Dramaturgy alumna Diana Fathi ’21 is the adapter and director of A Little Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet at Two River Theater. The show runs December 2-11, 2022 at Two River Theater’s Marion Huber Theater.
Fathi’s adaptation examines a new perspective on the star-crossed lovers: what if Romeo and Julie were not the first Montague and Capulet to fall in love? The show explores the audacity of a new generation to defy their inherited family feud. This production of Romeo and Juliet is part of Two River Theater’s program, A Little Shakespeare, which is designed to engage high school students with Shakespeare’s work; the shows are exclusively performed and supported backstage by students. In the program, endearingly called Little Shakes, Shakespeare’s plays are adapted, directed, and designed by theatre professionals who condense the Bard’s original work into 75-minute productions. Little Shakes is in its tenth season.
Diana M. Fathi is an Iranian dramaturg, director, playwright, and actress currently based in California. She grew up in Tehran, where she discovered that all humans have untold stories; it is her mission to be their storyteller. Some of her recent directing credits are Thirteen (Odyssey Theater), Third Person Singular (Columbia University), and Foggy Season (a multilingual collaboration between Iran and Georgia). Her recent dramaturgical credits include Glimpse (Rattlestick Theater), Hedda Gabler (Columbia University), and Loneliness (Columbia University). In addition to her MFA degree, Diana received her BA and MA from Tehran Art University and is continuing her studies towards a PhD in Theater and Drama through the combined program at UC Irvine/UC San Diego.
