32 Couples to Wed Throughout “Romeo & Juliet” Stage Run, Giving the Shakespearean Tragedy a Happy Ending

Rachel RaposasTue, June 16, 2026 at 6:02 PM UTC

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Oscar Diaz and Janelly Mendoza getting married during 'Romeo & Juliet' at Shakespeare in the Park on June 11, 2026Credit: Rebecca J Michelson/The Public Theater -

Thirty-two couples will tie the knot during director Saheem Ali's reimagining of Romeo & Juliet for Shakespeare in the Park

Ali's version of the classic tragedy frames the star-crossed lovers in the context of immigration and U.S.-Mexico border marriages

The production rewrites the doomed pair's fate each performance with a real-life wedding

Every night of Shakespeare in the Park's Romeo & Juliet production, a couple will speak their vows.

The Public Theater's production of Romeo & Juliet, which was reimagined by director Saheem Ali, puts an optimistic spin on the romantic tragedy by hosting a real-life wedding each night, Voguereported on Saturday, June 13, days after the show's official opening on June 11.

Since the show began preview performances on May 22, various couples have helped rewrite the star-crossed lovers' fate by professing their love for each other onstage. In a statement to PEOPLE, the Public Theater confirmed that "there is a wedding or vow renewal at every performance, for a total of 32 ceremonies."

Ali's production approaches the classic tragedy through the lens of modern-day immigration and the politics surrounding the U.S.-Mexico wall and border marriages. To accurately capture that essence on stage, the director traveled to Laredo, Texas, on the border between the two countries. There, he met engaged couple Oscar Diaz and Janelly Mendoza, who offered insight into the profound yet tragic nature of their relationship.

Ra'Mya Latiah Aikens and Daniel Bravo Hernández during opening night of 'Romeo & Juliet' at Shakespeare in the Park on June 11, 2026Credit: Rebecca J Michelson/The Public Theater

"If two people fall in love from either side, they meet at the wall with a pastor and get married," Ali told Vogue. "I thought it was such a beautiful representation of what this story is trying to say about division and coming together."

At that moment, Ali decided his adaptation would have a happy ending, concluding each show with a real-life wedding to rewrite the doomed lovers' fate. And the couple to help pave this new path on opening night, appropriately, was Diaz and Mendoza.

For the show's official opening on June 11, the couple flew to Manhattan, where they would perform their vows in front of roughly 1,800 people at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

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Mendoza told Vogue that she and Diaz's pre-wedding nerves were compounded by a bit of stage fright, but once in the moment, it was everything they'd hoped. "During the ceremony, everything seemed to slow down, and we were completely focused on each other and the significance of the moment," she said.

One week before the opening night and ceremony, Mendoza's parents found a jewelry store in Mexico City that had a pair of wedding rings inspired by Baz Luhrmann's 1996 adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. The shop gifted the pair to the couple; though they already had their wedding rings picked out, they chose to use the gifted rings for the actual ceremony, "to make it even more special," she said.

The opening night cast of 'Romeo & Juliet' at Shakespeare in the Park on June 11, 2026Credit: Rebecca J Michelson/The Public Theater

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For every subsequent performance, Ali found couples to wed in the show primarily through "word of mouth," per Vogue. Both the actor and understudy for Friar Lawrence have been formally ordained as officiants to further merge romance, art and life.

"We loved the idea of celebrating our commitment in such a memorable setting," Mendoza said. "We also felt it was important to show how art can unite people and bring communities together."

Romeo & Juliet will perform at Shakespeare in the Park through June 28.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”