Individual Giving


Sixty seasons of superlative theatre

This year we're celebrating our 60th season, so it’s natural to look back at our origins. We’ve come such a long way from that first season when we presented two productions over six weeks in that enormous tent. Much has changed over the past 60 years – but several things have remained constant since our founding.

There was a group of individuals who believed in this important endeavour and provided the much-needed support. Their generosity inspired others who were eager to make the dream a reality, and $157,000 was raised – an impressive amount for a grass-roots group in 1953. With these gifts, the tent went up, rehearsals were completed and the fanfare heralded the beginning of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.


Join in the celebration
Just as in 1953 when we needed each donor to help fulfill the dream of creating great theatre, we need your support and encouragement today as we launch our milestone 60th season. Donate today in celebration of our 60th season. Our goal is to match the gifts from 1953 and to raise $157,000 to launch our 2012 season.


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I also invite you to share with us a memorable Stratford moment that has influenced your decision to support us*. Perhaps it’s an outstanding performance or a particularly memorable play, or perhaps a special experience with family, friends or the Stratford community while visiting us. Whatever it is, please share it with us as we celebrate our 60th season.


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As a token of our gratitude for your generosity, we will recognize all donations of $100 or more by listing your name in the donor recognition area of our website.   

  

*When you make a donation during the check-out process you will be invited to share your comments. Please note that some comments will be posted on our website.
  

 






Memories of 60 Seasons:

Trips to Stratford were always shared with my parents and I am happy to continue the tradition today and into the future.  This past summer I had the chance to share one of my all-time highlights of the festival with my Dad, as we attended the fantastic uplifting production of Twelfth Night. The music and songs still resonate in my head as I think about it now!
Lawrence Onions
Pointe-Claire, QC

In 1953, my brother and I had the privilige of seeing Sir Alec Guiness play Richard III under the tent at Stratford. Neither of us had seen any live professional theatre before, and we were completely drawn into the performance which epitomized the insidious, twisted evil of Richard. We've become life-long supporters if Stratford. Now, my husband and I regularly give our children and their families gift certificates to Stratford as Christmas gifts. We have a third generation of Shakespeare lovers, with the grandchildren always choosing a Shakesperean play rather than the others - all because of that first remarkable performance of Sir Alec Guiness sixty years ago.
Geraldine Payne
Camlachie, ON

I have been coming to see plays at Stratford over the past 20 years. My children are now enjoying those plays as well. My most memorable moment was seeing William Hutt in the Tempest at the end of the season. The applause at the end of the play was something that is hard to describe. Let us just say that it was unlike anything I have ever experienced before. Congratulations to Stratford on 60 years of producing out standing theatre.
Kerry Sinkowski
Windham Centre, ON

My first experience in Stratford was in the summer of 1959 when my family travelled from Alberta to Quebec by car to see our country. I have many vivid memories of that trip, none more memorable than seeing Othello at Stratford. I had finished grade 11 that summer, and went on to study at the University of Alberta and become an English teacher, teaching Shakespeare. Now we fly across the country each year to enjoy the Shakespeare Festival. Thank you.
Carrol Hooper Jaques


As a 19 year old Officer Cadet in the RCAF taking summer training at RCAF Clinton in 1955 - I saw a production of Julius Ceasar in the tent and I was enthralled with the production. I have been a Stratford fan ever since. Best wishes for a fantastic 60th season.
Paul Warun
Galveston, TX

Collectively we have enjoyed 39 wonderful seasons at Stratford (I will never forget 1988!) and wanted to recognize with a donation of $5 for each of those seasons!
Gail Tolley
Ottawa, ON

Wonderful memories of annual summer outings to Stratford, as a teen-ager in the 60's, have stayed with me throughout my life. When I saw and heard the school children outside the theatre before the performance, I was a little nervous about how modern teen-agers would react to a Shakespearean play. I worried needlessly; I was, indeed, "astinished and deeply moved" as were the students in the audience to judge by their rapturous applause. This, I'm sure was how it must have been done in Shakespeare's day - joy, sorrow, song, dance and, above all, humour - transporting the audience to another world. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Anne Kipling
Donzenac, France