The freshman class sits eagerly in the comfortable, plum-colored seats at the Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe, waiting for the lights to go down. On the stone stage, which some lucky students get to sit at the edge of, stand six stone pillars. Suddenly the lights dim, several actors run onto the stage and the first lines of the play echo between the walls of the theater.

It is the first scene of William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, a town market-like forum in which the characters discuss Caesar’s fearful regime, slightly different from Shakespeare’s writing but nonetheless recognizable.

“I loved the set, especially during the war scene, I thought it was unbelievable,” said English teacher and 9th Grade Gradehead Cory Zeller. “I thought that was amazing.” The production used pillars at the front of the stage and a white curtain as a backdrop to project images of props and settings, as well as hashtags, emoticons and social media as part of the show’s modernization.

“At first it (the backdrop) was all neat and clean and then when the war broke out it was completely changed and I wasn’t expecting it to look like a totally different set,” said freshman Ren Habiby.

While the staging was well-received by those from Parker, the adaptation was not as popular. “I hated the use of social media. Hated the phones. Hated the emojis. I know that that’s part of our culture now, I totally get what they were saying afterwards about social media being so prevalent and powerful. I get it, but sometimes I feel like theater is a place to escape reality, and I don’t really need to be reminded of the fact that people are on their social media.”

Aside from using modern technology and costumes, the Writers’ Theatre also changed the storyline of the show, which also earned unfavorable impressions. “They missed parts but that’s of course what had to happen if you want to shrink the time of the play. After the assassination they cut out a lot of stuff and the ending wasn’t very good,” said 9th Grader Isaac Warshaw.

“Well, I wanted them to take it (the end) as slow as Shakespeare takes it, because I feel like it had more impact when I read it, because there’s that moment when Cassius and Brutus decide to commit suicide together, but then Brutus doesn’t do it, he hesitates. And I feel like Shakespeare takes more time with that, and then he dies, and I felt like that to me felt really rushed.”

Even though opinions of the production weren’t all positive, Zeller said she thought the experience was important. “I think anytime we can take students out into the world, take a day away from school to go see art, especially when we’re reading plays, I love it. I thought it was worth the time.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article misquoted Zeller. The changes have been made to reflect her true quotes.