Joe Calarco's Off-Broadway and regional hit, Shakespeare's R&J has its Washington DC premiere at Folger Theatre, the producing arm of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Feb. 18-March 19.

Calarco's bold adaptation, which he directs in DC, is set in a boys' boarding school where four students perform a version of Shakespeare's tragic romance in the context of "repressed hysteria" -- an idea, Calarco said, that represents the atmosphere in both the insular prep school and Verona.

The company includes Christopher Borg, Scot McKenzie, Jerry Richardson and R. Scott Thompson. Calarco was a 1999 Helen Hayes Award winner in DC for his staging of Nijinsky's Last Dance at Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, and recently staged A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Shakespeare Theatre in DC.

Designers are Tony Cisek (scenic), Dan Covey (lighting), Brian Keating (sound) and Justine Scherer (costumes).

Official opening is Feb. 20. Tickets are $22-$36. The Folger is at 201 E. Capitol Ave., S.E., Washington, DC. Call (202) 544-7077 or try the website at www.folger.edu.

-- By Kenneth Jones