DURHAM -- It's been quite a year for Bethany Jillard.

The actor, who spent her high school years in Whitby, is starring as Juliet in Driftwood Theatre Group's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. But that's just the latest of her appearances on stage in her first year after finishing school.

"This is my first year out of school," she said in a telephone interview. "I've had a lot of opportunities. Everything's just sort of clicked."

Last year, she was in the George F. Walker play, TOUGH!, with the Factory Theatre in Toronto. She learned this spring the cast was nominated for a Dora award for ensemble work and the play itself for outstanding production for young audiences.

"We're all pretty excited about that," she said.

Then it was on to How It Works by Daniel McIvor, her favourite Canadian playwright, in a production at the Tarragon Theatre. Jillard then appeared in A Man of No Importance at Acting Up Stage. Up next was My Name is Rachel Corrie, which ran during June at Theatre Panik in Toronto. The play is based on the diaries of a young American woman killed by a Israeli military bulldozer while she protested demolishing of a Palestinian home in Gaza.

It's raised controversy when it was staged elsewhere.

"We tried to tell the story as it is in the script. It's all her own writing. It's been received incredibly positively by audiences."

While most audiences were positive, even those people who weren't were willing "to talk and discuss it. It's a nice thing to have theatre ignite, be a catalyst for discussion," Jillard said.

Now it's on to Driftwood, where she had her professional debut a couple of years ago.

Jillard's interest in performing came naturally to her.

"I performed from a really early age. My mom was a singer and a drama teacher. Dancing and acting were extracurricular activities for her," she said.

She took a drama course in high school but when she graduated, she planned to become a veterinarian, attending the University of Guelph. Partway through her first year, she started to question her decision. The passion wasn't there, she said. She checked into drama programs and enrolled at the University of Toronto's drama program in University College.

"I broke it to my parents who were not surprised at all and were quite delighted and supportive."

She admits the profession is a hard one, filled with uncertainty. But no matter if she's successful or not, "I have to be doing this. Period."

"Driftwood is such a different experience," she said of the drama troupe which performs Shakespeare in parks throughout Durham and the rest of southern Ontario each summer.

"I'm so grateful that this was my first professional experience. There's something about the magic of theatre that seems more alive when you have to tear down your set every night and you're together all the time. Some of my closest friends now are from Driftwood. She rooms with Driftwood's stage manager and she met her boyfriend in Driftwood.

She's looking forward to performing as Juliet again, adding she can do Juliet "100 times" and still find something new in it.

"One of the things I love about Romeo and Juliet is ... that it's a real journey for Juliet. You start with this young girl who's been very privileged. She's been quite sheltered."

Then she meets Romeo, the enemy, and falls in love.

"It shatters her world in a way."

Juliet faces the "brutality" of questioning your assumptions, the way you've lived your life.

She also faces the danger in what seems like an innocent, teenage love.â?¨ "There's a current of something quite dangerous under the teenage love," Jillard said. "I love the transformation of Juliet. From beginning to end, you see a girl become a woman, a girl who has to think for herself, who knows what she wants and knows the cost of getting it."

Even if it means dying for it.

The beauty and aggression, the sensual hunger and violent conflict, as Driftwood's artistic director Jeremy Smith puts it, of Romeo and Juliet will be played out in parks throughout Durham this summer.

"Every moment of love and tenderness is punctuated by the language of violence," Smith said.

The exploration of conflict is central to Driftwood's production of the play, not only as it relates to Shakespeare's life but as it relates to cultures that have filled the gap of time between the play's creation and today, Smith said.

The cast also features Benjamin Mehl as Romeo, Karl Ang as Tybalt/Friar John, Steven Burley as Capulet, Mark Crawford as Friar Laurence, Christopher Darroch as Mercutio/Paris, Tabitha Keast as Lady Capulet, Sarah Machin-Gale as Montague/Nurse, Kyle McDonald as The Prince/Peter, and Sabryn Rock as Benvolio.

Driftwood opens the summer tour with an opening night gala at Parkwood Estate on July 14. This is a ticketed event with tickets available by calling 905-576-2396.

Driftwood will take the play to Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Bowmanville and Port Perry.

Admission is on a pay-what-you-can basis with a suggested cost of $15 per person. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Some shows include late-night chats after the performance.

A full listing of dates and locations is available at www.driftwoodtheatre.com. For information call the summer hotline, 905-576-2396.

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