The annual cavalcade of Shakespeare and modern plays on Stratford’s prestigious stages has employed a lot of Queen’s graduates over the years – and this year is no exception.
This season alone, at least 15 Queen’s grads are there, from directors and actors to musicians and administrators. Many are former Queen’s drama students, including Théa Pel, Artsci’12, Ed’13, assistant stage manager for this season’s productions of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Dangerous Liaisons.
Pel, who is in her second season at Stratford following multiple years at the Shaw Festival and elsewhere, says the “multi-disciplinary focus at Queen’s “set me up for the multi-tasking required for the job I do,” a job that can range from helping co-ordinate rehearsals to cueing the technical crew during shows. Her Queen’s studies included a minor in linguistics.
“At Stratford, there’s a lot of engaging with language and text... having a strong understanding of language and accents and the nuance of language is applicable.”
Lois Adamson, Artsci’09, Ed’10, Stratford’s Tim and Frances Price Director of Education, says the number of Queen’s grads at the festival is especially noteworthy considering Queen’s is not a conservatory program offered at schools such as the National Theatre School of Canada. She also notes there are many Queen’s graduates working in professional theatre generally, an intensely competitive sector where training doesn’t necessarily translate into a related career.
Based on her own undergraduate studies and subsequent work at the festival, Adamson says Queen’s grads fare well because they’ve learned to collaborate with others as well as creating their own work.
“You learned how and you had the confidence and experience to go and do that.”
“The other thing I really appreciated was the strong foundation in Canadian theatre specifically and the real sense that it has a history and continues to evolve, and you can be part of it.”
Daryl Cloran, Artsci/Ed’97, is a Queen’s graduate whose dreams have led him to become artistic director of Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and five seasons at Stratford, including directing Sense and Sensibility this year.
“The drama department at Queen’s was exactly what I needed,” he says. “I was able to do some acting, some design, some directing – I got a really great holistic education that way... The kind of people who were attracted to Queen’s had a really entrepreneurial spirit – you just built things together.
“Stratford,” he adds, “is the biggest theatre-arts employer in Canada, so there are so many Queen’s grads who ended up here as actors, as directors, in the education department, as stage managers. There are so many different opportunities.”
Along with its drama programs, now part of the DAN School of Drama and Music, Queen’s Faculty of Education offers the Artist in Community Education (ACE) program. ACE certifies professional arts educators for school and workplace careers, and Stratford has hired some of the graduates. Strong arts programming for decades has ensured dynamic opportunities in fields related to arts educational interests.
Aynne Johnston, Artsci/BAH, Ed’86, MEd’03, is an associate professor in Queen’s Faculty of Education as well as directing ACE. Stratford, she says, may be the “beacon” for many theatre students looking beyond graduation, but “Queen’s is where you begin your career... I tell students, ‘Dream big, go big.’ Stratford is a good example of people who have dreamed big.”
Johnston’s own career began at Stratford the day after she graduated, making her one of those whose own big dreams came true.
Now, as a Faculty member, she continues a relationship with Stratford as well as other theatre and arts institutions.
Johnston credits alumni and donors for their generosity of time and spirit that continue to open doors for students and graduates. This year, with the teamwork of Adamson, Cloran and herself, one of Johnston’s students, Thomas Cherney, Artsci/Ed’25 completed his required alternative practicum – a working opportunity that takes place in a non-traditional educational, artistic, or blended arts-educational setting setting anywhere in the world – for ACE by shadowing Cloran in the rehearsal halls and being mentored by many Queen’s grads in both performance and education.
“Directing is teaching and vice versa,” says Cherney. “A little kindness and generosity go a long way.”
