Tom Patterson News

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.

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.

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.

On what would have been his 100th birthday, The Stratford Festival is paying tribute to its founder, Tom Patterson.

The Stratford Festival appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance today to present its case for recovery funding as a result of the cancellation of its 2020 season.

By now the news has gotten out that The Stratford Festival is putting its 2020 season on hold due to the social distancing guidelines brought on by this unprecedented pandemic situation. The Stratford Festival is a magical place and yesterday's announcement was tough to digest. This is not a news story about the postponement of the season. This is one BWW writer's love letter (and get-well-soon card) to the Stratford Festival.

After weeks of consultation and deliberation, Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, Executive Director Anita Gaffney and Board Chair Carol Stephenson have come to the conclusion that the Stratford Festival's entire 2020 season must be put on hold, with a plan to revisit programming as soon as it is safe to gather in theatres.

Due to the current health emergency, About Love will play its final performance off-Broadway at The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture tonight, Thursday, March 12 at 7:30PM, a week-and-a-half earlier than its previously announced limited engagement was to conclude. Ticket-holders for canceled performances should contact their point of purchase for a refund.  

Culture Project will present About Love, a new play with songs and music. With music and lyrics by jazz artist Nancy Harrow and script and direction by Will Pomerantz, About Love plays at The Sheen Center (18 Bleecker Street at the corner of Elizabeth Street, NYC) in the Black Box Theater. The official opening is Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30PM. About Love plays a limited engagement through March 22. Tickets are available online at OvationTix.com, by phone at 212-925-2812, or in-person at The Sheen Center box office Monday to Friday noon to 5PM and one hour before performances.   

Thanks to overwhelming demand, the Stratford Festival's 2020 production of Richard III will be extended for another three weeks, giving theatregoers more opportunities to see Colm Feore bring this iconic role to life in the Festival's brand new Tom Patterson Theatre, which opens this spring after more than two years of construction and fundraising.

Culture Project will present About Love, a new play with songs and music. Music and lyrics by jazz artist Nancy Harrow and script and direction by Will Pomerantz. Performances begin Tuesday, February 25 at The Sheen Center (18 Bleecker Street at the corner of Elizabeth Street, NYC) in the Black Box Theater. The official opening is Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30PM. About Love plays a limited four-week engagement, through March 22. Tickets are available online at SheenCenter.org, by phone at 212-925-2812, or in-person at The Sheen Center box office Monday to Friday noon to 5PM and one hour before performances.   

The Stratford Festival's Laboratory is a hive of activity at the moment, with a number of Canadian theatre artists coming to Stratford to develop their work. They responded to a call for submissions made this past summer and are bringing their in-development work to the Festival as part of a new R&D residency program in the Lab.

The Stratford Festival is seeing number of recent productions moving on to theatres across the country, where they are being received with great enthusiasm.

After a Members advance sale so busy it prompted the early extension of two productions, tickets for the Stratford Festival's groundbreaking new season go on sale to the public today. The 2020 season is one of the biggest ever and includes the much-anticipated opening of the new Tom Patterson Theatre. With the $100-million fundraising goal a hair's breadth away from completion, the bespoke theatre is one of North America's most significant new arts builds in decades.

With the new Tom Patterson Theatre taking shape on the banks of the Avon River, the Stratford Festival is thrilled to announce key casting as it builds the acting company for its monumental 2020 season.

Colm Feore will utter the first words on the Stratford Festival's newest stage, an echo of the inaugural performance in 1953, when Alec Guinness's opening speech in Richard III anticipated the a?oeglorious summera?? that was to come for Stratford. Feore, an internationally acclaimed stage and screen actor, is just one of a diverse company of accomplished actors who will present a repertory season of 15 productions in four remarkable theatres.

FRIGID New York @ Horse Trade/New York Madness present this year's selection for the annual MadLab Reading: you're (no) good or a priori a posteriori by Nico Grelli. The reading will be on Sunday, June 30, 2019 at 8pm at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery), directed by Nidia Medina. New plays by NYM Company which which developed from a short play written for NY Madness were eligible for the MadLab series.

Canada's most esteemed theatre festival was honoured as a national historic event during a ceremony today in Stratford, Ontario.

The Stratford Festival is celebrating a major milestone in its Spirit of the Tent Campaign for the new Tom Patterson Theatre Centre with a remarkable $5-million gift from Kelly and Michael Meighen and the T.R. Meighen Family Foundation. In recognition of this gift, the Stratford Festival Forum, which will have a dedicated space in the new theatre centre, will be renamed The Meighen Forum.

The Stratford Festival celebrated a crowning moment at the new Tom Patterson Theatre Centre on Wednesday. Major donors, Board members and government officials gathered together for the first time in the new facility for a "topping off ceremony" - the placement of the final beam that will support the roof over the new auditorium.