To hear Angela Germanos tell it, the rivalry between Anne Arundel County's Severna Park and Broadneck high schools can go from friendly to fierce to furious in no time flat.
Earlier this year, the Severna Park drama director came up with an idea to bring to a simmer some of the recurring enmity: a joint production of the Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet," in which each school's drama department would assume the role of one of the play's feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues.
Both of the schools' principals agreed with the idea, and Germanos and Broadneck drama club head Kevin Whewell are working on the details for a production slated to run in April. They're mulling over an ideal script, coming up with settings, costumes and props as well as deciding on a site for the play.
A neutral site, that is.
"We haven't decided which school would be the Capulets and which would be the Montagues. That will be decided at auditions," said Germanos, who added that among the venues being considered for the play is Anne Arundel Community College. "Whoever plays the best Juliet Capulet, her school will be the Capulets. The other school would be the Montagues."
Whewell said that his school had pondered a joint production with Severna Park for a while, but added that he forged ahead with the idea of performing "Romeo and Juliet" with the rival school after receiving a favorable response from Broadneck Principal David G. Smith.
The principal said that it's no secret that the schools have a rivalry that, most of the time, is positive, "but on occasion it can take a negative turn."
"I like the idea of the arts being a resource to bring the two schools together in a way that reflects the natural rivalry," Smith added, "but also provides our students with a very positive way to work together toward a common goal."
Germanos said that rather than staging the traditional version of the play, she hopes for one with a modern flavor, similar to the 1996 movie that starred actor Leonardo DiCaprio as Romeo and Claire Danes as Juliet.
"We hope to have the families dressed in the schools' respective sports team jerseys, with hip-hop dance," she said. "We want a setting that reflects the county, maybe with Rita's ice cream stands."
Both schools are noted for their drama departments. Whewell said he was confident that the troupes would perform the play without problems, adding that the local high school drama community is close-knit and that students know one another from productions outside the schools.
Both he and Germanos say they hope that the audiences are different from those that often come to sporting events, where tensions from a close game have occasionally spilled into the stands and parking lots.
Germanos said that the rivalry was so heated that earlier this year, when she sought to borrow Broadneck's mascot, the Bruin, for a Severna Park play, she discovered that the mascot belonged to the Broadneck cheerleaders. They wouldn't loan it out until they received strict assurances that it would be properly cared for.
She said she hopes the "Romeo and Juliet" play establishes more trust and "cooperation among the two schools."