In a meteoric rise from actor to theatre administrator, Antoni Cimolino was named general manager of the Stratford Festival, North America’s largest repertory theatre. The appointment was announced Oct. 27 and was effective immediately.
In 11 years, Cimolino, a Sudbury, Ontario native, has worked at Stratford as an actor, director, associate producer and head of special projects. Much of his Stratford work since he left acting (he appeared as Romeo a decade ago there) has been working alongside artistic director Richard Monette to assist in casting and budgeting, as well as coordination of the web-like rehearsal and performance schedule in three theatres in the April-to-November slate in Stratford, Ontario.
It’s unclear at the moment if this new position aims Cimolino, a passionate director, toward the eventual position of artistic director at the southern Ontario theatre founded by Tyrone Guthrie.
The demands of the current job will likely prevent Cimolino from directing shows at Stratford.
The 37-year-old Cimolino now oversees administrative functions of the festival, which has an annual budget of $30 million (CDN). He replaces Mary E. Hofstetter, who resigned in August. As a director, Cimolino directed Stratford’s The Night of the Iguana in 1998 and Filumena in 1997. In Detroit, where Stratford has a large ticketbuying population, Cimolino directed lauded productions of Twelfth Night with the Attic Theatre and A Woman of No Importance for the Hilberry Theatre.
Cimolino is a graduate of the University of Windsor and lives in Stratford with his wife, actress Brigit Wilson, and their children, Gabriele and Sophia.
-- By Kenneth Jones
