RESIDENCIES & PARTNERSHIPS

May 2 & 3, 2020

Participating teachers work with Stratford Festival staff and teaching artists to tie Common Core Standards to the study of Shakespeare.

On Saturday, May 2, Michigan teachers are invited to participate in professional development focused on Complexity and Perception of Female Power and Power of Social Identity. This full day includes up to four artist-led workshops, discussion and lunch, plus a ticket to a performance of Hamlet that evening. Please check out our Teacher Days page for workshop option descriptions. This event will be delivered to teachers working in both Canada and the US.

On Sunday, May 3, Michigan teachers are invited to stay for a morning session which will include a special event about the new Tom Patterson Theatre as well as a panel discussion with company members on "Why Shakespeare Matters in 2020". 

Visit our Teacher Days page for more information and to register.

Teachers participating in the Michigan Teacher Weekend are invited to take part in the Michigan Residency in the fall and will have access to incentives like bus subsidies.

May 2 & 3, 2020

Call for Applicants!

Thanks to the generous support of the Michigan Members, we are offering scholarships for pre-service teachers working towards their teaching certification, early-career teachers, or teachers who would appreciate a new perspective on teaching Shakespeare. The scholarship will cover the costs of travel, accommodation and registration for the Michigan Teachers' Weekend.

How to Apply

Please contact Nitasha Rajoo at nrajoo@stratfordfestival.ca with the following information:

• Full name
• Email address and phone number
• School name and address
• Why do you want to take part in the Michigan Teachers' Weekend?
• How will you apply what you learn in your training/teaching?

 Deadline for applications is April 3, 2020.

For more than fifteen years, the Stratford Festival has led an annual residency in Michigan. Its mandate is to explore innovative pedagogical drama strategies and to provide an opportunity for teachers to meet and share experiences with their peers across the state. Participating teachers and students work with Festival staff and teaching artists to tie Common Core Standards to the study of Shakespeare. 

The residency begins with teacher professional development in Stratford in May. In the fall, teaching artists visit Michigan to provide pre-show workshops, then students and teachers see a selected Shakespeare production and participate in further enrichment programming with the Festival, deepening the work initiated by their teachers in the spring.

"The workshop increased my conviction that Shakespeare is a vital language experience, especially when brought to life physically by the students in the classroom. Using the real elements of theatre - voice, movement, embodied imagination - students are far more likely to connect with the spirit and value of Shakespeare. Silent reading just doesn't work."

- Michigan  Residency participant.          

Please contact Nitasha Rajoo at nrajoo@stratfordfestival.ca

The Michigan Residency is supported in part through the Michigan Education Outreach Fund, held within the Stratford Shakespearean Festival Endowment Foundation.

For information on how you can support the Residency, please call our Advancement department at 1.800.561.1233, extension 5617.

All teachers attending the Michigan Teachers' Weekend receive a minimum of $200 in bus funding when returning with their class to see a performance at Stratford Festival this season.

Information on bus funding will be shared with participants during and after the Michigan Teachers' Weekend.

Click here to read more and apply for funding of your bus trip.

Michigan school groups visiting this season for Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III and/or Wendy & Peter Pan can apply for assistance to help with the costs of bus transportation. 

Click here to read more and apply for funding of your bus trip.

Questions? Send us an email.

In partnership with the Avon-Maitland District School Board.

Programming plans for 2019/2020 will be announced soon! Here's a look at what was offered in 2018/2019:

This six-week program provides students in Grades 7-12 the opportunity to build their own performance in response to one of the shows in the season. Participants work in collaboration with Festival teaching artists and staff to create and perform their own piece on the Studio Theatre stage.

Offered in Stratford in first semester and Goderich in second semester. The second semester provides students in Grades 7-12 the opportunity to participate in a series of specialty workshops delivered by Stratford Festival teaching artists and staff. The series includes a visit to see one of the shows in the 2019 season.

To register, click here.

In partnership with Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board. Masterclass offerings and schedules are still being confirmed. This winter, teaching artists from the Stratford Festival will work with students to prepare for upcoming auditions.

In the new year, a five-week program provides students in Grades 6-8 the opportunity to participate free-of-charge in a series of introductory workshops delivered by Stratford Festival teaching artists and staff. The series includes a visit to see one of the shows in the 2020 season.

In April 2020, the Conference of Independent Schools brings together more than 12 independent schools in Ontario to participate together in a multi-day Drama Festival in which students perform their respectively created pieces, participate in workshops delivered by Festival teaching artists, and see a 2020 Stratford production together.

Hosted by the Stratford Festival, the festival is created and delivered by the Conference of Independent Schools.

Designed to dovetail with existing Bachelor of Education course curricula, this pilot program unites five of the largest arts organizations in Ontario - the Canadian Opera Company, the Shaw Festival, Soulpepper Theatre Company, the Stratford Festival and Young People's Theatre - in a series of sessions that provide teacher candidates with new and exciting drama-based approaches to their teaching.

Through this program, pre-service teachers:

•             Develop and implement cross-curricular teaching strategies

•             Forge relationships with Canada's leading arts organizations

•             Learn from inspirational teaching artists