“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Juliet famously calls over her balcony as Romeo stands below in William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet.

But what if a young man spoke from his balcony while a girl waited below to woo him? What if it had been different?

That is the kind of question Ms. Shana Prentiss, director of STA’s spring play, asked when she chose gender reversal as a twist to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Prentiss started with a female character from Shakespeare’s play, changed it to a male role, adjusted the name to reflect the change and cast a guy to play the part. The new male character kept the original personality, actions and dialogue of the original female character.

Shakespeare’s “shrew” was Katherine, a girl of marriageable age whose sharp temper scared most suitors off. Prentiss’s shrew is Katrino, a young man played by Rockhurst High School senior Bryan Brown, who best describes Katrino as a “jerk.”

Katrino maintains almost identical dialogue to Katherine, his Shakespearean counterpart.

Prentiss did the same with the characters originally created as males by Shakespeare.

The idea came from a colleague who directed Shrew in drag. Although Prentiss did not consider doing the play in drag, she came up with a new twist.

“[Our adaptation] is not male bashing,” Prentiss said with emphasis. “I chose to use this particular play because it has long been a question of whether this play is sexist.”

Shakespeare’s “shrew” is a confident and strong willed woman. Men in the play consider her unbearable because she refuses to submit to men. When Prentiss retooled the play, that “shrew” became a man. This change forces the audience to ask the question, “Is this new character a shrew, now that the shrew is a man?”

In ways like this, Prentiss’s twist creates a world in complete opposition to the extreme sexism of the 1600s.

“The idea is to ask the question, ‘What if everything had been different?'” Prentiss said. “What if women had been dominant instead of men?”

Understanding the nature of a society where women are the dominant gender has been challenging, according to sophomore Sarah Kostoryz, who plays Patruchia, the lead female role.

“The hardest part is asking, ‘What is a female-dominated society?'” Kostoryz said.

Kostoryz plays Patruchia, originally Patruchio. Shakespeare’s Patruchio is a cocky young man who wants to marry a woman with a large dowry, regardless of her personality.

Patruchio woos Katherine, the shrew with a sharp temper, because of her father’s money.

With the reversal, Kostoryz sees Patruchia as a CEO businesswoman, who wants to marry a rich young man.

“I try to see myself as a woman in a leadership role. Like a ‘Hillary,'” Kostoryz said, referring to Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

The cast has to work through the idea of a whole different society.

“[The gender reversal] involves talking about it a lot,” Prentiss said. “Our first rehearsal, we spent an hour talking about it. Its fun. Its really a lot of fun.”

According to Rockhurst sophomore Drew Jurden, the concept is not as difficult as it may seem.

“The less you think about it, the easier it is,” Jurden, who plays Bianco (Shakespeare’s Bianca), said. “It’s really instinctual.”

According to Brown, his character is easier to portray because of the stereotypically masculine characteristics.

“I think it’s going to be really challenging to get basic cultural things, though,” Brown said.