How Public Theater’s Romeo & Juliet Opening Night Culminated in a Live Wedding in Central Park

There may never have been a story of more woe than that of the original star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet in fair Verona—but a chance meeting in a Texas coffee shop has now rewritten the romantic trajectories of some 30 present-day couples.

Two months ago, Public Theater’s resident director Saheem Ali, who has re-envisioned the tragedy through a politically-relevant, immigration-influenced lens for this season’s Shakespeare in the Park, went to the border town of Laredo to “see the wall with [his] own eyes” in order to represent it on stage.

Pausing to admire art made from dollar bills on the wall of a local café, artist Oscar Diaz and his partner Janelly Mendoza happened to walk right in at the same time. The couple showed Ali around, shared their life stories and insights, and elaborated on the heart-wrenching phenomenon of border marriages. “If two people fall in love from either side, they meet at the wall with a pastor and get married. I thought it was such a beautiful representation of what this story is trying to say about division and coming together,” Ali explained.

An idea was hatched. Why not flip the script and end the emotive play with a real life wedding instead? On Thursday, the official opening night, Diaz and Mendoza flew to Manhattan to be wed in front of an audience of 1,800 people at the Delacorte Theater.

“We loved the idea of celebrating our commitment in such a memorable setting,” Mendoza told Vogue. “We also felt it was important to show how art can unite people and bring communities together. Before the ceremony, we felt a mix of excitement and nerves—Oscar and I had never been in the public eye before. But during the ceremony, everything seemed to slow down, and we were completely focused on each other and the significance of the moment.”

The bride chose a long ivory silk dress—something that would make her feel “confident and comfortable,” while the groom nodded to his roots with a Western belt buckle and cowboy boots. “We wanted to incorporate personal touches that made the night feel uniquely ours,” Mendoza offered. A week before the ceremony, her parents were in Mexico City and coincidentally found a jewelry store that made Romeo and Juliet rings inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 picture. “They gifted them to us, and although we already had our wedding rings, we decided to wear those during the ceremony to make it even more special,” she shared.

Mainly through word of mouth, Ali has since enlisted a couple to declare their vows every night during the production’s run. (New York’s temperamental climate being what it is, of course there’s a plan B set-up backstage for the rainy nights too.) Both Francis Jue, who plays Friar Lawrence, and his understudy, became ordained officiants through the Universal Life Church to bring the extension of the plot to fruition.

The surprise ending strikes a particularly poignant note for breakthrough star Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens, who is endearing and winsome as she switches between English and Spanish as a bilingual Juliet Capulet. “I lost my mom unexpectedly at the end of last year, right before I got this audition,” she told Vogue. “I really hope people can see that yes, this is a tragedy, but out of loss, we can still find beauty and redemption and we can try to change things for the better. The real wedding feels like a representation of that. I hope audiences leave feeling the love.”

It’s the first major role for the Georgia native—and something that she’s still pinching herself over. “I moved to New York to go to NYU’s Grad Acting program and I wanted to go there mainly because of their tie to the Public Theater. I’d never even been to New York City, but I always watched whatever clips of Shakespeare in the Park I could find on YouTube. My first time seeing it in person was last summer and it solidified that this was a bucket list thing that I wanted to do. It’s crazy that just a year later, I’m here.”

For her opening night look, Aikens was thrilled to reunite with Vogue’s Tonne Goodman, who styled her and her ‘Rohh-mey-ohh’ (Inwood-raised Daniel Bravo Hernández) for the pages of the summer 2026 issue of this magazine. “Tonne kindly offered to dress me and she sent me ideas. When I saw this Carolina Herrera dress from the spring 2026 collection, I was completely smitten. We didn’t know if we’d be able to get it in time. I had the fitting the day before, and when I walked into the room and saw it, I screamed.”

Among those who turned out for the evening to support and uplift the 70-plus year tradition of gratis theater in Central Park were Lily Rabe, Angelaclass="xot-al" data-spotlight-artist="Angela Bassett" data-spotlight-artist-id="4740">Angela Bassett, Zachary Quinto, Ethan Slater, and Conrad Ricamora—all no stranger to treading the boards themselves. Thanking the audience, Public Theater’s longtime artistic director Oskar Eustis remarked, “There’s a difference between cheap Shakespeare and free Shakespeare. Free Shakespeare means it’s yours. It belongs to you. It is the property of the city of New York. There are things that belong to all of us, and one of those things is Shakespeare in the Park.”

Ra’Mya Latiah Aikens, Daniel Bravo Hernández

The company with director Saheem Ali (far left), and artistic director Oskar Eustis (far right)

Peter Ricamora-Jensen and Conrad Ricamora