By William Shakespeare
Directed by Antoni Cimolino
Blinded by jealousy, King Leontes falsely accuses his pregnant wife of infidelity, setting into motion a series of catastrophes that will destroy his wife and son and leave his infant daughter abandoned to the elements on a distant island. Seeing the folly of his ways, Leontes vows to live out his days atoning for his actions. Sixteen years later, the king is offered an unlikely chance at redemption. A late play from Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale offers a beguiling blend of comedy, tragedy and mystery.
The 2025 Season is supported by Ophelia Lazaridis.
Production Co-Sponsors:
Dr. Dennis & Dorothea Hacker
Dr. Desta Leavine in memory of Pauline Leavine
Dr. M.L. Meyers and Peggy Ptasznik in memory of Vic Ptasznik
André Sills, Sara Topham and Graham Abbey. Photography by Ted Belton.
Langham Directors' Workshop, 2015/2017
2025: Paulina in The Winter's Tale and Hecuba in Ransacking Troy. 13th season. Yanna McIntosh is one of Canada's preeminent stage actors, acclaimed for her dramatic range and intensity. Training at Vaughan Road Collegiate, University of Toronto, and Harvard's American Repertory Theatre Institute grounded numerous stage highlights, among them, The Master Plan (Crow's), Ruined (Obsidian), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (San Francisco), The Baroness and the Pig (Shaw), Hedda Gabler (Volcano), Skylight (Tarragon) and leading roles in Stratford productions of Antony and Cleopatra, Oedipus, Macbeth, Elektra, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, A Little Night Music, The Winter's Tale and Trojan Women. Recent screen credits include Slasher: Hell Motel (AMC), Beyond Black Beauty (Amazon), Good Sam (CBS); Pretty Hard Cases (Global), Sort Of (CBC). Yanna is Icil Morgan's daughter. Et cetera: To Marti, for all my firsts.
2025: Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Aegiale, Helen in Ransacking Troy. 16th season. Stratford (selected): Hedda in Hedda Gabler, Shakespeare's Juliet, Olivia, Cordelia, Jessica, Rosalind; Elizabeth/Robyn (Serving Elizabeth), Ruth (Blithe Spirit), Célimène (The Misanthrope), Wendy (Peter Pan), Madame de Tourvel (Dangerous Liaisons), Gwendolyn (The Importance of Being Earnest), Laurencia (Fuente Ovejuna), Mabel (An Ideal Husband) Laura (The Glass Menagerie) Brooke Ashton (Noises Off). Broadway: Cecily in Travesties, Gwendolyn in The Importance of Being Earnest, Sally in the original Broadway company of Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt. Off Broadway: Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling. In the UK: Love Me Do (Dorothy), Intimate Apparel (Mrs. Van Buren). Elsewhere: Two seasons at the Shaw Festival playing the title role in Saint Joan and Ann Whitfield in Man And Superman, Beatrice at The Old Globe, Titania and Ariel at The Shakespeare Theatre (DC) and appearances on many other stages worldwide.
2025: Malcolm in Macbeth and Florizel in The Winter's Tale. Fourth season. Stratford: Charles Courtly (London Assurance), Sebastian (Twelfth Night), Paris (Romeo and Juliet), Claudio (Much Ado About Nothing), Albany (King Lear), Laertes (Hamlet). Elsewhere (selected): The Royale (Citadel Theatre); Being Here: The Refugee Project, Taking Shakespeare, Spring Awakening (Belfry Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater/Citadel Theatre/MTC/Bard on the Beach); Beauty and the Beast (Arts Club Theatre); Miss Understood (PuSh Festival); The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Shakespeare in Love, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter's Tale (Bard on the Beach); Mamma Mia! (WCT); HAIR (Mayfield Theatre). Film/TV (selected): Supernatural, Batwoman, The Flash (CW); Colony (USA); The Magicians (SyFy); Narcoleap (CBC/Telus). Training: The Canadian College of Performing Arts. Awards: Sterling Award (The Royale), Leo Award (Narcoleap), Max Helpmann Award (Stratford Festival). Online: @austineckert.
2025: Macbeth in Macbeth and Old Shepherd in The Winter's Tale. 18th season. Stratford (selected roles): Richard III, Coriolanus, Edmund Tyrone, Macheath, King John, King Arthur, Vladimir (Waiting for Godot), Vershinin, Brutus, Captain Hook, Valmont, Friar Lawrence, Aslan, Horace Vandergelder, Judge Brack, Arthur Miller. Elsewhere (selected roles): Shaw: Peter Pan, Androcles, King George III, Charles II, Ephraim Cabot. Toronto and environs: Hamlet, King Lear, Leontes, Angelo, Claudius, Thom Paine, Rhett Butler, Marc Blitzstein, Mozart. Film/TV (selected): I Love a Man in Uniform, The Sweet Hereafter, Long Day's Journey into Night, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Room, Orphan Black, Anne with an E. Awards: Dora award, Genie award, Gemini Award, Actra award. Et cetera: Tom lives on a farm in Warkworth with his wife, Chick Reid, and their two dogs.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2024
2025: Perdita in The Winter's Tale and Hermione, Menelaus, Chryseis, Cyclops in Ransacking Troy. Third season. Stratford: Grace Harkaway in London Assurance, Twelfth Night, Juliet understudy in Romeo and Juliet, Lise Paquette in Les Belles-Soeurs, Cordelia understudy in King Lear. Elsewhere: 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); Douglas Campbell Award (Stratford Festival); Dora Mavor Moore Award (Stratford Festival). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, 2024; 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.
2025: Macduff in Macbeth and Camillo in The Winter's Tale. 14th season. Stratford: R&J, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, Twelfth Night, The School for Scandal, Tartuffe, The Taming of the Shrew, Crazy for You, Man of La Mancha, Waiting for Godot, Wanderlust, The Winter's Tale, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, All's Well That Ends Well. Elsewhere: Cyrano de Bergerac, Victory, Apple Cart, My Fair Lady (Shaw Festival); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Citadel); Uncle Vanya, 15 Dogs, The Seagull, The Wedding Party, Someone Else (Crow's); My Mother's Feet (Munich); Hairspray (Toronto, Broadway); Hamlet (NAC); Roméo et Juliette (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan). Film/TV: CBC's This Is Wonderland; The Gilda Radner Story; The Day After Tomorrow; Murdoch Mysteries; Coroner. Awards: Two Gemini nominations; Dora Award, Outstanding Actor, 2013; Sterling Award, Best Actor, 2016.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2005
2025: Ross in Macbeth and Polixenes in The Winter's Tale. 11th season. Stratford: Get That Hope (Director), Twelfth Night, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, All's Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coriolanus, The Tempest, etc. Elsewhere: Director: The Royale (Citadel Theatre); Gloria (ARC/Crow's). Acting: Glass Menagerie, Sex, An Octoroon, "Master Harold"...and the Boys (Shaw Festival); Julius Caesar (Crow's Theatre). Film/TV: Revenge of the Black Best Friend, Kim's Convenience (CBC); Slumberland (Netflix); Private Idiots (YouTube). Voiceover: Tiny Louis in Summer Memories (Family); Fins in Sago Mini Friends (Apple TV). Training: George Brown Theatre School. Awards: Sterling Award for Direction, The Royale; Toronto Theatre Critics Award and Dora Award - Best Actor, "Master Harold"...and the Boys; MyEntWorld Critics' Pick Award - Best Actor, An Octoroon. Online: Instagram: @dre373. Et cetera: Love you Rian & NAIA.
2025: Autolycus in The Winter's Tale. 19th season. Stratford (selected): Sir Harcourt Courtly (London Assurance), Otto Marvuglia (Grand Magic), Elyot Chase, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Peter Teazle, Falstaff, Fluellen, Claudius, Möbius, Antony, Duke Vincentio, Leicester, Cymbeline, Malachi Stack, King Arthur, Stephano, Dylan Thomas, Julius Caesar, Bottom, Polonius, Henry Higgins, Henry V, Bassanio, Tom Fashion, D'Artagnan, Richmond, Edward IV, Hortensio, Pericles. Elsewhere: N.Y.C.: King Lear (Lincoln Center); Poetic License; Do Not Go Gentle; Women Beware Women (Red Bull); Canadian Stage's Liv Stein, The Elephant Man; Shaw Festival, five seasons; Prospero, Richard III, Cyrano (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Love's Labour's Lost (RSC); Hamlet, Henry VIII (Chichester); An Enemy of the People (Lyric Hammersmith, London); two seasons, Theatr Clwyd's artistic associate (Welsh national Company). Film/TV: The Scottish Play, ReGenesis, Murdoch Mysteries, 24, Slings and Arrows, Black Harbour, Airwolf, Forever Knight, American Psycho II, Hypercube, One of the Hollywood Ten, Conspiracy of Fear.
2025: Antigonus in The Winter's Tale and Duncan in Macbeth. 17th season. Stratford: London Assurance, Twelfth Night, Richard II, Grand Magic, Richard III, The Miser, The Front Page, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, The Changeling, Macbeth, As You Like It, Pericles, King Lear, Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, Caesar and Cleopatra. Elsewhere: Shakuntala (Premiere Dance Theatre); The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Mirvish); Twelfth Night, Donut City (Canadian Stage); Pusha Man, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Passe Muraille); Top Gun the Musical (Factory Theatre/NYC); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in Action); Founding Member of Obsidian Theatre Company. Film/TV/Video Games: Sex/Life, Frankie Drake, Diggstown, The Coroner, Assassin's Creed: Origins, Killjoys, Watch Dogs 2, Saving Hope, Murdoch Mysteries, Nikita, Owning Mahowny, The Incredible Hulk, Nurse.Fighter.Boy. Training: MFA, York University. Awards: Tyrone Guthrie Award. Dora nominations: Twilight Café, The America Play.
(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2006
2025: Witch 1 in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Seventh season. Stratford: La Cage aux Folles, Monty Python's Spamalot, Caesar and Cleopatra, Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Pentecost, Of Mice and Men, Othello, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night. Elsewhere: Into the Woods (Winter Garden/New Zealand, Dora nom.); The Judas Kiss (Talk Is Free); The 39 Steps (Chemainus Festival); The Last Five Years, Having Hope At Home (Neptune); The Best Brothers (Western Canada Theatre/TNW); Red, The Mousetrap, Cabaret, Legally Blonde (Theatre Aquarius); Wedding Singer (Stage West, Calgary Critics nom.); A Christmas Carol, The Wild Guys (Grand Theatre); Lucky Stiff, Spamalot (Drayton); Sherlock Holmes (MTC); Lies My Father Told Me (Segal Centre); Visiting Mr. Green (Harold Green). Voiceover: Videogame: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided; Audiobook: The Virgin Cure. Training: Toronto Met (BFA - Theatre). Awards: Chalmers Apprentice Award. Online: @aidandesalaiz Et cetera: Love to Billy and my family.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026
(she/her) Birmingham Conservatory, 2025/2026
2025: Emilia in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Macbeth. 14th season. Stratford (selected): Elise in The Miser, Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, Nina in The Seagull, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Jean-Louise in To Kill a Mockingbird, Isabella in Edward II, Katerina in Brothers Karamazov, Joan of Arc in Henry VI, Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Elvira in Blithe Spirit, Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Rosaline in Love's Labour's Lost, Althia in Front Page. Michelle has also performed in plays at The New York City Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Crow's Theatre, Segal Centre, GCTC, Theatre Aquarius and with Groundling Theatre. Film: Blackberry, Delia's Gone, Blood Pressure and Life in a Year. TV: The Hardy Boys, The Hot Zone, Mockingbird, Suits, See, L.A Complex, Accused, Black Mirror, King, The Good Doctor, Flashpoint, Anne, Saving Hope and The Listener.
Birmingham Conservatory, 2022/2023
2025: Young Shepherd in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Macbeth. Third season.
2025: Seyton in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Fourth season. Stratford: The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, Cymbeline, Love's Labour's Lost, Richard II, Grand Magic, Death and the King's Horseman, Hamlet. Elsewhere: Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Repercussion); Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canadian Stage); Sir in Encore (Tableau D'Hôte); Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in The Mountaintop (Persephone). Film/TV/Video Games: Lucy Grizzli Sophie, La Maison Bleue, Assassin's Creed Nexus VR. Training: Dawson College, Soulpepper Academy. Awards: Outstanding Lead Performance META for Martin in MOB (Centaur). Online: matthewkabwe.com, agencebridgetdechene.com. Et cetera: Matthew sends wishes of love and thanks to his many supporters; especially Dr. AAHW. Matthew is thrilled to be returning to the Stratford Festival. Matthew is also B.
2025: Appears in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Macbeth. 11th season. Stratford: Twelfth Night; London Assurance; Reynaldo, Hamlet; Endicott, The Front Page; Walter Cunningham Sr., To Kill a Mockingbird; Lt. Brannigan, Guys and Dolls; Apothecary, Romeo and Juliet; Doctor, Macbeth; Oliver, As You Like It; Deuxfois, The Hypochondriac; Marcellus/Fortinbras, Hamlet; Boyet, Love's Labour's Lost; Descartes, Christina, The Girl King; Red Knight/Walrus, Alice Through the Looking-Glass. Elsewhere: Jaques, As You Like It; Cassius, Julius Caesar; Lucio, Measure for Measure (Citadel); Slim, Of Mice and Men (Canadian Stage/Theatre Calgary); Tybalt/Friar Laurence, Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Calgary); Everard, Age of Arousal (ATP); Milan, Rock 'n' Roll (Canadian Stage/Citadel); Kent, King Lear; Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Twelfth Night (Freewill). Training: BFA Acting, University of Alberta. Awards: Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award, Measure for Measure. Et cetera: Former Artistic Director, Freewill Shakespeare Festival. All my love to Breanna, Aidan, Finn and Betsy.
2025: Appears in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Macbeth. Second season.
(they/them)
2025: Dorcas in The Winter's Tale and Cur, Hecamede, Polyxena in Ransacking Troy. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Ida Jackson in The Amen Corner, Gypsy, White Christmas, Damn Yankees, Chitra (Shaw Festival); Jasmine/Dance Captain in BeeHive (Drayton Entertainment); Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sally Applewhite in It's A Wonderful Life (Young People's Theatre); Rosa Mundi in Concord Floral, Who Are You?, Tiny Tenements of Terror (Theatre Sheridan). Film: Lead in Something Bubbled, Something Blue (Talk Is Free Theatre). Training: Sheridan College, Shaw Festival Intensive Training Program. Online: @caitlynmacinnis. Et cetera: Caitlyn dedicates their debut to the women who raised them; here and in spirit. Special thanks to their friends, family, and the TH for their ongoing support!
Birmingham Conservatory, 2025
2025: Witch 3 in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Second season. Stratford: The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, Cymbeline. Elsewhere: Alcestis, Tartuffe, The Witch of Edmonton (Theatre Erindale); She, Men, and the Giant Snake (Soulpepper Theatre/Buddies in Bad Times); Retrograde (Toronto Fringe); Julius Caesar, Bare: A Pop Opera, Ghost Quartet, Essay (University of Toronto). Film/TV: Workin' Moms Seasons 6 and 7 (CBC/Netflix); Macy Murdoch (CBC/Shaftesbury); Pie Boy (Ace Entertainment Inc). Writer/Composer: The Gray: A Wilde Musical (Hart House Theatre); One Song Glory (Musical Stage Company); Mythic Women (University of Toronto). Training: Theatre and Drama Studies - University of Toronto/Sheridan College. Online: www.anthony-palermo.com, @anthxnypalermo. Et cetera: Grateful for the mentors who have taught me so much, and my family and friends for their endless support.
2025: Lady Macbeth in Macbeth and Time in The Winter's Tale. 38th season. Stratford: Last season: Stevie in The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? and Queen Cymbeline. Recipient of the 2023 Stratford Festival Legacy Award. Over 80 productions including Ophelia, Rosalind, Viola, Portia, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, Titania, Beatrice, Gwendolyn, Helena, Duchess of Malfi, Masha, Mary Stuart, Volumnia, Queen Elizabeth, and Satan. Also: Three Tall Women, All My Sons, Private Lives, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, Les Belles-Soeurs, The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead and Late Night with Lucy. Training: The National Theatre School and the grace and wisdom of all the extraordinary artists, colleagues and conspirators over these many years.
2025: Appears in The Winter's Tale and understudy in Ransacking Troy. Fourth season.
2025: Porter in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Fifth season. Stratford: Mother's Daughter, The Crucible, The Boys From Syracuse, Pericles, Winter's Tale, Agamemnon, Electra, The Flies, The Swanne, The Elephant Song. Elsewhere: Through the Leaves, Domesticated (Company Theatre); Escaped Alone, Home, Endgame, You Can't Take It With You, The Way of the World, Twelfth Night, A Streetcar Named Desire (Soulpepper); The Old Ladies (Shaw); Prince Hamlet (Why Not Theatre); Cake & Dirt, Slavs! (Tarragon); The Piper, Beating Heart Cadaver, King Lear (Necessary Angel); Such Creatures (Passe Muraille); Glorious, The House of Bernarda Alba (Canadian Stage); 2nd Nature (VideoCabaret); Romeo and Juliet (Persephone). Film/TV: Mamma Mia 2; My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1, 2 and 3; Schitt's Creek; Tommy Boy; Shoot 'Em Up; Dino Dana, Rent-A-Goalie.
(he/him) Birmingham Conservatory, 2015/2016
2025: Lennox in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Eighth season. Stratford Festival credits include: London Assurance, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Richard II, Grand Magic, Love's Labour's Lost, Richard III, The Miser, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, A School for Scandal, Tartuffe, Macbeth, All My Sons, Bunny. Elsewhere: HEIST (The Grand Theatre); 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. This one's for Uncle Butch. Instagram: @emiliovieira.
Birmingham Conservatory 2025/2026
2025: Murderer in Macbeth and appears in The Winter's Tale. Stratford debut. Elsewhere: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Segal Centre/RMTC), Fall On Your Knees (Canadian Stage/Neptune Theatre/NAC/Grand Theatre), Simone: Half and Half (Black Theatre Workshop), Pool: No Water (Persephone Productions), Much Ado About Nothing (Repercussion Theatre), An American Hymnal (Terra Bruce Productions). Film/TV: Terror Train, The Christmas Checklist, Witchboard, About Sex, 23 décembre, Matthias et Maxime. Training: Bishop's University, Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: META for Outstanding Supporting Actor (Simone: Half and Half). Online: @airbnbeyonce. Et cetera: Thank you to the cast, crew, and audiences! Thank you to my agent, Marc, and thank you to my family, friends, and to Kevin for your love and support. Let's go!
(he/him)
2025: Set designer of The Winter's Tale. 31st season. Stratford (selected): Tom Patterson Theatre Stage, An Ideal Husband, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, All My Sons, Carousel, She Stoops to Conquer, Man of La Mancha, Hay Fever, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Evita, West Side Story, Cabaret... over 30 productions designed for the Stratford Festival. Design coordinator for 22 seasons. Elsewhere: Director of Design: UAE Golden Jubilee Celebrations; Expo 2020, opening of Olympic Anti-Doping Headquarters; 2011 Arab Games; 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening, Medals and Closing Ceremonies; Opening/Closing of World Handball Championships. Consultant: 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Designs for TV, film, opera, ballet, touring productions, international events, and hundreds of productions for regional theatres across Canada and around the world.
2025: Costume designer of The Winter's Tale. 18th season.
2025: Composer of The Winter's Tale. Fifth season. Stratford: London Assurance, 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, 1939 (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.
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