FLORHAM PARK, NJ — On July 8, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will reopen the figurative doors to its ever-popular Outdoor Stage venue, located on the bucolic campus of Saint Elizabeth University. Since 2002, the company’s annual productions at this Greek-style amphitheater have provided people throughout the region with delightful productions under the stars. In 2020, the stone seats remained empty as the pandemic necessitated its closure. To relaunch the venue in grand style, STNJ will, for the first time, be presenting two productions in repertory, so that theater-starved patrons can enjoy not just one live performance, but two if they so choose. As always, this season’s shows are comedies and appropriate for all ages.
The four-week run will preview on July 8, with William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” directed by resident director Brian B. Crowe, a regular at the company’s Outdoor Stage. On alternate nights, STNJ will present the premiere of a new play, “Snug,” written and directed by Bonnie J. Monte, the company’s artistic director.
“There is such excitement about the reopening of our Outdoor Stage, and we wanted to start back up with a bang,” Monte said. “So, partly to make up for the show we lost last summer, and partly to kick things off again in high celebratory fashion, we decided to give our audiences not just one, but two shows.”
“‘Comedy of Errors,’ one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, is the perfect show to welcome people back,” Crowe said of the show, which will be presented in a 90-minute version. “It is a rollicking, fantastical, fun farce, with an outrageous plot and colorful characters, and yet for all of its slapstick silliness, there is a beautiful message about reuniting with people from whom we’ve been separated and being with loved ones again. Its sweet and earnest ending could not be more apt for this reunion with our audience.”
“Snug,” which will also run for approximately 90 minutes, was inspired not only by Shakespeare’s beloved Mechanicals from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but also by the company of actors that has been isolated with STNJ’s “skeletal pandemic staff” since the start of the COVID shutdown.
“Getting to know this group of nine actors so well over the course of the past 14 months has been a privilege and a blessing,” Monte said. “Their unstoppable energy, good hearts, earnest desire to create art in the middle of the pandemic ‘desert’ as well as their often delightful hijinks, made me want to write a play about them in the guise of the characters they played for us in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ I wanted to craft a piece that would delight both halves of our audience — those who tend to avoid Shakespeare, and those who adore him. What came out in ink was a kind of the secret lives of the Mechanicals in their off-hours, capped with an Elizabethan ‘Noises Off’–like finale.”
While STNJ will reopen its Outdoor Stage in compliance with all CDC and state COVID-19
recommendations and requirements, those recommendations are changing almost weekly. As of now, people who are vaccinated do not need to wear masks at outdoor events unless they wish to, and STNJ is waiting for new developments regarding the social-distancing requirements. Tickets will go on sale by the end of May and, at that time, the theater’s website will post all necessary information.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 973-408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.
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