said. "I was deathly afraid of doing it. I have to kiss a girl."

Killing anyone who got at the wrong end of a sword brought mixed blessings. Several of the boys had swords by their sides during one break in rehearsal, and they were plenty enthusiastic about the clanging and parrying involved in a good sword fight.

"I'm pushing people around, killing people," Brett Bacon said. "I'm in the scene where Tybalt dies," so finally he, as Tybalt, gets to do the dying.

"I got a little injured the first time," Ian Hineman said. "We were fighting and the other guy's sword slipped onto my head."

With all evidence of his wound vanished, Hineman now talks about the rapid-fire exchanges between himself as Mercutio and his 21-year-old brother who still remembers the lines from his own role as Mercutio years ago.

But, kissing or killing, the group agreed it was "the passion of it" that hooked them into the play.

Unlocking the secrets of Shakespeare's English and culture also proved enticing.

Tiffany Habel said studying what the Bard meant started out tough. "We tried to figure it out first, without looking at the interpretation."

Often, though, they referred to the interpretations in their playbooks.

"I didn't like it at first, but then I figured out what he was saying and now I really like it," Kristen Brackin said.

Ricky Peters said he loves the way the language has changed during the centuries.

"It's the same language, but the way they say it is so different," Peters said. "In the first scene we just laughed when they say, 'Do you bite your thumb at us?'"

That particular phrase is an exchange between the servants of the Montagues and the Capulets, questioning whether they are being insulted.

"It's pretty cool how some of the gestures are different," Herriott said. "And their swear words back then are just normal words now."

Soft-spoken Rachel Byrne said, "I love to be able to project my voice. I never did before." And she loves listening to her little sister reciting lines from the play after years of simply listening to the play.

"They do this play every eighth-grade year," Jessica Smith agreed. "They watch as little kids, and as they grow up every year. It's so sad when it all ends."

When it does all end, however, it has proven more than once to be a transforming experience.

"I didn't think I would want to do this because I have stage fright," Nikki Abbrescia said. "But doing it with my friends made it easier. Now, I'm thinking about going for drama next year."

"I came here right in the middle of the year," Brandon Hightower said of his transfer from another school. "They told me that 'Romeo and Juliet' was the big finale, and I thought I would get out of it somehow. But now I love it."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com