Chelsea Fox ’19 & Nicky Brown ’19

The classic Shakespeare love story, “Romeo and Juliet,” is coming to the Westport Country Playhouse starting Oct. 31 through Nov. 19.
Director Mark Lamos has been called a “poet of the theater” by the New York Times, and is a three-time Tony award winner. Accompanying Lamos is Staples alumni Clay Singer ’13 as he returns to his hometown for his debut performance at the Playhouse.
Singer graduated from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama this past May, and since then has pursued his acting career by landing the role of Peter, in the Playhouse’s “Romeo and Juliet” this fall.
“I’m pumped to be back in Westport for a little,” Singer said. “I’ll get to have some home-cooked meals for a month, and after four years of college, nothing sounds better.”
The play is known for its tragic and heartbreaking love story, however, Lamos has a different vision for the upcoming production. “It is not just a story of teenagers falling crazily in love within a violent society, but a tale of two young humanists, exalted and ennobled by love, and rising above the shabby, misguided, furious and infuriating adult world into which they were born,” Lamos said.
Singer is excited to be working with Lamos. He credits his time in Staples Players as instilling in him the professional acting qualities of obedience, dedication and hard work. “David Roth prepares his company of high schoolers to be as professional as possible early on. Players is simply an amazing theater company within a public high school,” Singer said.
Current Staples Players members are inspired by Singer. “I would say that almost all Players look up to the people that came before us in this organization” Juliette Schwebel ’19 said.“For people interested in pursuing theatre after high school, hearing about an alum who has done what they aspire to do gives them a role model and some hope for the future.”
Schwebel is able to look to Singer as a role model. “It is definitely motivating to the people who are doubtful of their talent and success level in theatre,” Schwebel said.
David Roth, the theater teacher at Staples and director of Staples Players, enjoys seeing his past students perform on professional stages. “We actually call them the Players Mafia,” Roth said. “They have grown as people and performers but still so much of them is the kid we knew so well.”
As rehearsals continue and the performance date approaches, Singer is excited for what is to come. “I am humbled to watch and learn from [Lamos] and the rest of the cast,” Singer said.