By Dion Boucicault
Directed by Antoni Cimolino
This production uses e-cigar smoking, gunfire sounds and haze.
Sir Harcourt Courtly is an over-the-hill London fop. Arriving at Oak Hall to claim his wealthy and scandalously young bride, Courtly’s plan for a get-rich-quick weekend in the country is scuttled by his dissolute son, Charles, and a cast of Victorian eccentrics that includes the unforgettable Lady Gay Spanker and her husband, “Dolly.” Celebrated as one of the great British stage comedies, London Assurance is a brilliant precursor to the works of Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, full of liveliness, fun and comically relatable stories of family and friendships.
Two hours and 34 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission**Please note that all run times are approximate
The 2024 Season is supported by Ophelia Lazaridis.
Production Sponsors:
Dr. Dennis & Dorothea Hacker
Jane Fryman Laird
Dr. M.L. Myers
Catherine Elliot Shaw
Dr. Robert J. & Roberta Sokol
Birmingham Conservatory, 1999
2024: Feste in Twelfth Night and Lady Gay Spanker in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford (selected): Katerina, Taming of the Shrew; Marina and Thaisa, Pericles; Emilia, Othello; Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing. Shaw Festival (selected): Madame Arcati, Blithe Spirit; Roxane, Cyrano de Bergerac; God, Everybody; Grushinskaya, Grand Hotel; Sally Bowles, Cabaret; Eliza Doolittle, My Fair Lady; Billie Dawn, Born Yesterday. Elsewhere: Fall On Your Knees (World Première/Canadian Tour); As You Like It, The School for Lies (Chicago Shakespeare); Caroline, or Change (Musical Stage); Lear (Groundling); Mary Poppins (Grand Theatre); A Doll's House, Part 2 (RMTC/Mirvish); London Road (Canadian Stage). Film/ Television: Catherine Cardinal in Cardinal (CTV); Good Sam; Five Days at Memorial; Murdoch Mysteries; Acts of Crime; Four in the Morning; Saving Hope; Remedy; The Anniversary.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2024: Grace Harkaway in London Assurance and appears in Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet. Second season. Stratford: Les Belles-Soeurs and King Lear. Elsewhere: Nina in Lucky by Marie Barlizo (rEvolver); Hermia in A (Musical) Midsummer Night's Dream (Driftwood Theatre); Lucky in FEARLESS by David Yee (fu-GEN Theatre); Olivia in Twelfth Night (Theatre Erindale). Film/TV: Eli Roth's Be Mine, 13: The Musical, Titans season 4, Daughter Dearest, ReGenesis. Audio/Voiceover: Anne of Green Gables. Playwriting: twice blessed (fu-GEN Theatre). Awards: Joseph-Armand Bombardier SSHRC Award (University of Toronto); Dora Mavor Moore Award (Stratford Festival). Training: Birmingham Conservatory; Theatre and Drama Studies with Sheridan College; University of Toronto (MA). Online: www.marissaorjalo.com @MarissaOrjalo. Et cetera: Gratitude always to Carlos Bulosan Theatre and fu-GEN Theatre.
(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2015/16
2024: Antonio in Twelfth Night, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and Richard Dazzle in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford Festival credits include: Richard II, Grand Magic, Love's Labour's Lost, Richard III, The Miser, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, Twelfth Night, A School for Scandal, Tartuffe, Macbeth, All My Sons, Bunny. Elsewhere: The Three Musketeers (RMTC); february: a love story (Globus Theatre); Two Noble Kinsmen and Cymbeline (Shakespeare BASH'd); Towards Youth: a play on Radical Hope (Crow's Theatre); Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare in High Park); Tartuffe (Canadian Stage); Coriolanus (Dartmouth, New Hampshire). Emilio trained under the direction of Martha Henry and Stephen Ouimette in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Thank you for supporting live theatre. Instagram: @emiliovieira.
(he/him)
2024: Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, Cool in London Assurance and appears in Romeo and Juliet. Ninth season. Stratford: Cornwall in King Lear, Balthasar in Much Ado…, Parolles in All's Well…, Reverend Hale in The Crucible, Professor Bhaer in Little Women, Lucullus in Timon…, Wessex in Shakespeare in Love, Karl Gustav in Christina, The Girl King, White Knight in Alice Through the Looking-Glass. Elsewhere: La Bête (Talk is Free); Lion in Winter (Grand); East of Berlin, The December Man, Shakespeare's Dog (ATP); Am I Not King? (Zone 41); Enron (Theatre Calgary); Beyond the Farm Show (Blyth); The Story (Common Boots); Macbeth, Mother Courage (Caravan Farm); A Doll's House (Globe). Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries, Wilfrid, Charity, Blue Smoke, The Secret of the Nutcracker, See This Movie. Training: National Theatre School. Awards: John Hirsch Award; Betty Award for Vincent in Brixton; Dora, Montreal Critics' Circle and Evie Award nominations. Instagram: @wilkierylan.
Langham Directors' Workshop, 2015/2017
2024: Capulet in Romeo and Juliet and Mark Meddle in London Assurance. 25th season. Stratford: Benedick (Much Ado), Claudius (Hamlet), Simon Pilkings (Death… King's Horseman), Mr. Ford (Merry Wives of Windsor), Aufidius (Coriolanus), Orgon (Tartuffe), Bolingbroke/Henry IV, conceiver, adaptor (Breath of Kings), Iago, Petruchio, Henry V, Macbeth, Romeo, Henry VIII. Elsewhere: Hamlet (Resurgence); Sam Byck (Assassins). TV: Lead - The Border (CBC). Recent - Under the Banner of Heaven (Disney/Hulu), SkyMed (CBC), Diggstown (CBC). Recurring - Degrassi, Murdoch Mysteries, Republic of Doyle. Guest star - Flashpoint, Lost Girl, Remedy, Frontier, Ransom. Film: Delia's Gone, Take This Waltz, Casino Jack, Defendor, Stealing Paradise, Milton's Secret. Awards: Two Dora Awards, Monte Carlo Television nomination. Directing: Stratford - The Front Page; associate director, Breath of Kings; assistant director Twelfth Night, The Alchemist. Elsewhere - The Winter's Tale, Measure for Measure, Lear (Groundling). Et cetera: Artistic Director, Groundling Theatre.
(she/her) Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2024: Pert in London Assurance, appears in Twelfth Night and understudy in Romeo and Juliet. Third season. Stratford: Grand Magic, Love's Labour's Lost, The Miser, Hamlet. Elsewhere: Schoolhouse, Macbeth, The Ruins, Frankenstein, In This Light, As You Like It, Iliad by Fire (Two Planks); A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It (Shakespeare BASH'd); As You Like It, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare by the Sea). Film/TV: Compulsus, King & Pawn (BellTV). Recordings: Ophelia, Sending Love (Spotify, Apple Music) Composer: WOLF, Flimsy (Hurricane Productions); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare BASH'd). Awards: Merritt Award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role (Schoolhouse). Training: Dalhousie University. Online: @hilary_adamss.Et cetera: This season is dedicated to Gordon Bowlby, who took me to my first Stratford show where I fell in love with Theatre…I made it Grandad!
2024: Mrs. Elvsted in Hedda Gabler and appears in London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Lula Green in Wedding Band, Yvette Longpré in Les Belles-Soeurs, Death and the King's Horseman. Training: Acting Conservatory, York University, 2012 (BFA); Factory Theatre Mechanicals. Awards: 9-time Winner of Toronto Queen of Carnival. Online: @joellacrichton. Et cetera: Thank you to the Stratford Festival. For Solomon.
2024: Peter in Romeo and Juliet, Martin in London Assurance and appears in Twelfth Night. Second season. Stratford: Harry Percy in Richard II, Waiter in Grand Magic and understudy in Love's Labour's Lost. Elsewhere: A Few Good Men, Twelve Angry Men, The Miracle Worker, The Birds and the Bees, Death of a Salesman, Brighton Beach Memoirs (Drayton); The Cider House Rules reading (Talk is Free); Suitcases/Provenance workshop (Canadian Stage). Film/TV: Jump, Darling (opposite Cloris Leachman), In The Dark, Murdoch Mysteries, Man Seeking Woman, Heroes Reborn, Bitten, Reign. Radio/Recordings: Strange Loops (audiobook). Training: The Randolph College for the Performing Arts. Online: Instagram: @tomsdup. Et cetera: Thomas dedicates this season to his teachers past and present.
Langham Directors' Workshop, 2019; Birmingham Conservatory, 2011/2012
2024: Lovborg in Hedda Gabler and understudy in London Assurance. Ninth season. Stratford: Assistant Director, The Crucible; Principals, Henry VIII, Ideal Husband, To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, Virgin Trial, Shakespeare in Love, Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, She Stoops to Conquer, King Lear, Othello; appeared, Bakkhai, Diary of Anne Frank, Oedipus Rex, Midsummer Night's Dream, Mary Stuart, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Elektra. Elsewhere: Draco, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Mirvish); Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet (Neptune); Darcy, Pride and Prejudice (Grand). Directing:4th Graders Present an Unnamed Love Suicide, Fleeto, Oh, the Humanity (Tiny Room); Henry IV: I, Caesar, Dream (Perchance); Leisure Society, Autobahn, Stendhal Syndrome (c2c). Associate Directing: Lear, Measure for Measure, Winter's Tale (Groundling). Film/TV: Reign (CW); Republic of Doyle, Diverted, Above & Beyond (CBC). Training: BFA (Acting), University of Alberta.
(she/her)
2024: Appears in Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance, and understudy in Twelfth Night. Second season. Stratford: Cecilia in Women of the Fur Trade. Elsewhere: Every Brilliant Thing (Burnt Thicket/Live Five, Fire Exit, Globe Theatre, Winterruption); Our Town (Theatre Rusticle/Buddies in Bad Times); Drowning Girls, Secret Mask, Pride and Prejudice (Globe Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); Birds and the Bees, Farndale Ave...Christmas Carol (Persephone Theatre). Other: House Co (Second City). TV/Film: Workin' Moms (CBC), Benched (Short). Training: Globe Theatre Conservatory, University of Saskatchewan (BFA). Awards: SAT Award for Outstanding Performance (Narrator in Every Brilliant Thing, Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, and Callie in Stop Kiss). Online: www.jennaleehyde.com. Et cetera: Born-and-raised on Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan, Jenna-Lee now lives in Tkaronto. She's very grateful to be here.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2017/18
2024: Valentine in Twelfth Night, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and appears in London Assurance. Seventh season. Stratford: Duke of Burgundy in King Lear, Jeremy in Hamlet-911, The Boy in Three Tall Women, Sir Henry Guildford in Henry VIII, Eribo, A Bully in The Neverending Story, Harold in An Ideal Husband, appeared in To Kill a Mockingbird and understudied in Julius Caesar and Much Ado About Nothing. Elsewhere: Atreyu in The Neverending Story (National Arts Centre). Film/TV: Guest star on What We Do in the Shadows season four finale (FX), Reign (CW) and Murder U (Discovery ID). Training: BFA, University of Windsor; Birmingham Conservatory. Instagram: @iles4miles.
2024: Sampson in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Kirk in Riot (Renaissance Canadian Theatre Company). Training: Toronto Metropolitan University: School of Performance. Online: @Incogtico. Et cetera: I dedicate this to my family and friends who continue to support me. PS. Momma I love you.
Birmingham Conservatory 2020/21
2024: Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fifth season. Stratford: Shrimp Man in Wedding Band, Much Ado About Nothing, Lord in All's Well That Ends Well, Little Women, Demetrius, Quince, Mustardseed in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Valentine in Two Gentlemen of Verona (Birmingham Conservatory). Elsewhere: Paul Bratter in Barefoot in the Park, Paul Verral in Born Yesterday (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre); Henry Baskerville in Hound of the Baskervilles (Royal Canadian Theatre Co.); Young Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes (Chemainus Theatre Festival). Film/TV: Fragile Seeds (feature), The Flash, Far Cry 4, Monkey Up, Cascadia, Ollie and Emma. Training: Birmingham Conservatory, LAMDA (Masters with Distinction, Classical Acting). Et cetera: Thanks to my family and the cast and crew. Jonathan dedicates this season to his late father Gregory Mason.
2024: Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet and appears in Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Julia Augustine in Wedding Band, understudy in Les Belles-Soeurs, Chorus in Hamlet-911, understudy in Every Little Nookie, Angela in Here's What It Takes (workshop), Swing in Little Shop of Horrors. Elsewhere (selected): Princess Buttercup in Jack and the Beanstalk: The Panto, Lorraine in All Shook Up (Drayton Festival); Soul Sistas (Mayfield); Mamma Mia! (Theatre Aquarius/WCT); Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors (Thousand Islands Playhouse). Film/TV: In The Dark, Take Note, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Hot Zone: Anthrax, The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again, People of Earth, Surviving Evil. Training: St. Lawrence College Musical Theatre. Online: @Toni_Rudd.
2024: Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Olivia in Twelfth Night and understudy in London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Little Shop of Horrors, Billy Elliot, Why We Tell the Story, Up Close and Musical. Elsewhere: New York, New York (Broadway); Alice in Wonderland (Bad Hats/Soulpepper); Queen Goneril, King Lear (Soulpepper); Is God Is (Obsidian/CanStage/Necessary Angel); Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz (YPT); An Octoroon, Grand Hotel, The Magician's Nephew, Holiday Inn (Shaw Festival); Passing Strange, Caroline or Change (Musical Stage Co/Obsidian); Kinky Boots (Mirvish). Film: Sappy Holiday, 14 Love Letters, Suits, Sex/Life, Y: The Last Man. Voice Acting: My Little Pony, The Downloaded. Awards: Multiple Dora Award and TTCA Award wins, BroadwayWorld Award, Critic's Pick Award. Online: Instagram: @Vanessa_Sears. Et cetera: Vanessa is an educator, an emerging director, and Vice Chair of the CGA board. Love to Richard and the whole team.
2024: Nick Bottom in Something Rotten! and understudy in London Assurance. Fifth season. Elsewhere (selected): Enjorlas in Les Miserables (Broadway); Sky in Mamma Mia! (Mirvish); Michael Donnelly in The Donnellys (Blyth); Elmer Woods in Paradise Square (Berkeley Rep); Sweet Charity, The Lady from the Sea, Trouble in Tahiti, The Millionairess, My Fair Lady, Maria Severa, The Cherry Orchard, Sunday in the Park…, Star Chamber, A Little Night Music, Follies, Mack and Mable, Tristan (Shaw); Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Bert in Mary Poppins, Seeds of Self, The Last Five Years (Grand Theatre); Avram in Indecent (Segal Centre); Tom Watson in Parade (Musical Stage); Cinderella's Prince in Into the Woods (Neptune); Percik in Fiddler on the Roof (MTC); Just So (Globe). Et cetera: Mark is also a painter and published illustrator @markuhre. For Bernice Finch, with love and gratitude.
c. 1820-1890
Playwright: London Assurance
Anglo/Irish playwright, actor, and manager Dionysius Lardner Boucicault/Bousiquot was born in Dublin, Ireland around 1820 to an Irish mother and a French father. He began his theatrical career as an actor in 1838, under the pseudonym Lee Moreton, in his own play A Legend of the Devil's Dyke. But it wasn't until Charles Mathews and his wife, Madame Vestris, agreed to produce London Assurance (after extensive rewrites) at Covent Garden in 1841 that Boucicault came into wealth and prominence. Three years later, in debt, he was encouraged by theatre manager Ben Webster to go to Paris, where he adapted French plays (Louis XI and The Corsican Brothers).
In 1852, he appeared as an actor in a melodrama of his own, The Vampire, with theatre owner Charles Kean's adopted daughter, Agnes Robertson, a talented actress whom he later married. From 1853 to 1860 the pair lived in the United States, where they toured, and Boucicault wrote a number of successful plays.
Back in England, he produced The Colleen Bawn in 1860 at the Adelphi Theatre, which was performed across the UK and the USA, making Boucicault a fortune. The abolitionist play,Octoroon, which followed in 1861, was also a popular success.
His next creations, Arrah-na-Pogue, in which he played a Wicklow Post carman and The Shaughraun, in which he created the character Con, made his reputation as a great "stage Irishman."
In 1875, he returned to New York City where he made his home. He occasionally returned to London, where he made his final appearance in The Jilt. He had three children with Agnes: a son, Dion, and two daughters, Audrey and Nina, all of whom distinguished themselves in the theatre. Boucicault committed bigamy - and aroused scandal - by marrying a young actress, Lorraine Thorndyke, in 1885, with whom he lived until his death in New York in 1890.
Boucicault is remembered for writing some of the best comedies and melodramas of the 19th century, and for his "character parts." It's said that he often veered toward plagiarism, wrote with the "bottom line" in mind, and careened from bankruptcy to riches several times. But his use of social themes foreshadowed later drama in Europe and America.
2024: Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival. Director of London Assurance. 37th season. Stratford: Directing credits include Grand Magic; Richard III; The Miser; Birds of a Kind; The Merry Wives of Windsor; The Tempest; Napoli Milionaria!; The School for Scandal; Macbeth; The Hypochondriac; Hamlet; The Alchemist; King Lear; The Beaux' Stratagem; Mary Stuart; The Merchant of Venice; Cymbeline; The Grapes of Wrath; Bartholomew Fair; Coriolanus; As You Like It, featuring original music by Barenaked Ladies; King John; Love's Labour's Lost, with Brian Bedford; Twelfth Night, with William Hutt; The Night of the Iguana; and Filumena, with Richard Monette. A crowning achievement of his tenure as Artistic Director is the building of the new Tom Patterson Theatre, which opened in 2022, winning a number of architectural awards. He was also instrumental in establishing the Festival's Endowment Foundation, which now stands in excess of $90 million, as well as in the renovation of the Avon Theatre and the creation of the Studio Theatre. Elsewhere: The Canadian première of ENRON (Theatre Calgary); Twelfth Night (Attic Theatre, Detroit); A Woman of No Importance (Hilberry Theater, Detroit). A champion of the arts and culture, Mr. Cimolino served as the Founding Chair of Culture Days, a nation-wide celebration of arts and culture in Canada. He has initiated collaborations with several prestigious theatre companies, including Montreal's Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Ottawa's National Arts Centre, New York's Lincoln Center and City Center, San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
2024: Set and costume designer of Hedda Gabler, set and lighting designer of London Assurance. 11th season. Stratford: Grand Magic-set and lighting; The Miser-lighting; A Midsummer Night's Dream-costumes; Mother's Daughter-set and costumes; Two Gentlemen of Verona-set and lighting; The Front Page, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Timon of Athens, Agamemnon, Electra, Bereav'd of Light, Fellini Radio Plays, Walk Right Up, Shadows-set; The Flies-set and costumes. Elsewhere: Set: My Fair Lady (Shaw Festival); Set and lighting: De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail (Soulpepper); Set: Sound of Music (Citadel/RMTC); Universal Child Care (Quote Unquote Collective/Canadian Stage); Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre/Shaw/Barbican). Awards: Five Dora Awards. Online: www.lorenzosavoini.com.Et cetera: Member of the Associated Designers of Canada.
2024: Composer of London Assurance. Fourth season. Stratford: Grand Magic, 1939, The Rez Sisters. Factory Theatre: Apple, Claudius, Amazon Dream, The Leisure Society, Better Living, Escape from Happiness, Beyond Mozambique, The Rez Sisters. Canadian Rep Theatre: Pacamambo, How Do I Love Thee?, Armstrong's War, Tideline. Other Theatre: Yaga (Belfry Theatre); Moonlodge (Soulpepper Theatre); Sunshine & Shadows (Orillia Opera House); Possible Worlds (Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse); The Matador (York Street Theatre); Days of Wine and Roses (Hart House Theatre). CBC Radio Dramas: A Dream Within a Dream, The Pet, Alligators in the Lake, A Few Words About Harold, Ultimate Destination, Everything She Wants, The Most Beautiful Girl in Town, What Friends Do, Puppy Love. Online: waynekelso.com. Et cetera: Wayne celebrates his Métis heritage by dedicating this season to his late grandmother, Laura Gladue-Reid.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2002
2024: Movement coach and choreographer. 17th season. Adrienne Gould came to the Stratford Festival in 2000 as an actor. Over 10 seasons, some of her roles included Ophelia, Miranda (with William Hutt), Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew, Yasmin in Pentecost, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, Regina in Ghosts (with Martha Henry), Phebe in As You Like It, Jaquenetta in Love's Labour's Lost and Jessica in The Merchant of Venice. Her choreography credits include last season's Much Ado About Nothing, Grand Magic and The Miser; assistant choreographer for Shakespeare in Love; movement director for Timon of Athens and The Crucible; intimacy choreography for Love's Labours Lost and the Birmingham Conservatory's Three Sisters. Adrienne is a recipient of the Mary Savidge Award and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts.
Langham Directors' Workshop, 2024
2024: Assistant director of London Assurance. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Director - Dead Elephants, The Last Mammoth, One Left Hour: The Life and Work of Daniil Kharms, Blue Remembered Hills (Good Old Neon); Frankenstein(esque) (Silent Protagonist); Machinal, A Lysistrata (act2studioWORKS). Actor - Two Character Play, Potosi (Good Old Neon); The Real Sherlock Holmes (Lighthouse Theatre Festival); The Belt and the Necklace (Odyssey Theatre); Mankind UK Tour (PLS); Brimstone and Treacle (Precisely Peters Productions); The Seagull (Chekhov Collective); Love's Labour's Lost (Dauntless City Theatre); Claire Tinsdale in The Good Witch.Training: HB Studio (NYC); George Brown Theatre School. Awards: My Entertainment Critics' Pick - 2017 Outstanding Production, 2014 Audience Choice Best Actress. Online: Instagram @nicolewilson_actor, @gontheatre. Et cetera: Nicole is Co-AD of Good Old Neon. Love and gratitude to my friends, family, and soulmate Alexander.
(she/they)
2024: Assistant set designer of Something Rotten!, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, London Assurance and assistant costume designer of Get That Hope. Second season. Stratford: Richard II, Wedding Band. Elsewhere: Designer: There are No Gays in Chechnya (Page 1 Theatre). Costumes: Sweet Charity (AUTS). Online: @freddy.vancamp.
2024: Assistant costume designer of London Assurance. 10th season. Stratford: Set and costume assistant designer for Chicago. As the design coordinator for seven years at the Festival, Mary-Jo had the pleasure of working alongside many of Canada's greatest designers. She also hired assistants who are now becoming the next generation of young designers in Canada. Elsewhere: Mary-Jo was Head of Wardrobe for 25 years in Toronto for such companies as Young People's Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre, Necessary Angel and Canadian Stage. When not working at the Festival, Mary-Jo enjoys creating her art and selling it at Stratford Art in the Park and other art shows around Ontario. Online: www.inspiredfromwithin.com.
2024: Assistant costume designer of London Assurance. Sixth season. Stratford: Production design: Never Doubt I Love (Stratfest@Home); Designer: Langham Directors' Workshop 2021, 2022; Assistant designer: Three Tall Women, Bakkhai; Assistant costume designer: Death and the King's Horseman, The Merry Wives of Windsor, An Ideal Husband. Elsewhere: Chemainus Theatre Festival (9-5, Ghost, Lumberjacks in Love, Glorious!); Puente Theatre (Fado); Pacific Opera Victoria (Rattenbury, La Voix Humaine); Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre (The Drawer Boy, Our Town, The Glass Menagerie, Of Mice and Men). Ongoing collaboration with Impulse Theatre (soft spaces). Training: 3D Animation and Character Design (Fanshawe College), Master of Scenography (Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL), BFA Theatre Design (University of Victoria). Online: patriciareilly.com.
2024: Assistant lighting designer of Something Rotten!, Romeo and Juliet and London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Assistant lighting designer of Rent, Much Ado About Nothing, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago, Hamlet and The Miser. Elsewhere: Lighting design: The Two Noble Kinsmen (Shakespeare BASH'd); Legally Blonde, London Road (MacEwan University); La Boheme, Is He Dead?, Almost Maine, The Underpants, Stupid F***ing Bird, Threads: Impact (University of Wisconsin); The Drawer Boy (Port Stanley Festival Theatre); Three Sisters (University of Windsor). Associate lighting designer: FRONTIERS | FRONTIÈRES and WATER SPIRIT (Lua Shayenne Dance Company); Maggie (The Savoy); The Rhubarb Festival (Buddies in Bad Times). Assistant lighting designer: Nutcracker, Fall for Dance North (Meridian Hall); White Girls In Moccasins (Buddies in Bad Times); Tea (University of Wisconsin); Training: MFA - Theatre and Drama - Lighting Design (University of Wisconsin - Madison); BA(H): Drama and Communication Media and Film (University of Windsor).
2024: Stage manager of London Assurance. 10th season. Stratford: Stage manager of Grand Magic, The Miser, Othello, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Changeling, Breath of Kings: Redemption and Oedipus Rex. 17 seasons with the Shaw Festival, production stage manager from 2003 to 2011. Favourite productions with the Shaw Festival include My Fair Lady, Gypsy, You Can't Take It With You, Detective Story, All My Sons, Chaplin, The Madras House, Man and Superman, Peter Pan and Lady Windermere's Fan. Productions with the Grand Theatre, Drayton Entertainment, Canadian Stage, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Mirvish Productions, National Arts Centre, Blyth Festival, Factory Theatre and Tarragon Theatre.
2024: Assistant stage manager of Something Rotten! and London Assurance. Third season. Stratford: Assistant stage manager: Rent, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago and Hamlet. Elsewhere: Before coming to Stratford, Tiffany was an assistant stage manager with the Canadian Opera Company for 20 seasons working on shows such as Aida, Turandot, Elektra, Götterdämmerung, Siegfried, Louis Riel, Falstaff, Don Giovanni, La Bohème, Rigoletto, La Clemenza di Tito, Die Fledermaus, L'Amour de Loin, A Florentine Tragedy, Gianna Schicchi, Death in Venice, Iphigénie en Tauride and more. Tiffany also Stage Managed at Opera Hamilton working on Barber of Seville and The Pearl Fishers. Tiffany has worked with The National Ballet of Canada in past seasons on shows such as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Swan Lake and Innovation. Tiffany's most favourite job though is being Mom to her three girls, Kennedy, McKinley and Reagan.
2024: Assistant stage manager of Twelfth Night and London Assurance. Fifth season. Stratford: Assistant stage manager of Rent, Les Belles-Soeurs; apprentice stage manager of Chicago, The Miser, Three Tall Women; Festival Theatre production assistant. Elsewhere: Stage manager - Bluebeard's Castle (Against the Grain Theatre); The Laundry List (Vintage Taps); rochdale (SummerWorks). Assistant stage manager - A Huron County Christmas Carol (Blyth Festival); The Breathing Hole (National Arts Centre); The Tender Land (UofT Opera). Apprentice stage manager - Homes: A Refugee Story,Home for the Holidays (Grand Theatre); August: Osage County (Soulpepper); Cinderella: The Panto (Capitol Theatre); Angel (Opera Atelier). Apprentice production manager - Twelfth Night (a Company of Fools). Training: York University, SMArts. Et cetera: Caitlin would like to thank her friends, family, and mentors for all their support.
2024: Apprentice stage manager of London Assurance. Second season. Stratford: Production assistant for the Festival Theatre (2023) and the Birmingham Conservatory's Three Sisters. Elsewhere:Medea (Canadian Opera Company), Mary's Wedding (Drayton Entertainment); Elf: The Musical (Grand Theatre); Finding Home: A Salmon Journey Up the Humber River (Theatre Direct and Animacy Theatre Collective); King Henry Five (Driftwood Theatre); Art In Transit: Luminato On The GO! (Luminato Festival Toronto); R.U.R.: A Torrent of Light (Tapestry Opera); Grounds For Goodness (Jumblies Theatre); Life Assignment (Theatre Nidāna). Et cetera: All the thanks and gratitude to my parents and Copper for their endless love and support!
2024: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre. 10th season. Stratford: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre ('23). Assistant stage manager of Chicago, The Music Man, Guys and Dolls, Romeo and Juliet, A Chorus Line, As You Like It, Hamlet, The Sound of Music, Crazy for You and Fiddler on the Roof. Elsewhere: Production stage manager for the Charlottetown Festival, Soulpepper, Perchance Theatre, Theatrefront. Stage manager for The Segal Centre/NAC, Citadel Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Opera on the Avalon, Western Canada Theatre, Persistence Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, Tarragon Theatre. A proud Newfoundlander, Krista stage managed the first Newfoundland production of Come From Away (Rubinoff/ACC) in Gander last summer.
2024: Production assistant of the Festival Theatre. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Ghost the Musical, The Fiancé (Chemainus Theatre Festival). Training: University of Victoria. Online: @louesums. Et cetera: Louey would like to thank her little sister, family and friends for all their love and support.
Geraint Wyn Davies, Austin Eckert, Deborah Hay, and Marissa Orjalo.
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