“Romeo and Juliet” is required reading for many American high-school students, but dozens of youth in Durham recently experienced the play in a way that didn’t go by the book. In April, the Walltown Children’s Theatre staged a Spanish-language production of “Romeo y Julieta,” embellished with Latino music and dancing. The first regional play to be performed in Spanish in more than a decade, “Romeo y Julieta” was created to reach out to Durham’s growing Hispanic population, said theater co-director Joseph Henderson.

Located in the predominantly African-American Walltown neighborhood--one block from Duke’s East Campus--the Walltown Theatre brings new meaning to the term “community theater.” Founded in 2000 to make performance opportunities available to children who might not otherwise have them, the Theatre stages community-minded productions such as last year’s Bangin’, an original play--inspired by a local child’s violent death--that brought an anti-gang message to thousands of residents at performances at Durham’s Carolina Theater.

The Walltown Children’s Theatre is one of many community improvement initiatives launched in recent years with the support of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, which has also created more affordable housing, established community centers and coordinated mentoring and tutoring projects in Durham neighborhoods, among other projects. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education has recognized Duke's community-university partnerships as a "model for colleges and universities across the nation" and bestowed an unprecedented four awards on its programs. Along with other major programs that have strengthened Duke-Durham relationships over the past decade, the Partnership is a direct outgrowth of a priority established at the outset of Nan Keohane’s presidency: to increase Duke’s constructive engagement with its hometown for the benefit of all.