CONNECTION TO THE ARCHIVES
The 2021 production of The Rez Sisters was the first show to be performed at the site of the new Tom Patterson Theatre. It opened on July 13, exactly 68 years to the day after the Stratford Festival's first show (which was Richard III - you can see an image of that production below). In what ways has the Stratford Festival changed since 1953? In what ways do you think it will continue to change?
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Irene Worth as Queen Margaret in Richard III, 1953. Directed by Tyrone Guthrie. Design by Tanya Moiseiwitsch. Photography by Peter Smith. Stratford Festival Archives, GPO_1953_002_0215
The Stratford Festival's Archives maintains, conserves and protects recent and historical records about the Festival and makes those materials available to people around the world. Our multi-media archival holdings date from 1952 and extend through to contemporary materials. We house correspondence, production records, Board minutes, photography, design artwork, scores, audio-visual records, costumes, props and set decoration, press releases and other promotional materials: these document the processes that bring a production to the stage and reflect all aspects of mounting a play from the administrative to the creative and beyond.