Rome Sweet Rome, written, directed, composed, and choreographed by the Q Brothers Collective, is a hip-hop musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. The University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts produced Rome Sweet Rome in the fall of 2016 as part of the Mainstage season and the 2016-2017 Partnership in the Arts production.
This thesis explores the unique production process of Rome Sweet Rome from the stage manager’s perspective. Since leadership, communication, and organization are essential attributes of stage managers, Samantha Paradis’ personal leadership, communication, and organization goals and outcomes for this production are addressed. Because theatre and life can be unpredictable this paper includes the analysis of new challenges that arose. Paradis concludes her exploration with final thoughts on the production and her development as a Graduate Stage Manager at the University of Iowa.