 Hello everyone, I'm Alicia Woodruff and welcome to the 4 Report. Art Des De La Rosa was founded in 1999 and its original title was Latin Arts Association of Fort Worth. It's dedicated to the cultivation, preservation and celebration of Latino culture. When they decided to do a Shakespearean show, it quickly became an energizing and exciting new take on the Shakespearean piece. You haven't seen Shakespeare like this. Romeo and Juliet, 400-year-old play, you know, everyone's sort of seen it, everyone knows the story and we thought it was an excellent opportunity to do something new and exciting with it. We've reset it. We are no longer in ancient Elizabethan Verona, we are set it now in 1958 Havana, Cuba using music and the time period and the political structure of that era. It just makes the show come alive. If you are new to live theater, this show is neither slow nor boring. For me, I always take it at that very first step, what is the story? More important than Shakespeare, more important than the poetry, what is the story? If we tell the story well, everyone's going to love it. And that's part of the reason that Shakespeare has lasted 400 years, you know, the stories are phenomenal, the characters are lovely, they are strong, passionate. Where else are you going to hear these kinds of speeches and this amazing poetic language in a way that makes us both feel alive, energized, excited and ultimately very satisfied as an audience? Because it's set in Havana and dancing and music is a vital part of Cuban culture, the actors have to be able to sing, dance and do Shakespeare. The actors are from all over DFW and I count myself very lucky to be working with what I feel is the best cast I've ever had. There's a great sense of youth and excitement and energy in this cast. I think what surprises most people when they walk through the doors is how young the cast is. I mean, our Juliet is a 17-year-old high school senior. Are you inspired yet? There are a lot of opportunities to get involved, not only as a viewing audience or as a performer, but as a volunteer. We think of ourselves as a cultural center for the arts. We specialize not only in theater, which is critically acclaimed by the arts community, but also we have an award-winning after-school education program that features acting classes, dance classes and creative writing classes for students age 8 to 18. We have a celebrated regional art gallery. We do cultural events like our annual Villa de los Muertos Festival, which celebrates the day of the dead. Romeo and Juliet runs from now through October 6th on Friday and Saturday evenings and on Sunday matinees. Visit their website for more information. If you don't like Shakespeare, if you think Shakespeare is scary or difficult or hard to understand, this is the Shakespeare to see. Everyone who's left has said the same thing. They didn't know Shakespeare could be fun. They didn't know Shakespeare could be that easy to follow. They didn't know Shakespeare could be that exciting. And they didn't know that they could fall in love with it. And that's been the most gratifying aspect of this production, that people are leaving falling in love with Shakespeare. So I tell everybody to come out and fall in love with Romeo and Juliet. Here's a look at other events happening in and around Fort Worth in the next few weeks. For a listing of more events and city meetings, you can always check out the calendar at the city's website.