The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Red Velvet Highlights Jersey Shakes Schedule

Two William Shakespeare compositions—well, three, actually—plus Lolita Chakrabarti's Red Velvet, a play about the first African-American actor to play Othello in mid-19th century London, highlight the 2016 season just announced at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in Madison.

The company's annual summer outdoor show will be The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (Revised), the popular comic romp through Shakespeare's entire canon by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Weinfield. This is the "Revised" version since New Jersey Shakes last presented the show in 2008 with new, up-to-date references.

More traditional Shakespeare fare will be played indoors in the summer with Coriolanus from July 6–24. A production of Shakespeare's Richard III is slated for October 5 to November 6, running in conjunction with the theater holsting the Folger's touring First Folio exhibit in October. Red Velvet, the true-life story of Ira Aldridge, runs September 7–25.

The season opens May 11 with Noël Coward's A Song at Twilight. Eugene Ionesco's Exit the King will play August 10–28, and the season ends with A Child's Christmas in Wales, a musical based on the poem by Dylan Thomas.

February 11, 2016

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