Monday, July 13-Friday, July 17, 2009, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
The 2009 Program
Join us for highlights of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival’s 57th season, including Julius Caesar, Cyrano de Bergerac, and Macbeth. Geraint Wyn Davies will play Julius Caesar, and Colm Feore will star in Macbeth. This 22nd annual NIU theatre tip also offers the musical West Side Story and Oscar Wilde’s Victorian comedy The Importance of Being Earnest.
Since 1987, NIU’s Department of English has offered study trips to the Stratford Festival. This year, the University brings you another educational experience conducted by an NIU professor whose special expertise makes this program extraordinarily rewarding.
This trip includes three days of exceptional performances at Stratford’s historic Festival Theatre and Avon Theater. To make your travel experience even more rewarding and pleasurable, NIU’s Stratford program offers a pre trip seminar on campus, convivial travel and select meals, and the BEST available seats. During your stay in Stratford, the faculty member is available on the motor coach to answer questions as well as provide commentary prior to the productions.
You will enjoy the following program features: already reserved theatre tickets, illuminating program notes on the plays, accommodations in Stratford’s Mercer Hall Inn or Bentley’s Inn, and a distinctive NIU canvas tote bag. With all this, there’s never been a better year to join us for Stratford – and we hope you’ll agree!
“I don't know how you do it. Year after year it gets better and better. An absolutely perfect trip. The professor’s zeal is contagious. We’re looking forward to next year's trip.”–Ed and Marge Warmowski
“A wonderful trip. I’d never taken a tour trip before and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.” –Carrie Trinka
“Very professional trip, competent and informational without being ‘stuffy.’ The professor is fantastic.” –
Sandra Goetz
“I enjoy the pleasant personalities of the people in the group, their sense of humor, the quality of the lectures both in Stratford and before the trip at NIU.” –Olive Chitty
"The professor’s enthusiasm for the subject showed as we talked about the plays. Everyone could understand.”—Maggie Daly
The greatness of the annual Stratford Festival in Ontario is known and appreciated, not just in Canada but throughout the world. Every summer more than 500,000 lovers of great theater delight in magnificent performances of the works of Shakespeare and other playwrights, both classical and contemporary.
The Chicago Times has said, “What the Chicago Symphony is to orchestra, the Metropolitan is the opera, and the New York City Ballet is to dance, the Stratford Festival is to classic theater.” And Clive Barnes of the New York Post has called Stratford “one of the three great English–speaking classic theaters, together with Britain’s National Theater and its Royal Shakespeare Company.”
Superb theatrical performances are just the first of many delights with which Stratford greets her summer visitors. You may take a walking tour of the city, providing you the chance to appreciate Stratford's historic architecture, exquisite gardens, and lush expanses of park land.
Shoppers will find many temptations. Stratford boutiques offer specialties such as fine English china, Irish linen, and Eskimo carvings. When it is time to relax, bring a picnic lunch to the banks of the River Avon and marvel at the grace of the swans. Savor the sunshine and culinary specialties at an outdoor café. Stratford in the summer offers many surprises!
This year you will be staying at the Mercer Hall Inn and the Bentley Inn.
Right in Stratford’s vibrant downtown core, you’ll enjoy all the comforts of home and then some. Each of the fourteen rooms highlights the work of local artists and craftspeople in the form of paintings, drawings, engravings, headboards, and intriguing bedside tables. This unique Inn, with its warm and welcoming surroundings, offers exceptional service and hospitality. The thoughtfully appointed rooms are located on the second and third floors above Tango Coffee Bistro. All guests receive full breakfast at Tango and internet access (wireless and ethernet). Please note that Mercer Hall Inn is not equipped with an elevator. Rooms are arranged with king or queen bed configurations, private bath, TV/DVD/CD stereo system, in-room Canadian book and CD library, feather duvet and feather pillows, hair dryer and iron, and individual climate control.
Treat yourself to one of the luxurious bi-level loft suites in the heart of downtown Stratford. Pamper yourself in the ensuite modern bath facilities. Relax in a famous tempurpedic mattress with high-end linens or rest beside your in-room fireplace. Decorated throughout with fine art decor, plasma flat screen T.V, state of the art radio sound systems, and free wireless internet, these overnight accommodations in Stratford will be a night you won’t forget. Please note that Bentley Inn is not equipped with an elevator.
This trip does require walking/stair climbing. Arrangements cannot be made for individuals who are unable to meet these physical demands. Taxis are flat rate for anywhere in town.
Transportation is provided by motor coach, DeKalb to Stratford, with additional pick-up points possible by special arrangement. United States and Canadian citizens crossing the US/Canadian border are required to have a passport.