This space, however, also lends itself to the creation of innovative new works that embrace a vision beyond the traditional proscenium. Its emptiness, though domineering, offers possibility—a wide-open sort of freedom that must be seized bravely and surely by the artists who create there.

Benjamin Millepied’s “Romeo and Juliet Suite,” which had its New York City premiere at the venue on March 2, capitalized on this sense of possibility. The work unfolds on both a traditional proscenium erected in the center of the Drill Hall and throughout the various other rooms and spaces in the Armory, captured in real time by a videographer and projected onto a large screen above the stage. 

The videography offered a way to render the Drill Hall at once intimate and infinite. It was a tool to allow audiences to see the same choreography from different angles, but it was also a deeply impactful window into the characters’ inner worlds. 

During the ball where Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time, the two title characters perform a sweeping, expansive duet onstage while the rest of the action takes place on camera, in a mirrored room filled with disco balls and movement that conjures images of ballroom culture and voguing. Later, as Juliet takes the sleeping pill—setting off the tragic chain of events that end the story—Juliet wanders and stumbles about the palatial rooms of the armory, which are all lit ominously in red. The use of mirrors to generate an infinity effect became a recurring motif in “Romeo and Juliet Suite,” perfectly crystallizing the idea of the title characters being star-crossed lovers—fated to meet in any universe, plane, or timeline.