Antoni Cimolino News

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and Executive Director Anita Gaffney have agreed to stay on as the Stratford Festival’s leadership team at the request of the Board of Governors.

Keith Barker will be joining the Stratford Festival as the Director of the Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program, as Bob White steps back from the position later this month.

February marks a new beginning at the Stratford Festival with members of the 2022 acting company set to start rehearsals. Over the coming months, these dynamic artists will immerse themselves in 10 extraordinary productions and lead the Festival into the post-pandemic future.

In 2022, the Stratford Festival is coming back big to mark a monumental moment in its history with a full repertory season running from early April to the end of October, 10 major productions and almost two hundred Meighen Forum events.

The Stratford Festival is overcome with grief at the death of Martha Henry, just 12 days after her final tour-de-force performance in Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women. The grief of her colleagues is matched only by their gratitude for her unparalleled contributions to Canadian theatre.

The Stratford Festival will mark the start of the 2021 season on July 13, the 68th anniversary of the very first performance held under a tent back in 1953, and the official opening of the year's first show, Why We Tell the Story: A Celebration of Black Musical Theatre.

The Ontario government has issued its guidance for attendance at outdoor performing arts events, paving the way for the opening of the Stratford Festival’s 2021 season. According to these guidelines, the Stratford Festival will be able to accommodate 100 people (or 25% capacity) in each of its new outdoor canopies.

Center Theatre Group is marking the ninth anniversary of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) with “WET: A DACAmented Journey” written and performed by Alex Alpharaoh and directed by Brisa Areli Muñoz. Alpharaoh's deeply personal work will be available free to the public on the Center Theatre Group's Digital Stage.

The Stratford Festival will offer a first look inside its new Tom Patterson Theatre with a four-part documentary series premièring Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m. ET at a live viewing party on its YouTube channel.

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced some changes in the Stratford Festival's Directors' Office, which will open the Festival to a broader range of artistic voices and influences as it prepares to mark its 70th season in 2022.

Center Theatre Group has announced their Digital Stage schedule for April 26 – May 2, 2021. The Civilians’ digital premiere production of “Black Feminist Video Game” by Darrel Alejandro Holneswill stream at 5 pm from Tuesday, April 27 through Sunday, May 2.

The Stratford Festival is continuing to expand its online offerings as it marks the first anniversary of its Thursday night viewing parties this week with an encore screening of King Lear, and with a specially curated selection of theatrical content newly added to Stratfest@Home, the Festival’s $10-a-month streaming service.

Center Theatre Group has announced their digital stage schedule for April 5 – April 11, 2021. The Stratford Festival’s “Macbeth” premieres Thursday, April 8 and is available on demand through July 7, 2021. The lavish Stratford Festival film is free to Center Theatre Group subscribers and supporters and $10 for all others.

The Stratford Festival is transforming, for this summer, into an outdoor festival offering a season of six plays and five cabarets reflecting on the theme of Metamorphosis, with performances held under beautiful canopies that will hark back to the Festival’s founding under a tent in 1953.

Matthew Bourne’s production of “The Red Shoes” premieres Friday, March 19 at 8 pm and streams Saturday, March 20 at 5 and 8 pm; and Sunday, March 21 at 1 and 5 pm (all times Pacific). The Red Shoes” is a tale of obsession, possession and one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world.

An aging monarch resolves to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, with consequences he little expects. His reason shattered in the storm of violent emotion that ensues, with his very life hanging in the balance, Lear loses everything that has defined him as a king - and thereby discovers the essence of his own humanity.

With an eye to summer performances, the Stratford Festival is planning a new Stratford experience, to be held in the open air, under two magnificent canopies, one at the Festival Theatre and one at the Tom Patterson Theatre.

The Stratford Festival was shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Christopher Plummer's death. The theatrical pioneer was a member of the Stratford acting company for 11 seasons between 1956 and 2012.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team of The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program's presentation of William Shakespeare's enchanting comedy classic A Midsummer Night's Dream.

As winter descends and the pandemic continues, the Stratford Festival offers up some heartwarming new content to entertain and inspire as we await the days when we will be able to gather in theatres again.