JTSC and Theatre 29 Announce Cast for Romeo & Juliet: A Mojave Reimagining

JOSHUA TREE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY & THEATRE 29

ANNOUNCE CAST OF ROMEO & JULIET

Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers head for the Mojave 

in a bold new take on the world's most famous romance

TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA - The Montagues and Capulets are coming to the Hi-Desert - and they're bringing the whole feud with them.

Joshua Tree Shakespeare Company (JTSC), in co-production with Theatre 29, the longest-running community theatre in the Morongo Basin, is thrilled to announce the cast of its fall production of William Shakespeare's ROMEO & JULIET, opening Friday, October 9 and running through Sunday, October 18.

Leading the company as Shakespeare's legendary lovers are Andrew Catlin as Romeo Montague and Bobbie Breckenridge as Juliet Capulet.

But this isn't quite the Verona you remember. While the setting and production have been reimagined to place the story firmly in the modern Mojave

Desert, Shakespeare's original language remains intact. The words are his; it's the world around them that has changed, bringing Verona into the Hi-Desert without rewriting the play that has endured for more than four centuries.

JTSC's Romeo & Juliet brings Shakespeare's most famous love story into a modern Mojave world - where an old feud still burns, everyone knows everyone else's business, and falling in love can be every bit as dangerous as it was 400 years ago. And this time, Romeo and Juliet aren't teenagers.

They're two people who knew each other long ago, meeting again later in life and discovering that sometimes you really can fall in love for the first time... again.

Joining Catlin and Breckenridge in the principal cast are Anna LaCazio as Lawrence, the confidante drawn into the lovers' increasingly dangerous plans; Erika Corcoran as Mercutio, Romeo's quick-witted and fiercely loyal friend; Travis Land as Benvolio; and Booker Harrap as the fiery Tybalt. Heading the

Capulet household are Paco Diaz as Mr. Capulet, Natalie Raymond as Lady Capulet and Heather Clisby, familiar to Hi-Desert audiences as a local radio personality, trades the microphone for the stage in the production to play Nurse.

Rounding out the company are Lisa Diaz, David Diaz, Sariah Goldsmith, Mia Gonzalez, Kevin Hayles, Brian Hennessy, Jessica Miller, Eva Trimarchi, Jack Woertz and Lauren Wolpert.

Romeo & Juliet is reimagined and directed by Liz Wessel, a founding board member of Joshua Tree Shakespeare Company.

For JTSC, the production is part of the company's mission to make Shakespeare feel immediate, accessible and unmistakably at home in the desert - honoring the language while finding new ways to tell these 400-year-old stories to a modern Hi-Desert audience.

Because the names may be Montague and Capulet.

The place may be Verona.

But this feud?

It could happen here.

Romeo & Juliet opens Friday, October 9 and runs through Sunday, October 18 at Theatre 29 in Twentynine Palms.

PERFORMANCES

October 9-18, 2026

Fridays & Saturdays - 7:00 PM

Sundays - 2:30 PM

Tickets available NOW: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35985/production/1291112

ROMEO & JULIET

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Liz Wessel

A Joshua Tree Shakespeare Company / Theatre 29 Co-Production

Falling in love for the first time... again.