ASHEVILLE, NC (12.17.20)—The late Tom Patterson is a local hero: a man who, by daring to dream, changed the face of his country and the economy of his hometown. In 1952, with a $125 grant from the City Council, Tom set out to establish a six-week Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario. Now, 66 years later, the Stratford Festival operates year-round and has welcomed 28 million theatregoers, generating billions of dollars’ worth of economic activity for the city. In 2020, to mark the 100thanniversary of his birth, the Stratford Festival dedicated a new theatre to Tom Patterson.
“The old version of the Tom Patterson Theatre which this replaces was built into what used to be, at various times, a casino, concert venue, curling club, and badminton club; and so because of the odd shape of the building, it evolved into a long runway-style thrust stage,” states Peter McBoyle, long time Festival Sound Designer and audio design consultant for the project. “The shape of that...
