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Stratford Festival
HAMLET
Cast and Crew Bios
Jonathan Goad
13th season at Stratford: Hamlet in Hamlet and Face in The Alchemist.
Previous Stratford: King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet,
The Three Musketeers, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Pentecost, Phèdre, The
Music Man, King John, Pericles, Orpheus Descending, Henry IV, Henry VI,
Fiddler on the Roof, As You Like It, Fuente Ovejuna, Julius Caesar, The Two
Noble Kinsmen, Bartholomew Fair, The Brothers Karamazov, Richard II, Pride
and Prejudice.
Elsewhere: A Whistle in the Dark, Speaking in Tongues (Company Theatre); Our
Class, The Laramie Project (Studio 180); King Lear (Soulpepper); Stones in His
Pockets (GCTC); Arcadia (Theatre Junction); Strawberries in January (Grand
Theatre).
Film/TV: Dorsal, Nikita, Republic of Doyle, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries,
Unnatural History, Othello, The Waking, Rookie Blue, Mutant X.
Radio: Hockey: A People’s History.
Training: National Theatre School, Birmingham Conservatory, University of
Waterloo, Banff Centre.
Teaching: National Theatre School, Fanshawe College.
Seana McKenna
24th season at Stratford: Gertrude in Hamlet and Fräulein Doktor Mathilde von
Zahnd in The Physicists.
Previously: After playing the title role in Mother Courage and Constance in King
John in 2014, Ms McKenna went on to San Francisco’s American Conservatory
Theatre to play the mother of Jesus in Colm Tóibín’s solo play Testament.
She has played more than 24 Shakespearean roles, including Cleopatra (Centaur),
Katerina the Shrew and Richard III (Stratford). Other Stratford credits include
Blithe Spirit, Mary Stuart, Medea, Phèdre, The Matchmaker, The Trojan Women,
The Glass Menagerie, Orpheus Descending, Night of the Iguana, Shakespeare’s
Will, Good Mother, Private Lives and She Stoops to Conquer.
Honours: She has three Dora Awards, one Jessie, one Genie, an honorary MFA in
Acting from ACT, a Doctor of Sacred Letters from Trinity College and a Queen
Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Et cetera: She lives with one husband, one son, two cats and one fish.
Geraint Wyn Davies
12th season at Stratford: Claudius, The Ghost in Hamlet and Johann Wilhelm
Möbius in The Physicists.
Previous Stratford (selected): Cook (Mother Courage), Antony, Duke Vincentio,
Leicester, Cymbeline, Malachi Stack, King Arthur, Falstaff, Stephano, Dylan
Thomas, Julius Caesar, Bottom, Polonius, Henry Higgins, Henry V, Bassanio, Tom
Fashion, D’Artagnan, Richmond, Edward IV, Hortensio, Antipholus of Syracuse,
Pericles.
Elsewhere: New York: King Lear (Lincoln Center); Poetic License (The Directors
Company); Do Not Go Gentle (Clurman Theatre); Women Beware Women (Red
Bull Theater). Canadian Stage’s The Elephant Man; Shaw Festival, five seasons;
Prospero, Richard III, Cyrano (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.);
Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC); Hamlet, Henry VIII (Chichester Festival); An Enemy
of the People (Lyric Hammersmith, London); two seasons as Theatr Clwyd’s
artistic associate (Welsh National Company).
Film/TV (selected): ReGenesis, Murdoch Mysteries, 24, Slings and Arrows, Black
Harbour, Airwolf, Forever Knight, American Psycho II, Hypercube, One of the
Hollywood Ten, Conspiracy of Fear.
Adrienne Gould
10th season at Stratford: Ophelia in Hamlet and understudy in Love’s Labour’s
Lost.
Previous Stratford (selected): Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Pentecost, Much
Ado About Nothing, Ghosts, The Tempest, As You Like It, The Swanne (part 3),
Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, Tempest-Tost and The Diary of
Anne Frank.
Elsewhere: The Matchmaker and The Rivals (Williamstown Theater Festival); The
Butter and Egg Man (American Stage Company); Love’s Labour’s Lost (NAC);
Buried Child (NAC/Segal Centre); Einstein’s Gift, Ed’s Garage and Other Desert
Cities (Grand Theatre).
Film/TV: The Lady in Question, Jonovision and Nikita.
Recordings: Timothy Goes to School.
Training: North Carolina School of the Arts, Birmingham Conservatory.
Awards: Mary Savidge Award.
Tim Campbell
Seventh season at Stratford: Horatio in Hamlet and understudy in The Taming of
the Shrew and Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Previous Stratford: Credits include Julius Caesar, The Tempest, Macbeth,
Hamlet, As You Like It, Titus Andronicus, Henry IV (1), Henry IV (2), Henry V,
Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Troilus and Cressida.
Elsewhere: Recent credits include Venus in Fur (Alberta Theatre Projects); Twelve
Angry Men, Death of a Salesman, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Soulpepper);
Jane Eyre (MTC); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Theatre Company,
Washington, D.C.); Death of a Salesman (Citadel); A Streetcar Named Desire
(Blue Bridge); Private Lives (Chicago Shakespeare).
Film/TV: Credits include Reign, Republic of Doyle, Warehouse 13, Nikita, The
L.A. Complex, Saving Hope, Deadly Hope, The Firm, Lost Girl, Against the Wall,
Combat Hospital, Flashpoint, Murdoch Mysteries, Killshot, Hollywoodland.
Awards: Past recipient of the Dora Mavor Moore Guthrie Award (for outstanding
contribution to the Stratford Festival).
Tom Rooney
Eighth season at Stratford: Polonius in Hamlet, Tranio in The Taming of the
Shrew and Holofernes in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Previous Stratford: Crazy for You, Man of La Mancha, Measure for Measure,
Waiting for Godot, Wanderlust, Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth
Night, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again,
Macbeth, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and All’s Well That
Ends Well.
Elsewhere: The Seagull, Someone Else (Crow’s Theatre); Homechild, Beckett:
Feck It! (Canadian Stage); My Mother’s Feet (Munich); Hairspray (Toronto and
Broadway); Benevolence, Courageous (Tarragon); Hamlet (NAC); Roméo et
Juliette (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan).
Film/TV: Three seasons on CBC’s This Is Wonderland; The Gilda Radner Story;
The Day After Tomorrow; Everest ’82 (CBC miniseries) and Flash of Genius.
Awards: Two Gemini nominations and a Dora Award for Outstanding Actor 2013.
Mike Shara
Seventh season at Stratford: Laertes in Hamlet, Hortensio in The Taming of the
Shrew and Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Previous Stratford: Othello, The Homecoming, The Matchmaker, King Lear,
Cymbeline, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cyrano de Bergerac, Twelfth Night,
The Beaux’ Stratagem.
Elsewhere: Nothing Sacred, Arms and the Man, Rutherford and Son, You Can’t
Take It With You, Cavalcade (Shaw Festival); It’s a Wonderful Life, Take Me Out
(Canadian Stage); Boeing Boeing (Aquarius); Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The
Shunning (MTC); The Great Gatsby (Grand Theatre); Our Town, The Way of the
World, Black Comedy (Soulpepper); The Amorous Adventures of Anatol
(Tarragon); An Inspector Calls (Theatre Calgary); Richard III, Caesar and
Cleopatra (Citadel).
Film/TV: Whatever Linda, Murdoch Mysteries, Life With Boys, Little Mosque on
the Prairie, The Gathering.
DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERS
Antoni Cimolino
Artistic Director, Stratford Festival
Director of the stage production of Hamlet
Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Antoni Cimolino graduated in 1984 from the University of Windsor’s School
of Dramatic Art. He began his Stratford career in 1988 as an actor, playing such roles as Flute in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1989), Claudio in Measure for Measure (1992), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet
(1992) and Laertes in Hamlet (1994).
He began to direct for Stratford in the mid-1990s, winning acclaim for such productions as The Night of
the Iguana, with Seana McKenna (1998); Twelfth Night, with William Hutt (2001); Love’s Labour’s Lost,
with Brian Bedford (2003); King John, with Stephen Ouimette (2004); As You Like It, featuring original
music by Barenaked Ladies (2005); Coriolanus, with Colm Feore and Martha Henry (2006);
Bartholomew Fair, with Tom McCamus (2009); The Grapes of Wrath, with Janet Wright (2011); and
Cymbeline, with Geraint Wyn Davies (2012).
In 2013, his first season as Artistic Director, Mr. Cimolino introduced the Stratford Festival Forum, a
series of about 150 insightful events designed to enhance the play-going experience by illuminating the
themes of the plays and illustrating their relevance in today’s world. That same season he directed
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, with Tom McCamus and Scott Wentworth, and Friedrich
Schiller’s Mary Stuart, with Lucy Peacock and Seana McKenna, a production that captured the public’s
imagination and was extended an unprecedented four times. In 2014, he directed two productions starring
Colm Feore, The Beaux’ Stratagem and King Lear, which launched the Stratford Festival HD initiative,
screening at hundreds of screens across Canada, the U.S. and internationally. In 2015, he directed Hamlet,
which is part of the 2016 Stratford HD season, and The Alchemist. His 2016 productions are Macbeth and
The Hypochondriac.
Among many other accomplishments in his previous roles as the Festival’s General Manager, General
Director and Executive Director, Mr. Cimolino oversaw the successful launch of a stability fund and a
$50-million endowment foundation, and also significantly improved the Festival’s infrastructure by
leading the design, consultation and funding process for four major construction projects between 2002
and 2008, including the extensive renovation of the Avon Theatre and the creation of the Studio Theatre.
A champion of the arts and culture, Mr. Cimolino also serves as the National Chair of Culture Days, a
nationwide celebration of arts and culture in Canada. He has initiated collaborations with several
prestigious theatre companies, including Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Ottawa’s National Arts
Centre, New York’s Lincoln Center and City Center, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Examples
include the Festival’s 2006 production of Molière’s Don Juan, a co-production with Théâtre du Nouveau
Monde that was presented in both French and English during its Stratford season and later transferred to
Montreal, and 2004’s King Lear, which later transferred to New York, where it garnered two Tony
nominations.
Mr. Cimolino is passionate about enriching the lives of others through the education and practice of the
arts. His dedication to this cause led him to spearhead the Festival’s involvement in a joint project with
CUSO, Canada’s international volunteer co-operation agency, to establish a performing arts and
educational centre in the city of Suchitoto, El Salvador.
Now in his 29th season at the Festival, Mr. Cimolino is a respected artist and an influential leader in the
global theatrical community.
Anita Gaffney
Executive Producer
Anita Gaffney is Executive Director of the Stratford Festival, working alongside the Artistic
Director in setting the Festival’s strategic and operational direction. Ms Gaffney joined the
Festival in 1991 and over the past 21 years has held a variety of positions, including Director of
Marketing during the theatre’s years of peak attendance. She designed the Festival’s customer
relationship marketing system, which remains in use today and has been emulated by arts
organizations around the world.
Ms Gaffney is highly regarded for her skills in government relations, finance, change
management and strategic planning, honed during her years as the Festival’s Administrative
Director. Her efforts to expand the reach of the Festival into the digital world include
spearheading the Stratford Festival HD project as well as supporting the production of previous
films, Caesar and Cleopatra, The Tempest and Twelfth Night and the launch of several mobile
applications.
She has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University and has
continued her executive education through Harvard Business School.
Barry Avrich
Producer
Barry Avrich is a veteran director and producer of many critically acclaimed documentary films,
television specials and filmed theatrical adaptations. Avrich’s high-profile films have included
The Last Mogul (HB0), Showstopper (TMN), Filthy Gorgeous (EPIX), Quality Balls (Showtime)
and The Tempest (eone). In 2015, the Avrich productions of King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra,
King John and a television special for HBO called Women Who Act were released. Avrich has
served as a director for high-profile arts organizations such as TIFF, Hot Docs, Stratford Festival
and The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. In 2007, Avrich built The Hollywood
Theatre, the world's first movie theatre in a hospital for sick children. In 2015, Avrich will
publish his memoir Moguls, Monsters and Madmen.
Michael A. Levine
Executive Producer
Michael A. Levine, a former partner of Goodmans LLP, is Chairman of Westwood Creative
Artists (Canada’s largest literary agency, representing over 400 authors), Chairman of
Bravo!FACT, a Director of the National Screen Institute and Executive Producer of various
fiction and non-fiction films and television properties, many of which tell Canadian stories,
including: The Book of Negroes, The Terry Fox Story, Republic of Doyle, Sir John A Macdonald,
The Land That Devours Ships, The Struggle for Democracy, The Danger Tree, The Heritage
Minutes for The CRB Foundation and Historica, A Soldier’s Peace with Major-General Lewis
MacKenzie, Peter C. Newman’s Canadian Revolution, Canadians: Biographies of a Nation, Sir
Wilfred Laurier, Titans, Mordecai Richler: A Celebration, Mordecai Richler’s St. Urbain’s
Horseman, and various Stratford Festival productions.