Artistic Director Bonnie J. Monte assumed leadership of New Jersey Shakespeare
Festival -- now called The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey -- in October of
1990 and during her tenure has led the company into a new era, garnering national
recognition for revitalizing, artistically and financially, what was a failing
institution.
In addition to providing artistic and organizational leadership for the company,
Ms. Monte, along with past Managing Director Michael Stotts, successfully initiated
and managed a $7.5-million capital campaign to construct a new theatre, as part
of their mission to strengthen the company and ensure its future. Together,
from 1990-1999, they doubled the company’s range of artistic and educational
activities, tripled its annual budget and maintained a solid record of financial
solvency.
During the company’s 40th Anniversary Season, in 2002, The Star-Ledger
named The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey "Regional Theatre of the Year,"
and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation awarded the theatre a prestigious Strategic
Partnership Grant in the amount of $1 million, "in recognition of the artistry,
achievements and leadership of this acclaimed Madison, New Jersey-based performing
arts and education organization."
In 2003, her 13th season as Artistic Director, Ms. Monte will direct MUCH ADO
ABOUT NOTHING and PYGMALION for the Main Stage, as well as a touring production
of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, which will be performed at schools and other venues
throughout the region by Shakespeare LIVE!. Since 1990, she has directed
25 productions for The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, including the 40th
Anniversary Season productions of CARNIVAL! and ENRICO IV; and the highly acclaimed
THREE SISTERS, THE CRUCIBLE, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, THE FOREST, CAMINO REAL,
SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, THE HOMECOMING, DIARY OF A SCOUNDREL,
THE SEA GULL, ELECTRA and TWELFTH NIGHT.
Ms. Monte has worked with many of the nation’s leading theatre artists and
for the past 18 years has been actively involved in training young artists for
the American stage. In 1994, Ms. Monte was a guest artist and visiting assistant
professor at the University of Notre Dame, where she directed Euripides’ THE
BACCHAE. She has been on the faculties of Drew University and the New School
for Social Research in Manhattan, and conducts master classes at colleges and
universities on the east coast.
In its January 2003 issue, New Jersey Monthly Magazine named Ms. Monte
one of "40 New Jerseyans We Love." In 1998, she was honored with a Women of
Achievement Award sponsored by the New Jersey General Assembly, and in 1999
received an Alumni Achievement Award from Bethany College in West Virginia,
her undergraduate alma mater. In 1997, Ms. Monte was honored for her
long-time efforts to nurture young artists with a Person of the Year Award from
The National Society of Arts and Letters. She was also named Professional Artist
of the Year by the Arts Council of the Morris Area, and The Star-Ledger
named her one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Arts in New Jersey.
Prior to her arrival in New Jersey, Ms. Monte was a casting director at the
prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. While there, she line-produced,
with Mr. Stotts, DOWNTOWN/UPTOWN, the company’s first performance art festival.
From 1981 to 1989, she was Associate Artistic Director of the Williamstown
Theatre Festival, working closely with Artistic Director Nikos Psacharopoulos
until his untimely death. In addition to overseeing, with Psacharopoulos, the
entire artistic and organizational sphere of W.T.F.’s activities, she helped
implement many new programs for the company and collaborated on TENNESSEE WILLIAMS:
A CELEBRATION, a major tribute to the playwright’s entire literary canon. During
her eight years at the Williamstown Festival, Ms. Monte also cast and helped
produce several joint ventures with other major companies, including SWEET BIRD
OF YOUTH at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
at Circle-in-the-Square in New York City, THE GLASS MENAGERIE at The
Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, ARMS AND THE MAN at the Pasadena Playhouse
and SALOME at the San Antonio Festival.
She obtained a post-graduate conservatory degree in directing from the Hartman
Conservatory in Connecticut. She is originally from Stamford, Connecticut.
