Teens in New Haven’s Ice the Beef youth organization just wrapped a yearlong project on center stage.
The cast of high school students spent the last year studying Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet" for the first-ever Elm Shakespeare Youth Festival.
Their 90-minute performance was the original Shakespeare play and then the teens offered two alternate endings which they say were important to their group's goals.
They evaluated what caused the tension between the Montagues and Capulets. The cast then acted out ways to de-escalate to save the lives of Mercutio and Tybalt, and then Romeo and Juliet.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
The teens also performed the play during the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. They say they're sad to see the play come to an end and are open to doing another.
The Elm Shakespeare Youth Festival was held at Edgerton Park over the weekend and included other teen groups that also performed Midsummer Nights Dream, As You Like It, and Henry V.
