The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s 2020 season will begin in May.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will present its first “Macbeth” since 2004 and its first “Much Ado About Nothing” since 2003 — as well as a holiday season adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” titled “A MidWINTER Night’s Dream” — as part of its 2020 season.
Specific dates for the theater’s 58th season — which will include six shows at its Main Stage at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University in Madison, and one at the Outdoor Stage at the College of Saint Elizabeth in Florham Park — have not been announced yet. But the season will begin in May with “Enchanted April,” Matthew Barber’s Tony-nominated 2003 play (based on the 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim that was also turned into a film in 1991) about four British women on holiday in Italy. Bonnie J. Monte, celebrating her 30th year as the Shakespeare’s Theatre’s artistic director, will direct.
Next up is “The Metromaniacs,” translated and adapted by David Ives (“Venus in Fur,” “All in the Timing”) from French playwright’s Alexis Piron’s 1738 farce “La Métromanie.”
The theater’s outdoor, summertime production will be “Much Ado About Nothing,” Shakespeare’s comedy about the warring couple Beatrice and Benedick (free tickets will be offered for those 17 and younger). Also in the summer, on the Main Stage, the theater will produce Samuel Beckett’s 1953 landmark “Waiting for Godot” (directed by Monte).
Next up will be “The Dresser,” Ronald Harwood’s Tony-nominated 1980 play about an aging actor and his assistant (which was made into a acclaimed film, co-starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, in 1983). This will be followed by Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece “Macbeth” (also directed by Monte) and then “A MidWINTER Night’s Dream” (which Monte co-adapted from Shakespeare’s fantastical comedy; she will also direct).
Subscriptions and memberships are currently on sale. Smaller packages will go on sale in February, and single tickets will be available starting in the spring. Visit ShakespeareNJ.org.
The last play of the theater’s 2019 season, “Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,” runs through Dec. 29. Click here for a review.
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