The Comedy of Errors meets the Tempest

70-mph 'tempest' destroys Shakespeare Theatre of NJ stage, but the show will go on
William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record


Final preparations for two outdoor stage comedies took a dramatic turn when a fierce thunderstorm rolled through North Jersey on Tuesday, destroying the set and damaging facilities of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's outdoor stage at Saint Elizabeth University.

Opening night, previously scheduled for Friday, will be delayed a few days. But the shows will go on, said Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte, who has experience dealing with tempests that threaten her productions.


"It's getting downright Biblical here," said Monte, whose award-winning professional company was preparing to premiere the first of its two outdoor productions on Saturday. The performances would have been the first seen on either of its primary stages since the pandemic turned both dark for 2020.


Given the complexity of producing two outdoor productions for the first time, the company decided to postpone opening night.

"But we have every intention of performing on July 14 and following our regular schedule after that," she said.

Monte and the cast were on dinner break early Tuesday evening when director Brian B. Crowe was working with the crew to prepare for a tech rehearsal.

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"It came out of nowhere super-fast," Crowe said of the storm. "There were some dark clouds in the distance but nothing too bad."

But as he was inside a prop tent, he heard the wind coming, then the rain. The crew scrambled to collect electrical equipment while "tents were blowing everywhere," Crowe said.

The same storm felled trees and knocked out power for thousands in the area.

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"We have these beautiful 14-foot skydrop walls in the back and the winds hit that like a Mack truck," Crowe said. "They were designed with steel supports but even with that, they were getting a big push. There was a point that you couldn't see 20 feet in front of your face because the wind was blowing so hard in the rain."

Your stories live here.
Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.
Create Account
"Thankfully, the destruction was wreaked on inanimate objects only," Monte said. "All of our crew members are safe, but for the instantaneous despair the sight of our mangled set caused in all of us."

Food infrastructure:Hanover shopping plaza with Wegmans, two restaurants sold for $46 million. What's next?

For Monte, in her 30th year leading the company, the storm evoked memories of her 1997 production of "Henry V" staged on the football field of the former Bayley-Ellard School. That set was pummeled by a summer squall on opening weekend.


"I was just telling the crew that set was much more of a simple thing to put back together, but it ended up being more dangerous," she recalled. "I remember there was this little young apprentice girl who was trying to hold up a wall all by herself. Luckily one of the actors came along, swooped her up and probably saved her life."

That unique production came during a year when the company was without a stage as the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre was being constructed on the campus of Drew University in Madison. Others were staged inside at the Community Theatre in Morristown (now the Mayo Performing Arts Center).

A summer production on the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's outdoor stage at the College of st. Elizabeth.
The Kirby opened in 1998 and outdoor productions began at the grass-and-stone outdoor Greek-style theater at Saint Elizabeth in 2002, elevating the company to recognition as one of the most successful professional classic theater companies in the United States.

'Domestic violence':Rockaway Township man stabbed woman in back and slashed her face, affidavit states

"Just for fun, we decided to do two outdoor shows this year," Monte laughed.



Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
Construction and rehearsals already had proved to be a challenge due to a stubborn weather pattern of heat and rain.

Damage from the storm included support facilities for the increasingly expensive productions at Saint Elizabeth. Monte said it was too early to put a price tag on the damage, including a loss of ticket sales, but expected the cost to be "significant."

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"It's a much more sophisticated operation now," she said. "As this thing has developed over the past two decades, it's become a very complex, high-tech situation out there. It's a much large space [than Bayley-Ellard] and much larger pieces of scenery."

Two performances have been added to make up for the lost dates and meet the demand for the popular annual production, known for its family-friendly adaptations, improvised cast interactions with the audience and plenty of pastoral campus ground to picnic before the show.


Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
"The added Saturday shows start at 11 a.m., so for families with kids, it would be a great opportunity to see the shows," Monte said.

Performances of "The Comedy of Errors" and "Snug" run through Aug. 1. Tickets are $40 and $45 but children ages 17 and under are admitted free. Call the box office or visit the company website for more information and updates.


Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @wwesthoven
 
Any chance of posting the article here rather than having to turn my ad blocker off?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
Straight copy pasta. The images didn’t come with it. There is also trash text from ads. Do you get to read about Arizona 😂😂😂


70-mph 'tempest' destroys Shakespeare Theatre of NJ stage, but the show will go on
William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record


Final preparations for two outdoor stage comedies took a dramatic turn when a fierce thunderstorm rolled through North Jersey on Tuesday, destroying the set and damaging facilities of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's outdoor stage at Saint Elizabeth University.

Opening night, previously scheduled for Friday, will be delayed a few days. But the shows will go on, said Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte, who has experience dealing with tempests that threaten her productions.


"It's getting downright Biblical here," said Monte, whose award-winning professional company was preparing to premiere the first of its two outdoor productions on Saturday. The performances would have been the first seen on either of its primary stages since the pandemic turned both dark for 2020.


Given the complexity of producing two outdoor productions for the first time, the company decided to postpone opening night.

"But we have every intention of performing on July 14 and following our regular schedule after that," she said.

Monte and the cast were on dinner break early Tuesday evening when director Brian B. Crowe was working with the crew to prepare for a tech rehearsal.

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"It came out of nowhere super-fast," Crowe said of the storm. "There were some dark clouds in the distance but nothing too bad."

But as he was inside a prop tent, he heard the wind coming, then the rain. The crew scrambled to collect electrical equipment while "tents were blowing everywhere," Crowe said.

The same storm felled trees and knocked out power for thousands in the area.

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"We have these beautiful 14-foot skydrop walls in the back and the winds hit that like a Mack truck," Crowe said. "They were designed with steel supports but even with that, they were getting a big push. There was a point that you couldn't see 20 feet in front of your face because the wind was blowing so hard in the rain."

Your stories live here.
Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.
Create Account
"Thankfully, the destruction was wreaked on inanimate objects only," Monte said. "All of our crew members are safe, but for the instantaneous despair the sight of our mangled set caused in all of us."

Food infrastructure:Hanover shopping plaza with Wegmans, two restaurants sold for $46 million. What's next?

For Monte, in her 30th year leading the company, the storm evoked memories of her 1997 production of "Henry V" staged on the football field of the former Bayley-Ellard School. That set was pummeled by a summer squall on opening weekend.


"I was just telling the crew that set was much more of a simple thing to put back together, but it ended up being more dangerous," she recalled. "I remember there was this little young apprentice girl who was trying to hold up a wall all by herself. Luckily one of the actors came along, swooped her up and probably saved her life."

That unique production came during a year when the company was without a stage as the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre was being constructed on the campus of Drew University in Madison. Others were staged inside at the Community Theatre in Morristown (now the Mayo Performing Arts Center).

A summer production on the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's outdoor stage at the College of st. Elizabeth.
The Kirby opened in 1998 and outdoor productions began at the grass-and-stone outdoor Greek-style theater at Saint Elizabeth in 2002, elevating the company to recognition as one of the most successful professional classic theater companies in the United States.

'Domestic violence':Rockaway Township man stabbed woman in back and slashed her face, affidavit states

"Just for fun, we decided to do two outdoor shows this year," Monte laughed.



Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
Construction and rehearsals already had proved to be a challenge due to a stubborn weather pattern of heat and rain.

Damage from the storm included support facilities for the increasingly expensive productions at Saint Elizabeth. Monte said it was too early to put a price tag on the damage, including a loss of ticket sales, but expected the cost to be "significant."

Fierce thunderstorms Tuesday destroyed the outdoor sets of the upcoming Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey productions about to premiere at St. Elizabeth University. Opening night will be delayed but the show will go on.
"It's a much more sophisticated operation now," she said. "As this thing has developed over the past two decades, it's become a very complex, high-tech situation out there. It's a much large space [than Bayley-Ellard] and much larger pieces of scenery."

Two performances have been added to make up for the lost dates and meet the demand for the popular annual production, known for its family-friendly adaptations, improvised cast interactions with the audience and plenty of pastoral campus ground to picnic before the show.


Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
"The added Saturday shows start at 11 a.m., so for families with kids, it would be a great opportunity to see the shows," Monte said.

Performances of "The Comedy of Errors" and "Snug" run through Aug. 1. Tickets are $40 and $45 but children ages 17 and under are admitted free. Call the box office or visit the company website for more information and updates.


Arizona Launches New Policy For Cars Used Less Than 50 Miles/Day
Sponsored by Walletgenius
See More →
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected] Twitter: @wwesthoven
 
The article describes a crew member trying to hold a flat up in the wind. Never underestimate the danger of wind. The place should have been evacuated under those circumstances. Thankfully nobody got hurt.

I assume there was probably lightning along with the wind, as often happens with sudden, summer storms.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back