I like a theater that has a mind and character of its own — the sort of theater that is expected to stage the unexpected. The Horatio Theater in Tacoma was just that sort of theater before it hit a series of snags that slowed the vision — but it's still alive.



But there is another theater troupe that fits the bill in the South Sound. And its current production certainly promises not to disappoint in the “character of its own” category.

Theater Artists Olympia, a gathering of like minded thespians with a bent for the different, is staging a little work by William Shakespeare, called Romeo and Juliet.

Now it is not unusual for a theater to stage work by Shakespeare in this slot in their season. That fact has a bit more to do with finance than artistic vision since works by the Bard are free to stage. The money that would otherwise be spent on royalties to stage a copyrighted work can be used to pay the bills a theater gathers during the summer, when most stages are dark until their new stages start up again in the fall.



TAO largely doesn’t have that problem since it always has a shoe-string budget year round. This theater is staging a work by Shakespeare for the artistic vision the theater thinks it can bring to the South Sound. I have seen a few unique stagings of the Bard’s classic works, from a Civil War Othello to King Lear told through poorly staged modern dance numbers and a Martian version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This staging of love gone tragic might be one of the most memorable ideas I’ve seen in a while. And it is brilliant.



Director Chris Cantrell has taken the timeless story of star-crossed lovers in a different direction that just seems to fit the current times, and the theater’s character the more you think about it. See, this version of the classic story of two lovers destined for tragedy that is brought by the blind hatred both families have for each other has a twist. Romeo and Juliet are both dudes. Yeah, Cantrell staged a show in which the story of classic love is told from the perspective of a homosexual couple. I guess the costumes with men in tights and flashy sabers for sword fights made the conclusion almost inevitable. 



Brilliant in an Olympia sort of way. The troupe that brought singing cannibals and stripper-dancing demons showed off a set of big brass ones and went THERE.



Romeo is played by Thomas Neely, while his short-lived love, Juliet, is played by James Holmes-Pohle.



This is a show my daughter would have a lot of questions about, but heck, most people would leave the theater after the curtain drops with at least a few things to mull over on their drive home. That is sort of what theater is all about after all.



[Minnaert Center, through July 12, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $12, 2011 Mottman Road S.W., Olympia, olytheater.com]