Shaw Festival Box Office Now Open to Everyone!

Shaw Festival Box Office Opens for 2009 Season

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, January 13, 2009 . . . The Shaw Festival Box Office is now accepting, telephone and in-person orders from the general public for the 2009 season. Fax, online and mail orders began on January 5.

The Box Office has been open to Members of the Shaw Festival since November 8 and to groups since January 5. ’ÄúWe are delighted with the enthusiasm with which our Members and loyal patrons have responded to the season. In particular the Tonight at 8:30 series, which celebrates the enduring appeal of Noˆ´l Coward, makes 2009 an historic season for The Shaw. For a theatre experience like no other, theatre lovers are encouraged to book early this season,’Äù said Executive Director Colleen Blake.

In 2009 The Shaw produces each play in Noˆ´l Coward’Äôs famous Tonight at 8:30 collection. The Shaw’Äôs 2009 productions represent the first time all ten short plays have been performed in repertory by a professional company since they were first produced by London’Äôs Phoenix Theatre in 1935-36. The plays will be performed in sets of three, one on each of the Festival’Äôs Niagara-on-the-Lake stages, with the tenth, the rarely produced Star Chamber, being the lunchtime production in the Royal George. Brief Encounters (Still Life, We Were Dancing, Hands Across the Sea) will be staged in the Festival Theatre, Ways of the Heart (The Astonished Heart, Family Album, Ways and Means) in the Court House, and Play, Orchestra, Play (Red Peppers, Fumed Oak, Shadow Play) in the Royal George.

On three occasions - August 8, August 29 and September 19 - all ten Coward plays will be presented in one day, an event titled ’ÄúMad Dogs and Englishmen’Äù. Almost 50% of available tickets for these events have been sold, so early booking is recommended.

The Shaw Festival’Äôs 2009 season also includes two plays by the Festival’Äôs namesake: The Devil’Äôs Disciple in the Festival and In Good King Charles’Äôs Golden Days in the Royal George, as well as Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin, A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O’ÄôNeill, Albertine in Five Times by Michel Tremblay, the musical Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, and a limited engagement of John Osborne’Äôs The Entertainer in the new Studio Theatre. The Reading Series of contemporary Shavian writers and a variety of enrichment activities including workshops and seminars are also offered. Affordable overnight and day packages are available and make a trip to The Shaw easy.

Ticket information and brochures can be obtained through the Shaw Festival Box Office or website:

¬… Toll free in North America 1-800-511-7429

¬… Local (905) 468-2172

¬… Fax (905) 468-3804

¬… Internet www.shawfest.com

¬… Mail Shaw Festival

Box 774

Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON L0S 1J0

The Festival Theatre Box Office and Retail Shop is located at 10 Queen’Äôs Parade, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. From January 10 to April 11, Box Office hours are Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm. Beginning April 12, the Box Office is open daily from 9 am to 8 pm.