Canadian Stage’s Shakespeare in High Park Sets Attendance Record
By: Kelsey Denette Sep. 06, 2012
After 60 performances under the stars in High Park, Canadian Stage's 30th-anniversary production of A Midsummer Night's Dream set an all-time high attendance record with close to 30,000 audience members visiting the High Park Amphitheatre to see the show. The 2012 production also holds the highest-ever single night attendance for the venue, with 1,268 audience members on the hill for the closing night performance on September 2.
"Shakespeare in High Park is an incredible, long-standing summer tradition in the city," said Matthew Jocelyn, Canadian Stage Artistic & General Director. "Richard Rose's delightful Toronto-inspired production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was the perfect way to celebrate 30 years of outdoor summer theatre with a creative, local touch. We are so fortunate to have worked with an exceedingly talented cast, crew and company to keep the magic alive on the Amphitheatre hill night after night."The annual pay-what-you-can presentation exceeded box office revenue targets by 10 per cent. With six rain cancellations over the course of the summer and a smaller totAl Hill capacity than in previous years (due to the addition of a centre aisle and other staging requirements), this year's total attendance figure of 29,839 tops the previous record high of 29,582 attendees, set in 2007, when A Midsummer Night's Dream was also presented. During the summer of 2007, there were four cancellations due to rain and the highest single night attendance was 1,251.Founded in 1987 with the merger of CentreStage and Toronto Free Theatre, Canadian Stage is one of Canada's leading not-for-profit Contemporary Theatre companies. Under the direction of Artistic & General Director, Matthew Jocelyn, the company presents multidisciplinary theatre with a focus on emerging performance styles that integrate theatre with other artistic mediums such as dance, film, visual arts and more. Sharing innovative and vibrant theatre from Canada and around the world, the company stages an annual season of work at three major venues (the Bluma Appel Theatre, the Berkeley Street Theatre and the High Park Amphitheatre) and runs a series of artist development and education initiatives, as well as youth and community outreach programs. Website: www.canadianstage.com
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