Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino is one of the newest members of the prestigious Order of Canada – and is clearly humbled and touched by the distinction.
“It's a real honour because the people who are part of the Order of Canada are extraordinary people,” he said in a Tuesday interview.
Cimolino's story could be anyone's story.
He was born to immigrant parents who had big dreams for their son—none of which included acting. They could never have imagined, and neither did Cimolino, that acting would lead him to one of the top executive and artistic positions in the country.
Nor could they have imagined his artistic contribution would be recognized by one of the most important people in the country: Gov. Gen. David Johnston.
Becoming a member of the Order of Canada puts Cimolino in an elite group, yet he remains personable and accessible as always. He describes himself as a “really lucky person,” but there's more to it than that. He's smart, talented, focused and extraordinarily hard working.
Cimolino is eager to talk about what a wonderful Governor General Johnston has been, the contributions of other company members to the longevity of the Festival and how the Festival has changed his life.
He's less keen to shine the light on himself.
The appointment from Johnston was extra special.
“Having him call and tell me this news was all the better. He's a great friend of Stratford,” Cimolino said. “There are a lot of reasons why it meant so much coming from this Governor General.”
Johnston knows the inside workings of the Stratford Festival better than most. He was the president of the University of Waterloo before he became Governor General and was appointed to the Festival board of directors in 2010. Des McAnuff was artistic director at the time while Cimolino was the general director.
Johnston called Cimolino about a month ago to break the news of his appointment. Since then, Cimolino has remained silent on the subject while awaiting the official announcement from Rideau Hall.
“(Johnston) did say I could tell my family, which meant a lot to me. After that I just clammed up.”
His family was “jazzed” when he told them the news.
“My son said, 'Don't even try to pretend this isn't important to you.'”
And it is important to him. Deeply important.
“It's the ideas it embraces, which is service to the community. When you see people go off and get wealthy you realize none of that matters. What matters is to be able to say, at the end of your life, you left things better than you found them.”
Cimolino grew up in Sudbury in the 1960s. There wasn't much going on there at the time, but the dream of working in theatre stayed with him after a school trip to the Festival.
“I'm really lucky. When I came to Stratford when I was a teenager, it was like Mecca. I didn't know a place like this existed. It's made a huge difference in my life.”
He studied at the University of Windsor and landed an acting job here. He was cast in some challenging roles, including Romeo opposite Megan Follows as Juliet, and Laertes in Hamlet, but it has been behind the scenes where he has made the biggest impact.
The Festival was on stable financial footing during his tenure as executive director and his work as a director has received raves, including his stagings of Hamlet and King Lear.
Cimolino took the top job at the Festival in 2013 and has enjoyed success each season since.
The Order of Canada investiture ceremony will take place in the coming months.
By Laura Cudworth for www.stratfordbeaconherald.com.
Photo: Antoni Cimolino. 2012.
2015-12-30
Stratford: Antoni Cimolino to be awarded the Order of Canada