In 1983, American playwright Arthur Miller travelled to China to direct a production of his classic play, Death of a Salesman. Working with the Beijing People's Art Theatre, Miller and his collaborators struggled to bridge the gap between languages, cultures and national identities with local audiences having been long shut off from the West. Salesman in China retells this daring act of cultural cross-pollination on stage.
Located in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, the Stratford Festival is North America’s largest repertory theatre company. Each season, the festival presents a dozen or more production in four distinctive venues. Its mission is to produce to the highest standards works of theatre in the classical and contemporary repertoire that represent as fully as possible the complete spectrum of human experience across the cultures of Canada.
The Stratford Festival commissioned its first play in 1958 and has since gone on to commission and develop over one hundred new plays, translations, and adaptations. The Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program is dedicated to supporting playwrights and works that represent the diverse range of voices found on Turtle Island. These works explore timeless themes of classical theatre in a contemporary context.
The National Creation Fund’s investment of $150,000 supports the development of new dynamic surtitling technology as well as an expanded development and rehearsal process for the English and Mandarin-speaking cast.
Production support is generously provided by Marilyn Gropp, Martie & Bob Sachs, Esther Sarick, and Sylvia Soyka.
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
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