Hunter Adams and Anne Turner play the lead characters in “Romeo and Juliet,” presented at the Hale-Turner Little Theater in Elgin starting Sept. 29.

ELGIN — Two star-crossed lovers will take to the stage in a new production of “Romeo and Juliet,” but the show has a “rocking” twist.

Instead of taking place in the Elizabethan era, this version of the Shakesperean classic is set in England in the 1960s. To bring the Montagues and Capulets to life, “Romeo and Juliet” will focus on the conflict between two British youth subcultures: the mods and the rockers. Mods listened to jazz, ska and new wave music; rockers listened to, well, rock ‘n’ roll.

“Really early on, I started to think of this play as being set in England in the early ‘60s. It was the costumes, it was the attitude,” director Grant Turner said. “The rockers liked leather, and the mods were into suits and ties. There is this sort of Hatfield and McCoy conflict already built into the era, and it was a glamorous era, so it would be easy to show the wealth and the style of these characters through their clothing.”

Turner said “mods and rockers” music styles will also play into this take on Romeo and Juliet to tie a scene together or set a mood.

In addition to the costumes and the music, Turner said this production is uncommon in that the actors, including those playing Romeo and Juliet, are close to the character’s ages.

“It is rare to see a Romeo and Juliet with age-appropriate casting. If you were to do this in Portland or New York or London, all of your actresses would be 25 years old. It’s a play about young people, but it requires mature actors to access the emotion and the intellectual curiosity these characters have,” Turner said.

Romeo is 19-year-old Hunter Adams; Juliet is 15-year-old Anne Turner, Grant Turner’s daughter, who had her first Shakespearean role at 5 months old. The other teenage characters are also being played by teenagers.

Part of the youthful element of “Romeo and Juliet” comes from the source material, but another part comes from the way this production began. Turner decided to do “Romeo and Juliet” after working with classes at La Grande High School last year.

“I got knee deep in that play. I worked on it for five weeks, reading it over and over again and dissecting it for these kids. My assignment was really to make them see it as a piece of theater and not just something to be read,” Turner said. “The more and more I went over it, I sort of fell in love with it again.”

Although “Romeo and Juliet” is a tragedy, seeing the play live is a different experience than many would expect.

“One of the beauties of Romeo and Juliet is until it all goes south, it really is a fairly delightful romantic comedy,” Turner said. “You should come into this knowing it doesn’t end well but being prepared to be delighted by the wit and the presence of these two lovers. They really are great.”

“Romeo and Juliet” opens Sept. 29 at the Hale-Turner Little Theater in Elgin and runs through Oct. 8 on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Shows are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

Tickets are $18 and available at elginoperahouse.com.