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Sept 21, 2022… Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino is pleased to announce the 2023 season, inspired by the theme of Duty vs Desire. The playbill includes 13 lively and thought-provoking productions across four theatres, along with a full slate of events in The Meighen Forum.
The 2023 season will run from mid-April through October, featuring four Shakespeare plays, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II and Love’s Labour’s Lost, and two musicals, Rent and Monty Python’s Spamalot, along with Les Belles-Soeurs, A Wrinkle in Time, Frankenstein Revived, Wedding Band, Grand Magic, Casey and Diana and Women of the Fur Trade.
The plays examine both sides of the Duty vs Desire debate, some through irreverence and comedy, others through the catharsis of tragedy. They look at social stigma and societal pressures, at selfishness and selflessness – at a time when we are all reexamining our place in the world. They also entertain and offer a healthy dose of laughter.
“We’ve always been told to follow our hearts,” says Cimolino. “But that hasn’t been so easy over the past few years. The pandemic has left us in dire need of pleasure, eager to fulfill our desires but often with no way to do so. At the same time it has brought us face to masked face with the vital importance of social responsibility. Here in the West, many of us have had the luxury of pursuing romantic notions for decades. Desire has fueled our economy. But what do we do when suddenly we must sacrifice our comfort for the greater good, when our heart’s not in what we do anymore, when we want to shirk responsibility even though we know that could have dire consequences? These are the questions and ideas that inspired the plays of the 2023 season.”
SEASON AT A GLANCE
FESTIVAL THEATRE
King Lear
By William Shakespeare
Director: Kimberley Rampersad
Rent
Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson
Director: Thom Allison
Choreographer: Marc Kimelman
Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Director: Chris Abraham
Les Belles-Soeurs
By Michel Tremblay
Translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco
Director: Esther Jun
AVON THEATRE
Monty Python’s Spamalot
Book and Lyrics by Eric Idle
Music by John Du Prez and Eric Idle
A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
From the original screenplay by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
Director: Lezlie Wade
Choreographer: Jesse Robb
World Première Adaptation:
A Wrinkle in Time
By Madeleine L’Engle
Adapted for the stage by Thomas Morgan Jones
Director: Thomas Morgan Jones
World Première
Frankenstein Revived
By Morris Panych
Based on the novel by Mary Shelley
Music by David Coulter
Director: Morris Panych
Movement choreographer: Wendy Gorling
Dance choreographer: Stephen Cota
TOM PATTERSON THEATRE
World Première Translation:
Grand Magic
By Eduardo De Filippo
In a new English translation by John Murrell
Director: Antoni Cimolino
Richard II
By William Shakespeare
Adapted by Brad Fraser
Conceived by Jillian Keiley
Director: Jillian Keiley
Choreographer: Cameron Carver
Wedding Band
By Alice Childress
Director: Sam White
STUDIO THEATRE
World Première
Stratford Festival Commission
Casey and Diana
By Nick Green
Director: Andrew Kushnir
Women of the Fur Trade
By Frances Koncan
Director: Yvette Nolan
Love’s Labour’s Lost
By William Shakespeare
Director: Peter Pasyk
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