Phyllis Hinz - Stratford For All Seasons

STRATFORD

FOR ALL SEASONS

STRATFORD

FOR ALL SEASONS

PHYLLIS HINZ & LAMONT MACKAY

Stratford For All Seasons: Theatre & Arts

Copyright 2020 by Phyllis Hinz & Lamont Mackay

ISBN: 978-1-989517-06-2

All rights reserved.

Editor: Allister Thompson

Book Designer: Jamie Arts

Photos by Scott Wishart (including cover photos), Phyllis Hinz, Lamont Mackay, Kiara McAteer, Mindy Gough, Michele Boniface, Sandra Lauzon, Terry Marklevitz, Jawad Azar, and Chris Berg Photography

Published in Stratford, Canada, by Swan Press, an imprint of Blue Moon Publishers.

Printed and bound in Canada.

The author greatly appreciates you taking the time to read this work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or telling your friends or blog readers about Stratford For All Seasons: Theatre & Arts to help spread the word. Thank you for your support.

Stratford For All Seasons: Theatre & Arts. Copyright 2020 by Phyllis Hinz & Lamont Mackay. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

DISCLAIMER
While best efforts have been used in preparing this book, the author and publisher make no representations of warranties of any kind and assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents. Even though we have done everything possible to be accurate, much of our historical research depended upon the stories of others. As we all know, stories sometimes change over time. For current updates be sure to check the websites weve provided at the bottom of each narration. Readers should be aware that the websites listed in this book may change.

CONTENTS

To the visionaries and supporters
of arts and culture in Stratford

Special thanks to Michele Boniface,
who continues to inspire and guide us

AUTHORS NOTE

Stratford, Ontario, a quiet, scenic city in a rural setting, has managed to stay true to its roots even though many thousands of people visit each year from around the world. Its not your pop-up tourist town. Ever since the days of early settlement in the 1830s, Stratford has been a place where forward-thinking citizens seized opportunities to benefit their community.

Our goal with Stratford for All Seasons: Theatre & Arts, is to share the immensity and diversity of the theatre and arts scene in Stratford. It is extraordinary to have culture of this magnitude in a city with a population of approximately 32,000. Many of the 500,000 annual visitors to the city who attend the Stratford Festival, as well as many busy Stratfordites, are not aware of the countless cultural events available to them year-round.

This book is about the cultural happenings in Stratford that make us say, Wow.

Stratford For All Seasons: Theatre & Arts is arranged as follows:

DO IT Events you can participate in or attend

SEE IT Things you can walk up to and appreciate

KNOW IT Fascinating and historical information

FOREWORD

Put some flowers in front. Shows people theres civilization there. The remark is attributed to James Anderson, first Archivist-Administrator of the Stratford-Perth Archives and a passionate advocate for local culture and heritage. If he did indeed say that, then he was on to something.

We judge the quality of life in a city not only by the state of its sidewalks and its sewers, its industrial and commercial vigour, or the efficiency with which its municipal services are delivered key markers though all those attributes are but also by the ways in which it makes itself beautiful, spiritually nourishing, and vibrant with life. A city that cultivates beauty, a city buzzing with intellectual and creative energy, is a city worth spending time in.

Stratford is such a city, and not only because of its internationally renowned theatre festival. The flowers of civilization burgeon and blossom in countless other corners of this unique community; their roots run deep.

In these pages, Phyllis Hinz and Lamont Mackay gather together Stratfords richly varied cultural blooms its artistic endeavours, its architecture, its history, its traditions into a single convenient bouquet. But in doing so, they reveal something more: a whole cultural ecology, interconnected and mutually sustaining. And one that will always be sprouting new buds.

Welcome to Stratford. Theres civilization here.

David Prosser
Literary and Editorial Director
Stratford Festival

There is so much to do in Stratford that a person could be forgiven for only scratching its surface by seeing a great play. After all, how many places have an internationally known Shakespeare festival? But in this book youll find ways to enrich your experience of Stratford, dive deep into its many delights, and make the theatre-going even more irresistible.

Antoni Cimolino
Artistic Director
Stratford Festival

SEASON:

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

LOCATION:

15 Church Street and 163 King Street

WEBSITE:

www.findglocal.com/CA/Stratford/198136196982116/Alternative-Theatre-Works

HIGHLIGHT:

Intimate alternative theatre offered by performing artists living in Stratford

ALTERNATIVE THEATRE WORKS

Alternative Theatre Works (ATW) is an independent professional theatre company dedicated to producing theatre outside the mainstream in the Stratford region. The company is a group of professional actors, directors, producers, and educators who live in Stratford, love what they do, and want to share their knowledge and skills with their community. Productions, chosen for their merit as good theatre, are short runs to sold-out houses. You might catch a one-man show, an original play, or an original adaptation of a play. One such production was A Tender Thing by Ben Power, in which Romeo and Juliet did not die but are alive and aging. Its an alternative take on an ageless story.

In order to provide a full-stage experience, the small company collaborates with other choreographers, musicians, and designers such as Off the Wall, where theatre professionals offer workshops on backstage production. Working together, ATW and Off the Wall mentor emerging artists. Alternative Theatre Works provides performances and post-show talks for elementary and secondary school students when the subject is suitable. This close contact with the artists who work together to put on a production exposes students to the broad scope of performing arts and perhaps a peek at future careers.