“The Show Must Go On!” at the Shakespeare Theatre of NJ

“The show must go on!” is part of Bonnie Monte’s DNA. As the artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey for 30 years this season, shutting down was hard for her to do. But Monte found a way out, working with a group of eight actors originally employed as part of the theatre’s “Shakespeare Live!” company. The actors formed a new troupe (the Shrewd Mechanicals, in a nod to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), and will present two evenings of classic comedies: “Verily, Madly Thine,” and a double bill featuring Molière’s farce “The Love Doctor” and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Aria Da Capo.” Performances will take place outside on the theatre’s great lawn in Florham Park, NJ, and tickets are selling fast. In this conversation with producer Susan Wallner, Monte describes how they’re pulling off live theatre in New Jersey during the pandemic. She also reflects on her new appreciation for Shakespeare, whose own life was repeatedly shadowed by outbursts of the plague.