Phew...

[Press Release] Strike averted at Stratford Shakespeare Festival

 May 27, 2012… The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is delighted to announce that it has come to an agreement regarding a first contract with its call-centre workers.

The deal, which still needs to be ratified, gives the workers a wage increase of 5.5% over two years and contains a clause agreeing not to contract out call-centre work for the duration of the contract.

The Festival’s celebratory 60^th season gets under way tomorrow, Monday, May 28, with the gala opening of Much Ado About Nothing. Five more productions will open throughout the week, with further openings occurring in July and August.

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Festival faces possible job action

[Press Release]

May 26, 2012… The Stratford Shakespeare Festival regrettably finds itself in difficult labour negotiations with a possible strike by its call-centre staff as it heads into its 60^th season.

The Festival wishes to inform the public that contingency plans are in place to ensure a pleasant patron experience in the event of a strike.

The Festival is confident that these plans will ensure theatregoers will not be unduly inconvenienced if a strike should occur. It recognizes, however, that picket lines may be present on public property adjacent to Festival venues.

There has never been a strike in the Festival’s 59-year history and with negotiations continuing, it is hoped that a resolution will be reached without job action.

The affected employees are in the Festival’s call centre, a group of 53 people who recently joined IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. As the call centre handles the sale of tickets, the Festival suggests that patrons purchase tickets online at www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com, though phone lines will remain open for the duration of any labour disruption.

Call-centre staff have been in a legal strike position since 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 25.

Negotiations have focused on two major issues: wages and contracting out. The union is currently demanding wage increases of 12% over two years, down from an original demand of 36%.

The Festival is offering 5% over two years, in keeping with wage increases in other Festival departments and in keeping with recent private-sector wage settlements, which have averaged 1.5% to 2.5% per year. 

The union has demanded that the Festival guarantee that call-centre work will never be contracted out.

The Festival has offered to include a statement confirming that it has no intention of contracting out call-centre work for the duration of the contract. Further, should contracting out become necessary for effective operations, it would give workers no less than six months’ notice.

Despite a trend towards outsourcing call-centre work, the Festival sees great value in maintaining an in-house call centre. Since 2005, the Festival has invested more than $3 million in call-centre renovations, technology, training and staff development.

Call-centre staff have always been valued employees and have been remunerated as such. In 2000, a full pay-policy study was conducted by the Festival and it confirmed that call-centre wages were more than 25% above the industry standard.

The Festival’s 2012 season opens officially on Monday, May 28, with a performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Five more productions will open throughout the week, with further openings occurring in July and August.

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Uh-oh...

Stratford Festival faces first strike in 60 Years

By Richard Ouzounian

May 25, 2012
The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is facing the first labour action in its 60-year history, right on the verge of its Monday night season opening.

Read the full article here.

Ouimette Triumphs in Chicago

Stratford Shakespare Festival favourite Stephen Ouimette is not back here this year, but this is what critics are saying about his performance in The Iceman Cometh at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. (He stars with Festival alum Brian Dennehy and Broadway veteran Nathan Lane.)


Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
"Although fully realized all the way down the cast list, the detail of these characterizations is most potently on display through Stephen Ouimette's Harry Hope, a character whose personal crisis is so believable and wrenching as to dominate the third act, and a good chunk of the fourth. More than anyone else onstage, the terribly sad Ouimette shows us the warmblooded man that was, or that could still be, if growing old were only easier. It's a stunning performance."


Read the full review here.

Des McAnuff receives Governor General’s Performing Arts Award tonight

[Pess Release] May 4, 2012… Artistic Director Des McAnuff will receive the National Arts Centre Award of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards at a ceremony at Rideau Hall tonight. The ceremony is followed by a gala performance at the National Arts Centre, honouring each of Governor General Performing Arts Award recipients. Mr. McAnuff is being recognized for his extraordinary accomplishments over the past performance year.

“Des is very deserving of this recognition,” says General Director Antoni Cimolino. “He has indeed had an extraordinary year, directing two large-scale productions at the Festival, filming one and taking the other on to La Jolla and then to Broadway. This is all in addition to his international accomplishments, which in themselves required super-human strength to complete. We all congratulate him on his achievements and this very great honour.”

At the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Mr. McAnuff directed a celebrated production of Twelfth Night starring Brian Dennehy and Stephen Ouimette. His acclaimed production of Jesus Christ Superstar enjoyed an extended run at Stratford and moved to La Jolla Playhouse in California over the holidays. The show opened on Broadway on March 22 and was recently nominated for two Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival.

Mr. McAnuff opened the second North American tour of Jersey Boys in Philadelphia. He directed a new musical production of Doctor Zhivago, which played in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Australia, and is now being performed in Seoul with an all-Korean cast. He directed Gounod's Faust for the Metropolitan Opera starring Jonas Kaufmann, René Pape, and Marina Poplavskaya.

Mr. McAnuff’s achievements over the past year also include film, with his production of Faust shown in cinemas worldwide and his production of The Tempest, starring Christopher Plummer, released in cinemas. (His production of Caesar and Cleopatra, which also features Christopher Plummer, enjoyed a similar release in 2009, while Twelfth Night was released this year.)

The year 2011 also saw Mr. McAnuff planning Stratford’s 60^th anniversary playbill, half of which are Canadian works, including three world premières – Morris Panych and Marek Norman’s Wanderlust, The Best Brothers by Daniel MacIvor, and Hirsch by Alon Nashmon and Paul Thompson, about the former Stratford artistic director and legendary theatre artist John Hirsch. Mr. McAnuff will also be directing Shakespeare’s Henry V and Christopher Plummer’s one-man show A Word or Two.

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