Festival group looks to new season
Posted Feb 4, 2010 By Conan De Vries
Email
Print
Tweet This
Click to Enlarge
EMC Events - The Prescott amphitheatre is covered with snow now, but it won't be long before July rolls around and the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival takes to the stage for its eighth season. 
Conan de Vries, St. Lawrence EMC
On behalf of the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival, artistic director Ian Farthing, left, accepts a cheque from MPP Bob Runciman from the Ontario Arts Council at the festival's AGM in Prescott last week.
At its annual general meeting last Thursday at the Red George Pub in Prescott, the festival's board reviewed the successes of the 2009 season and offered a preview of this year's event.
"We're always looking ahead," said general manager Jessie De Vries. "We've been planning 2010 for six months now."
Popular actor Kris Joseph will be returning to Prescott for a turn in Macbeth, and the company will help mark the town's bicentennial with a performance of Trouble on Dibble Street.
The Reveller's Showcase will return this summer, as will the Young Artists Training Program, which this year secured funding for an additional six scholarships to be given to aspiring young performers.
The Company of Fools productions, however, will not be returning this summer, as attendance at these smaller, more experimental performances fell last year.
This is in stark contrast to the rest of the festival which saw a 13 per cent increase in attendance a number all the more impressive given the inclement summer that rained down on about 40 per cent of the performances.
"I was gobsmacked to see such an increase despite the weather," said artistic director Ian Farthing.
More than 4,300 people were drawn in to see Measure for Measure or Taming of the Shrew over the course of the 12-week festival leading to a 20 per cent increase per cent increase in box office receipts. Ticket sales in 2009 totalled more than $61,000, a substantial increase over the previous season's $50,000 total.
"It was our most successful season ever in many ways," said Farthing.
And as the festival grows more and more successful, word-of-mouth spreads and its name starts to carry more weight not only with audiences but with actors as well. Already, more than 400 actors from across the country have applied to audition for this year's shows, and, of those, only 60 or 70 will be selected to audition in front of Farthing and the shows' directors.
Those on the stage may be the most visible contributors to the success of the festival, but organizers were eager to point out just how much volunteer effort goes into every production.
"If we didn't have our volunteers, we'd be in trouble," said De Vries.
In 2009, nearly 300 volunteers contributed 7,000 hours to all aspects of the festival from selling tickets at the gate, to painting the sets, to erecting the tent where the actors prepare before taking the stage.
"It's so humbling," said Farthing. "I'm always amazed at how much passion there is in this town."
Passion alone, however, does not a Shakespeare festival make. The not-for-profit organization needs money, too. And last Thursday, Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman (a day before he was made a senator) was on hand to present the festival with a cheque from the Ontario Arts Council in the amount of $15,000.
"Congratulations to the Ontario Arts Council for recognizing how important the Shakespeare Festival is to this part of Ontario," said Runciman.
Farthing and the board were happy to receive not only the recognition of their event's increasing importance as an appointment destination for tourists and locals alike but for the boost to their budget as well.
"This is a great honour and a tremendous opportunity for us," said Farthing.
blog comments powered by Disqus
