Romeo And Juliet Act 2 Essay

Rock Bottom Productions Presents:
Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Act 2

Mason Noteboom, Sean Guderian, Lailah Safi, Hadar Ziv,
Jack Tanner, Elle Meyer, and Brendan Haines

Table of Contents:
Dramaturgy:
Section 1:
● Paraphrase of Act 2 .......................................................Page 3
● Glossary............................................................................Page 3-7
● Description of Context....................................................Page 7
Section 2:
● Description of Target Social Problem...........................Page 8
● Information Found From Soapstones..........................Page 8-9
● Original Discussion Questions/ Activities....................Page 9-10
Directing:
Section 1:
● Director’s Concept
The percent of people who think that men should work and women should stay home has slid from 34% to 40% from 1994 to 2004. Gender equality is being stalled because the rate of women wanting a full time job has decreased to only 16% and the percent of mothers who work full time that want to work part time increased from
48% to 60%. These statements were supported by quotes like “the percentage of
Americans preferring the male breadwinner/female homemaker family model actually rose to 40 percent from 34 percent,” and “Between 1997 and 2007, the number of full-time working mothers who said they would prefer to work part time increased to 60 percent from 48 percent.” In fact, the United States ranked number 19 in terms of gender equality in 2010. This shows that although the United States is more advanced than other countries and is the number 1 world power, the issue of gender inequality seems to be forgotten about even today. We used this information to apply the issue of gender inequality found in our act to our original discussion questions and activities.

Original Discussion Questions/Activities:
The educational outreach of Rock Bottom Productions (Company 2) will
● What are some examples of gender inequality found in our society today and how do these inequalities affect our daily lives?
● Think about all of the different kinds of communities people live in, and we participate in. How does gender equality differ between these different communities? Are these same differences present in
Romeo and Juliet
?
1:55 - 2:15 pm: After the discussion questions, the class will get into small groups of 4-5 and create a mini project. Our company will provide all necessary supplies to create whatever sort of visual aid they desire to use. The mini project can be any kind of project with a visual aid (skit, poster, game, etc...) that focuses on solving the issue of gender inequality in present day or in
Romeo and Juliet.

2:15-2:25 pm: For the last 10 min of class each group will present their mini project (not for a grade) and if there is time, the projects will be discussed.

Directing
Section 1: Director’s Concept
We have set our production of Romeo and Juliet in Chicago in the 1940’s. Our company wanted to highlight the issue of gender inequality, and we thought that the 1940’s was a good time period to work with. In Act 2, there aren’t too many big social issues unlike