Leadership Bios

Brian B. Crowe, Artistic Director

is in his 29th season with The Shakespeare Theatre where he is the Artistic Director. Directing credits: A Midwinter Night's Dream, The Metromaniacs, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (2019), Titus Andronicus, The Bungler, Coriolanus, Pericles (2013), Oliver Twist, Timon of Athens, The School for Wives, The Winter’s Tale (2008), Henry VI: Blood & Roses, Julius Caesar, Love’s Labour’s Lost (2004), The Tempest (2002), and The Comedy of Errors (2001) on the Main Stage; The Comedy of Errors (2021), William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play; Love’s Labour’s Lost (2015), The Learned Ladies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2007), and The Taming of the Shrew (2006) on The Outdoor Stage. He has directed dozens of productions for the Theatre’s education department. Other directing credits include Rutgers University, 12 Miles West, The Human Race Theatre Company, Dayton Playhouse, and the Act-Up Theatre Festival. He received BFA degrees in Directing and Acting from Wright State University, and served on the Executive Committee of the Shakespeare Theatre Association.

Bonnie J. Monte, Artistic Director Emerita

is now in her 34th season with the company after having served 33 seasons as the Artistic Director. Under her leadership, the Theatre has evolved into one of the most respected classical theatres in the nation. Ms. Monte has garnered national recognition for her highly successful revitalization of the institution, and for her outstanding commitment to arts education and professional training. The Theatre has become one of America’s leading training grounds for emerging classic theatre artists.

During her three plus decades at the helm, the institution successfully completed Act I, a major capital campaign resulting in the complete renovation and expansion of the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre in 1998. In 2012, the company launched Act II: The Legacy Project, a new campaign to ensure a permanent workspace and education center resulting in The Kean Theatre Factory, STNJ’s groundbreaking and unique behind-the-scenes workspace. In 2002, the Theatre’s 40th anniversary year, she initiated a new partnership with Saint Elizabeth University, attaining a second summer performance venue for the organization: the Outdoor Stage, a unique and stunning Greek amphitheatre on St. Elizabeth’s campus. That same year, The Star-Ledger named the company “Regional Theatre of the Year,” and The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation awarded The Shakespeare Theatre a prestigious Strategic Partnership Grant in the amount of $1 million. New Jersey Monthly has named Ms. Monte one of “40 New Jerseyans We Love,” and she has received numerous awards and honors over the years. She was named one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Arts in New Jersey by The Star-Ledger.

Prior to arriving in New Jersey, Ms. Monte was a casting director at the prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. From 1981 to 1989, she was Associate Artistic Director at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, working closely with the late Nikos Psacharopoulos and many of the nation’s notable theatre artists including Tennessee Williams. With Psacharopoulos and Williams, she was part of a team that collaborated on Tennessee Williams: A Celebration, a major retrospective encompassing Williams’ entire literary canon. During her tenure at Williamstown, Ms. Monte also cast and helped produce joint ventures with other major theatres, including Sweet Bird of Youth at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway at Circle-in-the-Square, The Glass Menagerie at The Long Wharf Theatre, and Arms and the Man at The Pasadena Playhouse.

Since 1990, she has directed over 80 productions for The Shakespeare Theatre, including stagings of numerous Shakespeare plays, as well as work from the Russian classic canon with a focus on Chekhov and Ostrovsky. Her special affinity for Tennessee Williams has resulted in highly acclaimed productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Camino Real, and Sweet Bird of Youth. She also directed shows for the Theatre’s Shakespeare LIVE! touring company including The Myths of Ancient Greece: Old Echoes, New Ears, which she also authored. She has created a number of original translations/adaptations for the company’s Main and Outdoor Stages, including Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Marivaux’s The Triumph of Love, Pirandello’s Enrico IV, Ostrovsky’s Artists and Admirers, Maeterlinck’s The Blue Bird, Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, The Alchemist, and Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters (published by Playscripts, Inc). Her adaptation of Molnár’s The Guardsman was published in London by Josef Weinberger Ltd. From 2013 - 2016, Ms. Monte collaborated with Jacques Lacombe and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra on their Winter Shakespeare Series presenting three events melding Shakespeare’s text with symphonic music.

Ms. Monte has been actively involved in the training of new talent for the American stage through numerous training programs for over 40 years, and has also engaged in residencies at various universities across the nation. She obtained a conservatory degree in directing from The Hartman Conservatory and a B.A. in theatre from Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. She has Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Drew University and Saint Elizabeth University.