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| Usually a crowd-pleaser |
What happened at Stratford Festival last year to cause a $3.4 million deficit as the Canadian theatrical institution heads into 2013? The short answer is that not enough people came. It could be seen in the nearly half-empty Festival Theatre for performances of 42nd Street, usually a crowd pleaser. Was it the absence of Americans, just too cash strapped at home to make it across the border from the many Great Lakes states that traditionally send hundreds of thousands of patrons? Whatever, despite acclaim from theatre critics and audiences the Stratford Festival experienced a 5% drop in attendance. The fall in attendance has not been a secret but the official accounting for the Festival’s 60th season was presented to members Saturday at the theatre’s annual general meeting. The revenue shortfall occurred in spite of donor contributions to operations totalling $13.3 million – the highest in the Festival’s history – and the transfer of $2.3 million from the Endowment Foundation.
