CBC PRESENTS STRATFORD FESTIVAL HD PRODUCTIONS OF KING LEAR, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA AND KING JOHN

September 3, 2015 – The Stratford Festival comes to CBC-TV this September with spectacular performances of King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra and King John, captured live in HD and presented uninterrupted. These productions are the first in the Stratford Festival HD initiative, which will see all of Shakespeare’s plays filmed over the next 10 years, making them available to audiences nationwide and around the world.

Stratford Playmakers! Theatre School presents Pubs, Pilsners and Spirits Tours

“Playmakers! Theatre School is looking forward to presenting Stratford’s haunted pub crawl, especially following the success of the Ghosts of Stratford summer tours. Our costumed guide and additional stories will add an exciting dimension to this tour.” states Susan Kennedy, Artistic Director of Playmakers! Theatre School. She adds, “The hospitality industry has always been important to Stratford’s economy starting with the arrival of the Grand Trunk Railway. Apparently, by 1871 there were 25 hotels and taverns, 4 saloons and 5 liquor shops to serve a town of approximately 4,300 people.”

Stratford, ON: Playmakers! Theatre School introduces  spirited apparitions on Stratford Pubs, Pilsners and Spirits walking tours. Learn about Stratford’s brewing history while sipping craft beers on a haunted pub crawl guided by costumed character, Saskia Silverlocks, on selected dates starting September 10.

Visit three Stratford pubs, The Parlour, Bentley’s Bar and The Boar’s Head Pub (Queen’s Inn), on an evening walking tour. Your guide will spin the spirited stories of resident ghosts while you sip the innkeeper’s favourite craft brew at each stop. In addition to sharing tales of poltergeists, residuals and apparitions which haunt the taverns, the guide will regale you with thrilling, chilling and sometimes amusing stories from the darker side between hostelries.

Tours take place Thursday evenings on September 10, September 24 and October 1 starting at 8:00 pm and takes approximately two hours. Participants must be 19 years or older. Meet your guide at Stratford Tourism, 47 Downie Street and let the fun begin. For more information and to purchase tickets visit www.visitstratford.ca/pubtour.

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The Sound of Music is extended for two more weeks!

 More chances to catch the season’s must-see musical! 

The Sound of Music is extended for two more weeks!

June 23, 2015… The critics are describing the Stratford Festival’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music as “wondrous,” “magnificent,” and a “joyous celebration.” With four stars from both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, The Sound of Music has become the must-see musical of the season. Now the run is being extended for two more weeks, so you have until to catch this beautiful production.

Festival marks Shakespeare 400 with new exploration of Henriad history cycle and North American première of Shakespeare in Love

2016 season and Forum explore ‘After the Victory’

July 1, 2015… With the world marking the 400^th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare in 2016, Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has planned a number of exciting projects in honour of the occasion. Breath of Kings, a specially commissioned two-part exploration of Shakespeare’s four-play Henriad history cycle, conceived and adapted by Graham Abbey, will have its world première, directed by Weyni Mengesha and Mitchell Cushman in collaboration with Mr. Abbey, at a reconfigured Tom Patterson Theatre. Shakespeare in Love, staged to great acclaim in the West End, will have its North American première, directed by Declan Donnellan. The Festival Theatre will be home to two great Shakespeares, the beloved comedy As You Like It, directed by Jillian Keiley, and Macbeth, directed by Mr. Cimolino.

The Festival’s 2016 season will explore the theme After the Victory. “We recently marked 100 years since the start of the ‘war to end all wars,’” says Mr. Cimolino, “and 70 years since the even more catastrophic war that followed it. And yet despite these so-called victories for civilization, our world remains mired in brutal conflict.

“Our 2016 season will look at victories of all kinds – military, personal, spiritual, moral – and explore what we mean by victory – over others, over adversity, over our own complex and imperfect human nature.”

The playbill reaches beyond Shakespeare with a number of firsts and world premières. Donna Feore will direct and choreograph A Chorus Line, reconceiving the landmark musical for the Festival’s iconic thrust stage. Bunny, Hannah Moscovitch’s newest work, commissioned by the Stratford Festival, will have its world première, directed byVanessa Porteous. Carey Perloff will direct the world première of the Festival-commissioned new translation of Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman by Paul Walsh. AndKeira Loughran will direct a newly commissioned translation of Olivier Kemeid’s adaptation of The Aeneid, by Maureen Labonté.

Driftwood Theatre Group presents HAMLET The Bard’s Bus Tour Travels to Toronto July 2015

Driftwood Theatre Group is proud to present HAMLET, the world’s most famous play, like it’s never seen it before. Driftwood’s summer tour will feature a thrilling new adaptation of HAMLET by Toby Malone which is unpredictable, unsettling and downright dangerous. 

Stratford Festival HD’s latest cinema event, King John, premières April 9 in Canada, April 8 in U.S.

Tom McCamus as King John, Seana McKenna as Constance.  

Noah Jalava as Arthur, Seana McKenna as Constance. Photo:

Don Dixon. Digital Artist: Krista Dodson  Photo: David Hou

March 12, 2015… When the rule of a hedonistic and mercurial king is questioned, rebellion, assassination and excommunication ensue, culminating in a chilling attempt to commit an atrocity against a child, whose mother’s anguished grief cannot atone for her blinkered ambitions for her son.

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see Shakespeare’s King John, in a magnificent production by the renowned Stratford Festival, North America’s leading classical theatre company, whose HD production of King Lear, directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino and starring Colm Feore, opened to rave reviews last month.

SAWITRI presents

Post by StarBuzz.

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Stratford Festival announces a season of Discovery: That Eureka Moment

August 25, 2014… Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino announces a season of Discovery for 2015 with 13 plays exploring eureka moments, whether they be scientific discoveries, creative accomplishments, the dawning of a deeper understanding of human nature or the epiphanies of self-knowledge. These themes, as they are reflected in art, science and our personal lives, will be further explored through more than 150 events at the Stratford Festival Forum. The 2015 season will also see a number of creative artists pursuing new work through the Stratford Festival Laboratory, Mr. Cimolino’s centre for creative research and development, including adaptations of an early Urdu novel and a children’s story, as well as a new approach to four of Shakespeare’s history plays. 

Jawaid Danish's Chaalees Baba, Aik Chor - book launch at Promenade Gallery

Post by Bhupinder Virdi.

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Steep increase in demand for Stratford Direct bus service

June 11, 2014… With demand increasing for the second season of the Stratford Direct bus service, the Stratford Festival is delighted to welcome the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) as Presenting Sponsor of Stratford Direct between Toronto and Stratford. Back by popular demand, the luxury bus service offers roundtrips throughout the Festival season.

World Festival of Children’s Theatre Coming to Stratford in June, 2016

Official launch Monday, May 26, 10 a.m.

Join World Festival of Children’s Theatre Artistic Director Ron Dodson, General Director Steve Rae, and Festival Advisory Committee members to kick off this exciting event, coming to Stratford in June, 2016.

This prestigious multi-national theatre festival, produced by the International Amateur Theatre Association (AITA), celebrates theatre “for children by children,” and will bring up to 500 young thespians aged 7-15 to Stratford for 10 days of performances, workshops and academic events.

Colm Feore makes anticipated return to the Festival stage

Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino’s King Lear begins previews

May 2, 2014.... Colm Feore returns to the Stratford Festival for the first time in five years to play the title role in King Lear. This production is directed by Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, fresh from his triumphs with last season’s Mary Stuart and The Merchant of Venice. King Lear starts previews on Monday, May 5, at the Festival Theatre and opens the 2014 season on Monday, May 26.

Audiences have been eagerly awaiting Mr. Feore’s return to Stratford since he starred as Macbeth and Cyrano de Bergerac in 2009. Throughout his 17 seasons, he has played many title roles, including Don Juan, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Richard III and Romeo. Mr. Feore is also a familiar face on film and television, featured in The Borgias, Revolution and The Good Wife, as well as Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which opens in theatres this weekend. Recently, Mr. Feore was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions as an actor of the stage and screen, notably bridging Anglophone and Francophone cultures as a fluently bilingual performer.

FACTORY THEATRE presents the World Premiere of Priscila Uppal’s 6 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

a runaway mother, an estranged daughter,

an undead grandmother, and a semi-invisible uncle

on stage at the Factory Theatre, March 1-30, 2014

6 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS is the debut play from poet, novelist and academic, Priscila Uppal.  Based on her 2013 critically acclaimed memoir, Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother, 6 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS is the story of Renata as she travels to Brazil to see the mother that abandoned her when she was five years old.

In Rio, Renata reconnects with her mother and discovers that, well, some dreams are meant to die. “How do I tell my brother that yes, yes, I found our mother and she’s about as lovely as an electrical storm when you’re naked and tied to the highest tree in the county?”

Stratford Festival dedicates productions to the memory of Jean-Louis Roux, Suzanne Turnbull and Jack Merigold

Stratford upon avon (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

The Festival Theatre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

January 20, 2014… In the past few months, Canadian theatre has lost some champions, each of whom made a vital contribution to their discipline. The Stratford Festival will commemorate the lives of three of these people, who had close ties to Stratford, through a series of dedications in the 2014 season.

King Lear dedicated to Jean-Louis Roux

King Lear will be dedicated to actor and director Jean-Louis Roux.

“Jean-Louis Roux was a pioneer, creating companies, leading institutions and promoting the critical importance of the arts in our society,” says Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino, who will direct the production. “He was a valued member of the Stratford company over many years as an actor as well as a director. I last worked with him at the Festival Theatre along with Colm Feore in Coriolanus. Therefore it is with affection that we dedicate this season’s production of King Lear to Jean-Louis, who was ‘every inch a king.’”

M. Roux turned to acting when he was three years into medical school. He worked and trained in France and on his return to Montreal founded Le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde with a group including Jean Gascon, who would later become Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival. M. Roux served as Secretary General of TNM from 1952 to 1963 and then as Artistic Director from 1966 to 1982. He was involved in the creation of the National Theatre School, where he was Director General from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of the Canadian Senate, Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, Chairman of the Canada Council and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

He was a member of the Stratford Festival company for six seasons between 1956 and 2006, playing Orleans in the famous bilingual Stratford Festival-TNM co-production of Henry V in 1956 and Burgundy in the re-mount of that production in 1966. In addition to playing the First Roman Senator in Coriolanus in 2006, he also played Don Louis in Don Juan, another Stratford Festival-TNM co-production, which was performed in both French and English. The previous year, he directed The Measure of Love, sharing a lifetime of theatre experience with then-new playwright Nicolas Billon, winner of the 2013 Governor General’s Award for Drama.

King John dedicated to Suzanne Turnbull

King John will be dedicated to acting coach Suzanne Turnbull.

“Suzy Turnbull was an acting coach who had a special gift in developing talent,” says Mr. Cimolino. “She worked in theatres and schools across Canada. Her intelligence, compassion and love for acting made her a great force for good in our art form. Along with Michael Mawson and Richard Monette, Suzy was a driving force in the creation of our Birmingham Conservatory. Suzy’s last production at Stratford was Titus Andronicus at the Tom Patterson Theatre. We dedicate our production of King John in that theatre to her memory.”

A multi-talented theatre artist, Ms Turnbull was a beloved member of the Festival’s coaching staff for many years. She was also the dramaturge for Titus Andronicus in 2011 and The Two Gentlemen of Verona in 2010, as well as the assistant director of The Taming of the Shrew in 2008. Her warmth, generosity and intelligence made her a great resource for the Festival company.

Suzie also worked as an acting coach at major training institutions across Canada, including Western University and the University of Windsor, and she herself had a BFA from the University of Alberta. She was a founding member of the NDWT Company, director of education at Kaleidoscope Theatre in Victoria, and a member of the Kam Theatre cooperative in Thunder Bay.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream dedicated to Jack Merigold

A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be dedicated to stage manager Jack Merigold.

“Jack Merigold was a multi-talented man of the theatre,” says Mr. Cimolino. “He worked as an actor and director but made his greatest contribution as a stage manager. His work in the early years at Stratford with Tyrone Guthrie and Michael Langham brought discipline as well as joy to our creative process. Over many years, his boundless energy and puck-like spirit enlivened our theatres. It is no surprise that he played Puck in a production that toured Ontario early in his career. Therefore it is a great pleasure to dedicate our Festival Theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dreamto Jack.”

Mr. Merigold was hired as an assistant stage manager by Tyrone Guthrie for the Festival’s inaugural season in 1953. He soon became Dr. Guthrie’s stage manager and their working relationship stretched beyond Stratford to include 12 productions in New York and four in London.

Mr. Merigold was with the Festival for 16 seasons between 1953 and 1976, in a variety of roles. He was the production stage manager for the Avon Theatre and for opera, and later served as the purchasing agent. He was the assistant to the director on 1960’s HMS Pinafore and 1961’s The Pirates of Penzance, a production in which he also appeared as an actor. In 1974 he directed This Is the Rill Speaking at the Third Stage (now the Tom Patterson Theatre). His acting career included a recurring role on CBC TV’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town and appearances on the Wayne and Shuster TV specials.

King Lear opens on May 26, King John opens on May 28, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens on May 31.StarBuzzOnline.com

Christopher Plummer’s A Word or Two set to open in Los Angeles

January 22, 2014 … The Stratford Festival’s production of Christopher Plummer’s A Word or Two opens at the Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles today.

The production, directed by Des McAnuff, was originally presented in 2012 as a special event to mark the Stratford Festival’s 60^th season.

Stratford Festival introduces $40 bus service from Detroit

Avon Theatre - The second stage of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. I have seen "Two Gentlemen of Verona" here. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tom Patterson Theatre - The third stage of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Tom Patterson founded the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1953 where Alec Guinness performed in a large tent. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

November 8, 2013… The Stratford Festival is introducing a new luxury bus service between Detroit and Stratford for the 2014 theatre season – at a fabulous low price of just $40 return.

Enjoy a mid-week getaway, an extended weekend, or stay a whole week! Stratford Direct buses leave Detroit at 8 a.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and return from Stratford at 5 p.m. on those same days, giving travellers the flexibility to choose the length of their Stratford visit. The service is available from June 3 to September 30.

Hindi Writers Guild-5th Annual Celebration

"Saturday, November 23, 2013
3:30pm until 7:00pm

Hindi Writers Guild invites you to its 5th Annual Celebration Program. This celebration will be held on November 23, 2013 in the main auditorium of Glenforest Secondary School, Mississauga.
After successful staging of "Andha Yug", "Pasand Apni Apni" and "Rashmirathi" in previous years, this year's selection of "Mitro Marjani" is adapted from a novel of same name by Krishna Sobti.
For more details, please see attached flyers in Hindi and English. Should you need more information, please contact any of the numbers shown.
Looking forward to see all of you.

main auditorium of Glenforest Secondary School, Mississauga. (View) 3575 Fieldgate Drive, Mississauga, ON L4X 2J6 Canada
main auditorium of Glenforest Secondary School, Mississauga. (View) 3575 Fieldgate Drive, Mississauga, ON L4X 2J6 Canada
View Map · Get Directions
"
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Mary Stuart extended for a fourth time

August 23, 2013… The Stratford Festival is extending Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino’s production of Mary Stuart for an unprecedented fourth time.

The production, described as “electrifyingly entertaining and intellectually exciting” by the Toronto Star’s Richard Ouzounian and “edge-of-your-seat suspenseful” by The Globe and Mail’s J. Kelly Nestruck, featuresSeana McKenna as Elizabeth I and Lucy Peacock as Mary Stuart, with Ben Carlson as Lord Burleigh, Brian Dennehy as the Earl of Shrewsbury and Geraint Wyn Davies as the Earl of Leicester.

“Mary Stuart is striking for the clarity of its storytelling, the constant intensity of its dramatic stakes and, especially, for the evenhanded excellence of Lucy Peacock and Seana McKenna in the leading roles,” says Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune. “This is one for the memory books, with two remarkable actresses at the peak of their powers,” says Postmedia’s Jamie Portman.

World Première: Judith Thompson’s The Thrill begins previews

July 25, 2013… Judith Thompson’s spirited new play The Thrill receives its world première in a production commissioned by the Festival. Confronting the weighty issues surrounding the right to die, this inspiring love story begins previews at the Studio Theatre on July 28, 2013, before opening on August 13.

The play centres on Elora, a successful lawyer, fiery activist and self-described “bedpan crip,” who finds her life profoundly changed when she encounters Julian, a popular spokesperson for the right-to-die movement. This first meeting of two passionate souls on opposite sides of a painfully divisive issue has consequences that neither had anticipated, evolving into a love affair that weighs the frailty of the human body against the glory of the human spirit.

“It has been my honour to have full access to this theatre,” says Ms Thompson, “and to be assisted every step of the way, so that the voices inside me can be heard, and the characters can be seen, and the ideas can be debated by the audience, the most sacred character in the live and unique event that is the theatre.”

After great success at the helm of Daniel MacIvor’s The Best Brothers in 2012, former associate artistic directorDean Gabourie returns for his 10^th season at the Festival to bring another world première to the stage.

Electrifying rock musical Tommy starts previews

Robert Markus, Photo by Don Dixon

Original Tony Award-winning director Des McAnuff returns

May 3, 2013… Twenty years after its Broadway première, Tommy returns to the stage in a new production helmed by its co-creator and original director, Des McAnuff. The spectacular musical that swept the Tony Awards in 1993 starts previews on Saturday, May 4, at the Avon Theatre.

The third rock musical produced by the Festival in recent years, Tommy will be the biggest musical ever staged at Stratford. A technical marvel, the show will feature massive LED screens and extraordinary automated set pieces that light up, explode, spin and tilt.