Sal Almost Sees "Romeo and Juliet"

After attending a Cleveland Shakespeare Festival performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to see their production of Romeo and Juliet, too.  I talked with some of my coworkers about it, and the party ended up consisting of Maryanne, Michele, and Heidi.   Coordinating our schedules was tough, but we found one night that would work for all of us.  Heidi and were working during the day, so Maryanne stopped to get us some goodies at Aladdin's, picked us up from the salt mine, picked up Michele at her house, and off we went to Lincoln Park. 

Friends and food from Aladdin's.  What could be better?

The weather was pleasantly cool and breezy, but there was a threat of rain.  We brought our umbrellas and Maryanne brought a tarp -- just in case.  We were pretty early, so as we ate our picnic we watched the Romeo and Juliet cast practice their fight scenes and heard them running through some of their lines.  Very cool.

Brian Pedaci, Operations Director of the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, and fellow Cleveland Jumping Flea, talked with us for a few moments.  The sky looked gloomy, but we were optimistic about seeing the show. 

A few minutes later, it began to rain.  We put up our umbrellas, and Maryanne covered the chairs with the tarp she had so wisely brought. 

Luckily we were finished eating when it started raining.  It was actually fun sitting on a quilt with umbrellas up in the company of these lovely friends.

The rain stopped, and we began anticipating the beginning of the performance.  Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.  Brian came out and announced that the show was being cancelled, due to heavy weather that was likely to hit very soon.  We sadly got our things together, walked back to the car, and drove away.  Maryanne dropped Michele off at her house, and Heidi and I at work.  As we were driving to our various home bases, the sky opened up and there was a terrific show of lightning and buckets of precipitation.  Good call, Brian!

Better luck next year!