By Keith Tomasek, Aug. 28, 2024

Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino announced the Stratford Festival 2025 season lineup, a playbill of classic and new texts, that celebrates harmony and examines the forces that enhance it or work against it.

• • Antoni Cimolino returns to Shakespeare with “The Winter’s Tale.”
  • Chris Abraham returns to direct “As You Like It.”
  • Yvette Nolan returns with a new play, “The Art of War,” about a Canadian artist sent to the front lines as an embedded painter.
  • Kat Sandler’s adaptation of, and direction on, “Anne of Green Gables.”
  • Kate Hamill’s adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility” directed by Daryl Cloran.
  • Stafford Arima, who directed the 2010 hit, “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” featuring Brent Carver, directs “Forgiveness,” adapted from the book “Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents” by Mark Sakamoto.

  As previously announced, Donna Feore returns to direct “Annie” and Robert Lepage directs “Macbeth,” set in the milieu of Quebec’s biker gangs.

  The Stratford Festival 2025 Season:

   

  FESTIVAL THEATRE

  As You Like It
  May 3 – October 24
  By William Shakespeare
  Director: Chris Abraham

  Rediscover Shakespeare’s tale of transformation and resilience, in a production directed by Chris Abraham, whose Much “Ado About Nothing” was a critical and box office hit last season.

  Annie
  April 19 – November 2 
  Book By Thomas Meehan
  Music by Charles Strouse
  Lyrics by Martin Charnin
  Original Broadway Production Directed by Martin Charnin
  Based on “Little Orphan Annie”® by permission of Tribune Content Agency, LLC

  Director and Choreographer: Donna Feore
  Music Director: Laura Burton

  Donna Feore is back with a musical for the whole family. “Annie,” winner of seven Tony Awards, is one of the most popular musicals ever written. It’s filled with memorable and oh-so-hummable songs, including “Tomorrow”, “It’s the Hard Knock Life” and “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.”

  Sense and Sensibility
  May 28 – October 25 | Opens June 19
  By Kate Hamill
  Based on the novel by Jane Austen
  Director: Daryl Cloran

  This production of Jane Austen’s beloved classic will use an adaptation by Kate Hamill, one of the most exciting and oft-produced playwrights working today.

  Daryl Cloran is the artistic director of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre and has credits at major theatres nationwide, including a wildly popular Beatles-inspired production of “As You Like It,” which he’s directing this October at The Grand Theatre in London, On.

  Earlier in his career, Cloran chalked up several credits at the Stratford Festival, including as assistant director on “Caesar and Cleopatra” starring Christopher Plummer.

  Dangerous Liaisons
  August 6 – October 25 | Opens August 22
  By Christopher Hampton

  From the novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
  Director: Esther Jun

  Esther Jun, who is director of the Festival’s Langham Directing Workshop, will direct, after such recent successes as “Cymbeline,” “Les Belles Soeurs” and “Little Women” at the Festival and “Kim’s Convenience,” which she staged most recently in London, UK, receiving tremendous critical and audience response.

  AVON THEATRE

  Macbeth
  May 10 – November 2 
  By William Shakespeare
  Created in collaboration with Ex Machina

  Director: Robert Lepage

  Robert Lepage’ landmark production of Shakespeare’s little-known play “Coriolanus” took Stratford audiences by storm in 2018.

  Set in the milieu of Quebec’s biker gangs, Lepage’s “Macbeth” will reflect on violence and the allegiances that drive it, revealing the horrors that grow unhindered once the seeds of evil are planted in the soul.

  Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
  May 3 – October 25 
  Book by Jeffrey Lane
  Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek
  Based on the film “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” written by Dale Launer and Stanley Shapiro & Paul Henning
  Original Broadway production directed by Jack O’Brien

  Director: Tracey Flye
  Choreographer: Stephanie Graham
  Music Director: Franklin Brasz

  A powerhouse of musical storytelling, Flye brings decades of international experience to this rhythm-driven production where everyone is a willing participant in the grift.

  Stephanie Graham did the choreography for this season’s “Twelfth Night.” She has worked as a director and choreographer across Canada and won the 2015 Dora Award for outstanding choreography Opera/Musical for “The “Wild Party.”

  Anne of Green Gables
  April 25 – October 25
  A new adaptation by Kat Sandler
  Based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery

  Director: Kat Sandler

  Kat Sandler is known for her deeply funny yet poignant plays, including  “Mustard,” for which she was awarded the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2016. She has written and directed extensively across Canada.

  TOM PATTERSON THEATRE

  The Winter’s Tale
  May 7 – September 27 
  By William Shakespeare

  Director: Antoni Cimolino

  Artistic director Antoni Cimolino directs one of his most beloved Shakespeare plays, “The Winter’s Tale,” one of Shakespeare’s final romances, a bittersweet drama of wrath and regret – culminating in one of the most poignant reunions ever written.

  Forgiveness
  May 23 – September 27 | Opens June 18
  By Hiro Kanagawa
  Adapted from the book “Forgiveness: A Gift From My Grandparents” by Mark Sakamoto

  Director: Stafford Arima

  Stafford Arima, the Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary, has a string of Broadway and West End credits to his name, including as director of the original Broadway production of the musical “Allegiance.” His memorable production of “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” featuring Brent Carver, was a highlight of the 2010 Stratford seaason.

  Ransacking Troy
  August 6 – September 28 | Opens August 21
  By Erin Shields

  Director: Jackie Maxwell
  Choreographer: Esie Mensah

  Written by Erin Shields, the dynamo behind 2018’s “Paradise Lost,” “Ransacking Troy” is a compelling adaptation of the Trojan War narrative through the lens of its female players. Funny, intriguing and always thought-provoking, this retelling of “The Iliad and The Odessey” whisks audiences away on a bold adventure.

  STUDIO THEATRE

  The Art of War
  August 1 – September 27 | Opens August 20
  By Yvette Nolan

  Director: Keith Barker

  Yvette Nolan, who directed the 2023 hit “Women of the Fur Trade” has written a dramatic exploration of artists’ roles in war and peace.

  During the Second World War, Nick is sent to the front lines as an embedded painter. What he witnesses, what he paints, will transform not only him but Canada’s idea of itself.

  Keith Barker has extensive credits as a director, dramaturge and actor, including his role as Louis Riel in “Women of the Fur Trade. ”

  DETAILS DETAILS
  Tickets for the Stratford Festival 2025 season will go on sale to Members of the Stratford Festival beginning November 10 and to the public on December 16.