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Chronicling a Love Affair with Canadian Theatre

The 2024 Season – Part Two

gil garratt

The 2024 Season – Part Two To the extent that Americans are aware of the theatrical riches of Ontario’s summer “festival” season at all, they are probably familiar with The Stratford Festival and The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I discussed the 2024 season at these august institutions, along with my personal picks for the shows […]

The 2024 Season, Part One

shaw and shakespeare

The 2024 Season – Part One As Christmas approaches what better way to escape the crass commercialism of the holiday season than to toss another log on the fire, settle back with your single malt, and savor the crass commercialism of the 2024 theatrical season in southwestern Ontario! By now all the major (and minor) […]

The Best Seats At The Shaw Festival

Shaw’s best seats Back in the days when I was writing guidebooks to Orlando’s many theme parks, I would include a section in my descriptions of various attractions called “the best seats in the house,” wherein I would attempt to guide readers to the best locations from which to maximize their enjoyment of a roller […]

2023 Season – A Look back

Reflections on the 2023 Season It’s not a horserace, it’s not a competition, and there are a lot of apples vs. oranges considerations when it comes to discussing the very different theatre companies that call southwestern Ontario home. And yet . . . Now that the 2023 season is more or less over (Stratford has […]

Is This The Stratford Festival’s Best Kept Secret?

tom patterson cafe

Is This The Stratford Festival’s Best Kept Secret? Looking for a nice quiet light lunch or dinner before the show? Or maybe you’d just like to have lunch in a quiet environment in which you can actually hear your companion. Let me introduce you to the Tom Pat cafe, located in the spectacular new Tom […]

A New Slings and Arrows Podcast Debuts

outrageous fortune podcast

A New Slings and Arrows Podcast Debuts Slings and Arrows fans rejoice. A “kind of official” podcast devoted to the cult favorite is now available and it’s a great way to mark the show’s twentieth anniversary year. Outrageous Fortune, as the podcast is dubbed, promises to be a gold mine for fans who can’t get […]

The Real Poems Returns

robert mcqueen

The Real Poems Returns To Stratford One of the highlights of last season was Here For Now Theatre‘s production of The Real Poems, a superb one-man show written and performed by Robert McQueen. Here is the opening paragraph of my review: With its closing production of Robert McQueen’s beautifully written, magnificently performed, and quietly devastating […]

Here For Now Theatre Announces 2023 Season

here for now theatre

Here For Now Theatre Announces 2023 Season [From their press release.] On Monday, March 1st, HERE FOR NOW THEATRE announced their exciting 2023 SEASON of SIX CANADIAN ONE ACTS to be presented June 28th– September 23rd, in Stratford Ontario at a BRAND NEW beautiful outdoor venue behind the STRATFORD PERTHMUSEUM. This SEASON OF MERCY focuses […]

Donna Feore Comes To Connecticut

summer stock

Donna Feore Comes To Connecticut Great news! Donna Feore is slated to direct and choreograph Summer Stock at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT, from July 7 to August 27, 2023. This world premiere is inspired by the 1950 film of the same name that starred Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. The book of […]

New Home For Here For Now Theatre

stratford perth musuem

  Here For Now Theatre has announced new digs for its 2023 season – a canopy on the grounds of the Stratford Perth Museum on the western fringe of Stratford. It’s a return to the roots of this plucky little troupe, now entering its fourth season. The first two Here For Now Theatre seasons were […]