Stratfest@Home To Begin Streaming CYMBELINE And More

Stratfest@Home will begin streaming the 2024 production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline and the 2023 production of Alice Childress's Wedding Band. New original content includes the music series Never Doubt I Love and the short film The Understudy.

Stratfest@Home offers unlimited access to world-renowned theatre, dance, music and storytelling. It is available on all major streaming platforms and smart devices with a growing library of filmed performances and original programming from the Stratford Festival and theatres across the country.

Cymbeline (2024)

By William Shakespeare

Directed by Esther Jun

Set and Lighting Designer - Echo Zhou 周芷會

Costume Designer- Michelle Bohn

Composer- Njo Kong Kie

Sound Designer- Olivia Wheeler

Fight Director and Intimacy Director - Anita Nittoly

Movement Director - Alyssa Martin

Directed for film by Nicholas Shields

Produced for film by Mike Stasko and Genna Megaw 

Director of Photography - Cameron Hucker

Film Editors – Cameron Hucker and Jordan Krug

The Stratford Festival's latest production of Cymbeline – one of the hits of the 2024 season – will première on Stratfest@Home on December 19. The play fuses romance, comedy and tragedy to create a unique fantasia brimming with mistaken identities and gender-swapping disguises. Cymbeline's daughter, Innogen, one of Shakespeare's most celebrated heroines, is thrust into the world of court politics and ruthless personal ambitions when she chooses a lover beneath her station. Deceived by the dastardly Iachimo, a worthy contender for the Bard's all-time greatest villain, Innogen must fight to protect her honour and agency.

Directed by Esther Jun, Cymbeline features Allison Edwards-Crewe as Innogen, Lucy Peacock as Cymbeline, Jonathan Goad as Belarius, Jordin Hall as Posthumus Leonatus, Irene Poole as Pisanio, and Tyrone Savage as Iachimo with Christopher Allen as Cloten, Noah Beemer as Arviragus, Caleigh Crow as Lady in Waiting, Cynthia Jimenez-Hicks as Philarmonus (Soothsayer), Matthew Kabwe as Caius Lucius, Wahsontí:io Kirby as Cornelius, Josue Laboucane as Philario and Jailer, Julie Lumsden as Helen and Ghost Mother, Chris Mejaki as Roman Captain and Briton Servant, Evan Mercer as Second Lord and Ghost Brother 1, Marcus Nance as Jupiter, Anthony Palermo as First Lord and Ghost Brother 2, Jennifer Rider-Shaw as Soldier, Rick Roberts as Duke, Anthony Santiago as Frenchman and Ghost Sicillius, Tara Sky as Queen's Guard, and Michael Wamara as Guiderius.

Never Doubt I Love

Six members of a regional theatre company set forth to put on a successful season of theatre in a story told through musical and spoken-word performances. This four-part original series is inspired by the works of Shakespeare and tells a story filled with love, heartbreak and drama. It is directed by Richard Ouzounian and filmed by Suede Productions.

Beginning January 23, join Stratfest@Home for Never Doubt I Love, a series unlike any other, produced by the Stratford Festival. It stars Gabriel Antonacci, Sara Farb, JJ Gerber, Evangelia Kambites, Sayer Roberts and Kimberly-Ann Truong.

Wedding Band (2023)

By Alice Childress

Directed by Sam White

Set Designer - Richard H. Morris Jr.

Costume Designer - Sarah Uwadiae

Lighting Designer - Kathy A. Perkins

Composer - Beau Dixon

Sound Designer - Debashis Sinha

Movement Director - Pulga Muchochoma

Supervising Fight Director - Geoff Scovell

Intimacy Director - Alix Sideris

Dramaturg - Arminda Thomas

Directed for film by Nicholas Shields

Film Editors - Cameron Hucker and Jordan Krug

Alice Childress's powerful play Wedding Band, an emotional and revealing portrayal of interracial love, set in South Carolina in the shadow of the First World War and the 1918 flu epidemic, comes to Stratfest@Home on February 7.

As Julia, a Black seamstress, and Herman, a white baker, face the cruel racism of the Deep South, not only are they forced to navigate the societal racism of laws and culture, but they must also deal with heartbreaking judgment from their own families and communities.

Directed by Sam White, Wedding Band features Cyrus Lane as Herman, Antonette Rudder as Julia Augustine, Maev Beaty as Annabelle, Joella Crichton as Lula Green, Ijeoma Emesowum as Mattie, Liza Huget as Fanny Johnson and Lucy Peacock as Herman's Mother with Aliya Anthony as Teeta, Eleanor Beath as Princess, Kevin Kruchkywich as The Bell Man, Jonathan Mason as Shrimp Man and Micah Woods as Nelson Green.

The Understudy

Writer and Director - Peter Pasyk

Producer - Genna Megaw

Producer - Paolo Mancini

Production Designer - Debra Hanson

Cinematographer - Christian Bielz

Editor - Kris Von Kleist

Composer - Richard Feren

Sound Designer - Ian McGettigan

After premièring at international film festivals, The Understudy makes the next stop on its world tour in your very own home, thanks to Stratfest@Home. Official festival selections for this short film include Montana International Film Festival (MINT), Catalina Film Festival, Tacoma Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival and the Hamilton Film Festival. It won Best International Short Film at Montana International Film Festival (MINT) and Best Narrative Short Film at the Tacoma Film Festival.

From writer and director, Peter Pasyk, The Understudy tells the story of an actor who receives the fateful call that he must go on last-minute to replace the star of a major stage production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, all while caring for his young granddaughter.

The short film features Tim Campbell as Stagehand, Mike Nadajewski as Wig Attendant, Tom Rooney as Tom, Jamillah Ross as Stage Door Attendant, Tyrone Savage as Ensemble Member, André Sills as Actor, Mia SwamiNathan as Illy, Shannon Taylor as Assistant Stage Manager, Mateo G. Torres as Stagehand, Maria Vacratsis as Stage Manager, Jennifer Villaverde as Wardrobe Attendant and Scott Wentworth as Star.

On December 20, The Stratford Film Festival, in partnership with Lights on Stratford, will host a screening of The Understudy as part of the Cool Shorts for the Holidays program sponsored by Destination Stratford. Tom Rooney, André Sills, Peter Pasyk and Producer Genna Megaw will be in attendance for two screenings and Q&As. More information can be found on the SFF website.

Experience award-winning theatre at home or wherever you are. Subscribe to Stratfest@Home for just $7.99 a month and gain access to the best in Canadian digital theatrical productions, including the Stratford Festival's acclaimed Shakespeare films, selected productions from our past seasons, exclusive behind-the-scenes videos and podcasts, and original, award-winning digital content from around the world.

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