Stratford fest expands digital theater offerings to Apple, Android, Amazon, Roku
The Stratford Festival is expanding its digital reach as it works to rebuild the live audience that languished in the early days of the pandemic.
The Southwestern Ontario theater company says stage fans can now find highlights from past seasons on iOS/tvOS, Apple TV, Android/Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
The Stratfest@Home app costs $7.99 per month for access to stage productions, behind-the-scenes content, audio viewings, and original programming.
The tool extends a web version that launched in October 2020 and costs $10 per month.
It comes as the festival continues its efforts to recover from a $4 million loss in 2020 when pandemic restrictions canceled 15 planned productions just as previews were about to begin.
The festival’s publicity director says they hope to attract 400,000 spectators this season, with 13 shows at all four venues.
Ann Swerdfager said Monday the company expects a gradual, years-long rebuild to reach its pre-pandemic standard of about 500,000 audience members, a quarter of whom are typically from the United States.
So far, she said 19 percent of this year’s audience is from the US, compared to last year’s 12 percent.
Stratford’s 2023 lineup includes the musical ‘Rent’, the Arthurian comedy ‘Monty Python’s Spamalot’ and ‘King Lear’, starring Paul Gross.
Swerdfager said the new streaming app could help the company grow new audiences and retain existing ones.
“It’s an area we need to be concerned with,” Swerdfager said.
“It’s a great way for people to see our programming. It’s an amazing new dimension. You certainly can’t leave it behind, the digital realm. And it’s definitely an area we’re looking to grow.”
Earlier this year, the festival said it had achieved a “moderate surplus” in 2022 – its first full indoor season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2022 lineup — shorter than the norm with just 10 productions including “Hamlet,” “Chicago” and “The Miser” — attracted nearly 326,000 theatergoers, slightly above the target of 320,000.
That was more than in 2021, when the festival kicked off a smaller outdoor season that was further limited by capacity restrictions. That season only drew 34,000 people.
On Monday, the Shakespeare-focused company also announced its first original podcast, “Director’s Notes,” available through the app, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as a revamped web version of Stratfest@Home.
In addition to the 2021 Stratford production of “Serving Elizabeth,” 2012’s “Twelfth Night,” and 2010’s “The Tempest,” Stratfest@Home includes content licensed by other theater companies and producers.
That includes “Ursa: A Folk Musical” from the Uncommon Folk Collective and the upcoming “Bound,” billed as “a Handel-opera hybrid” by Against the Grain Theater.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 26, 2023.
