Artistic director Bonnie J. Monte said in a statement, "We had an incredible 2008 season that included a record-breaking number of subscribers. I am thrilled to be able to announce an extraordinary 47th anniversary season that I think will once again thrill our audiences."
The season will kick off April 29, 2009, with Around the World in Eighty Days. Bonnie J. Monte's theatrical version of Jules Verne's classic story concerns Phileas Fogg, who, on a whim, "takes off on a whirlwind, action-packed adventure," according to press notes. Performances will continue through May 24, 2009.
Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes will follow, beginning performances June 3. "This compelling and cautionary tale of an ambitious, turn of the century Southern family torn apart by bitter disappointment, greed and deception" will run through June 28.
The company will then present William Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Greek Theatre, an outdoor amphitheatre on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, June 24-Aug. 2.
Shakespeare's Timon of Athens — a "tale of an extravagantly generous man whose friends fail him" — will be presented July 8-26. Michael Frayn's Noises Off will run Aug. 9-30. The British farce "pulls back the curtain on a troupe of actors in rehearsal and performance for Nothing On, a ridiculously silly farce where off-stage shenanigans lead to on-stage chaos."
Artistic director Monte will helm Shakespeare's Hamlet, which will run Sept. 9-Oct. 11. The classic tragedy will be followed by Frank Galati's stage adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The story of the Joad family will play the New Jersey venue Oct. 21-Nov. 21.
The season will conclude with Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, running Dec. 2, 2009-Jan. 3, 2010.
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's Main Stage is located in Madison, NJ, at 36 Madison Avenue (Route 124) at Lancaster Road (on the Drew University campus). The Outdoor Stage is located at the Greek Theatre on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, NJ.
For ticket information call (973) 408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.
