“A Rose by Any Other Name …” So, what’s in a name?

 

Patrick B. McGuigan, Publisher

The Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre, long known as CityRep, has a new monicker: OKCRep, unveiled to coordinate with the 2019-2020 season and the first production, “Every Brilliant Thing.”

The local troupe of equity players is described, in organizational publicity materials, as “Oklahoma’s award-winning, intimate Equity theatre. Oklahoma City Rep is the first theatre in Oklahoma City history to earn membership in the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national association of leading professional regional theaters.”

The incomparable William Shakespeare, in his tragic drama, “Romeo and Juliet,” includes the immortal balcony scene, in which Juliet declares she (a Capulet) loves Romeo (a Montague) although they come from separate families, in a city as divided into “turf” as modern gang-dominated urban enclaves. Protesting the name does not limit the man, she says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”

We liked “CityRep” just fine, and we affirm that each upcoming OKCRep performance will invariably be a summit experience — a glimpse at our divinely-inspired human capability to affirm comedy, tragedy, history or fantasy in ways that affirm the best in us, while admitting the worst is “out there.”