Scott Suchman / Shakespeare Threatre Company

If you’re looking for an author who understands plague and quarantine, try William Shakespeare.

The Bard wrote some of his greatest works, including “Macbeth” and “Romeo and Juliet,” during plague outbreaks in London. That’s part of the reason why Simon Godwin, the artistic director of D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, has issued what he calls “the Shakespeare Challenge.”

The theatre has been closed since mid-March — just like all performing arts venues in the Washington region — and Godwin and his staff have been brainstorming ways to connect people to the Bard’s work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Two weeks ago, he did a social media callout asking people to post videos of themselves reciting Shakespeare monologues with the hashtag #ShakespeareChallenge. “We felt like, okay, our new auditorium is the Internet. Let’s get some performances going on that new stage,” he says.

Soon after, submissions landed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (mostly from actors, but some non-actors are contributing too). They’ve received more than 100 submissions to date, including videos from Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and Brazil.

Despite the continued popularity of setting Shakespeare adaptations in more modern eras, it’s still rather surprising to hear actors reciting the Bard’s lines in the most ordinary of places. Chiké Johnson performs “Othello” in what looks like his basement stairwell; Michael Urie recites Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy while putting on drag makeup; and a hoodie-wearing Christopher Flaim recites Sonnet 60 with his dog Callie on his lap.

Godwin loves the creativity: “There’s a line from ‘As You Like It’: ‘All the world’s a stage,’” he says. “And that’s certainly more true than ever. All the Internet’s a stage.”

Godwin isn’t the first artistic director to dream up a quirky online theater project during the coronavirus shutdown. Theaters across the country and the world have taken to posting performances online, both to build community and to raise money to make up for lost ticket sales. Leading D.C. theaters like Arena Stage and the Kennedy Center have had to furlough most of their staff, and on Thursday, organizers of the annual Capital Fringe Festival announced they had to cancel this year’s theater festival.

For the time being, Shakespeare Theatre Company seems to be on solid financial footing: They’ve reduced hours for some staff but haven’t laid off any workers yet. And while the Shakespeare Challenge has been fun, it doesn’t come close to replacing the experience of live theater. He sees the Shakespeare Challenge videos more as “trailers” for performances to come.

But if anyone knew how to make beauty out of dismal situations, it was Shakespeare. He has been a source of comfort to Godwin during these uncertain times. Godwin points out that one section of “Romeo and Juliet” in particular suddenly makes much more sense to him now than it ever did before.

Towards the end of the play, Romeo can’t receive important news about Juliet because he is in Mantua during a plague outbreak (specifically, he was “in a house / Where the infectious pestilence did reign,” as Friar John puts it).

“For many hundreds of years, directors have been going, ‘Ah, this is a nightmare plot point. No one’s going to believe this. It’s so far-fetched,’” Godwin says. “But now, of course, it’s all too realistic.”

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