BRUNSWICK — The Theater Project announces its second annual “Shakespeare on the Mall” event, ” Romeo and Juliet.”  Directed by Theater Project founder and Artistic Director Al Miller, the free production will be performed at 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, July 10, 11, 12 and 17, 18 and 19.

. The show will be staged on the Brunswick Mall, by the gazebo, using natural lighting and live sound. To help cover production costs, actors will pass the hat after each performance.

Director Al Miller hopes this will become a new Brunswick tradition, another jewel in the community’s artistic crown. “Public art is essential in creating and sustaining community,” Miller said. “The recent installation in front of the train station of a sculptural piece by Arrowsic native Miles Copeland invites the public to pause and consider, and it stimulates discussion. Public theater invites the same response, and there is no theater in the western tradition like Shakespeare.”

Last summer’s production of “The Tempes”t drew audiences of 100 for each of the three performances. Miller hopes “Romeo and Juliet” will draw at least as many.

Bo Dennis and Grace Kneebone are the star-crossed lovers, and Theater Project veteran Craig Ela is Friar Laurence. Bowdoin English professor Aviva Briefel makes her acting debut as Lady Capulet and Bath native Clay Hawkes is her husband, playing opposite Kevin Calderwood as Montague, Romeo’s father. Amanda LaCasse-LaFlamme and Annabella Palopoli, young Theater Project veterans, bend the gender of Benvolio and Mercutio, and Jennifer Musick, Diana Wells and 2015 Brunswick High graduate Sam Nichols complete the cast.

“We’re aiming for an hour and a half without an intermission,” Miller said. “The audience sits on blankets, chairs, stools or the grass; seating is up to them! Our goal is to engage them in a classic production that is exciting and easy to understand: if the actors know what they’re saying and find the rhythm of the play, the audience will be engaged and stay with them, and that’s what we’ve been working on.”