July 7, 2026… Slings & Arrows fans will be thrilled to learn that original cast members are gathering together in Stratford on July 26. They’ll be here for a staged reading of The Amateurs, a new TV comedy by the Slings & Arrows writing team – Susan Coyne, Bob Martin and Mark McKinney.
Inspired by the founding of the Stratford Festival, The Amateurs is a prequel to Slings & Arrows.
“The Amateurs offers a thoroughly entertaining take on the kind of improbable dream from which festivals such as ours are born,” says Artistic Director Designate Jonathan Church. “I’m thrilled Stratford audiences will be among the first to experience this new piece read by so many members of the original Slings & Arrows cast.”
Casting for this thrilling event includes Slings & Arrows mainstays: Bob Martin, Martha Burns, Paul Gross, Mark Mckinney, Susan Coyne, Stephen Ouimette and Don McKellar, along with Jessica B. Hill, Shannon Taylor, Maria Vacratsis, André Sills, Jeff Lillico, Aaron Krohn, Ijeoma Emesowum, Bethany Jillard and others.
“The Amateurs is a fanciful retelling of the outrageous origin story of the Stratford Festival,” says Bob Martin on behalf of the writing team. “We’re thrilled to bring it to life on the very stage where the hallowed tent once stood.”
The reading, which will include the first two episodes, will be directed by Chris Abraham and presented in collaboration with Crow’s Theatre. “Getting this gang back together for a single night to read these first two episodes for the first time feels like a minor miracle – and a major treat,” Abraham says.
Set in rural Ontario, The Amateurs tells a heartfelt and funny origin story of a Shakespeare festival that will one day capture international attention – if it can just get started. A small-town journalist with big dreams gathers a determined group of locals to save their struggling community, sparking an artistic awakening no one sees coming. Sound familiar?
This unforgettable one-night-only reading offers a rare chance to experience a show in its early stages of development.
For those inspired to binge Slings & Arrows, the series is coming to Stratfest@Home, the Festival’s streaming platform, later this month.
The Amateurs reading will be presented as part of the Stratford Festival’s Meighen Forum on Sunday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m., in the Festival Theatre, 55 Queen Street, Stratford. Tickets, priced between $29 and $59, are available now at stratfordfestival.ca or by calling the box office at 1.800.567.1600.
This is a night not to be missed!
