By Kayla Pickrell

Actors were climbing fences and maneuvering around a stage that is challengingly brilliant, as well as accompanied by the audience.

Set designer Tony Hardin drew his inspiration from both the looming qualities of Barcelona street lamps and the dangerous nature of broken glass.

The set was designed so the multi-level platforms the actors perform on are represented as pieces of broken glass themselves.

The audience, whose seats towered over both sides of the stage, added a quality of looming for the actors.

Set in a world of tension and chaos, Romeo is given a violent identity as one who causes death.

“It has a very cold feeling to it,” said Chris Floyd, who played Romeo. “Everyone is violent in the play, not just Tybalt.”

Romeo ends up killing Tybalt, Paris, himself and indirectly Juliet— because he is the reason for her death.

Juliet, played by Katy Ochoa, shows the character not just as a young, naïve girl, but actually as quite the opposite. Juliet questions Romeo’s love at first, and she shows that Romeo is actually the one who is young and naïve.

Andrew Kimbrough, director of “Romeo and Juliet,” said he was “pacing around nervously” on opening night, but students ended up loving the tension the story built.

“The violence was intense but went very well the way the play was shown,” said Sydney Dobson, a Spanish freshman.

The violence of the play was portrayed through fistfights and daggers instead of the usual tights and swords. It was anything other than a “clean fight.”

After the weekend opening, the three shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday were sold out, and hopes are high for other sold-out shows.

“Thursday night’s show went well but as the weekend progressed they kept getting better and better,” Floyd said.   “Any kinks we had got worked out, and the first weekend was a huge success.”

“Romeo and Juliet” continues this weekend, with shows Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and closes with a matinee on Sunday at 2 p.m.