On a Thursday morning in Stratford, Ontario, five Dartmouth students found themselves in a clowning workshop, learning to embrace silliness, spontaneity, and vulnerability. By afternoon, they were seated in a darkened theater, watching Forgiveness, a powerful new play at the Stratford Festival about intergenerational trauma and reconciliation.
The emotional shift was striking. Laughter gave way to tears, and lightness to reflection. Yet for the students participating in Dartmouth’s inaugural two-week Stratford Festival Theater residency, this day captured the program’s essence: immersive, unexpected, and profoundly transformative.
The residency, a new partnership between Dartmouth, Northern Stage, and the Stratford Festival, was designed to give students a rare, behind-the-scenes look at North America’s largest classical repertory theater company. The program also served as a prelude for students participating in the Department of Theater’s experiential learning program, or “E-term,” with Northern Stage, a professional regional theater in White River Junction, Vermont.
“Much like science students need labs or medical students need clinical rotations, theater students need spaces to observe, practice, and reflect in real-world settings,” says Professor of Theater Peter Hackett ’75, who accompanied the students on the trip to the Canadian festival before the start of fall term.
That’s exactly what the residency offered—a professional “lab” where students could immerse themselves in the full ecosystem of a working theater company.
The Stratford Festival presents a dozen or more productions each season in four distinctive venues. Over the course of 10 days, students attended daily performances, participated in private masterclasses, and engaged in intimate conversations with actors, directors, designers, archivists, and administrators.
“When we came to Stratford, there was such excitement around us being there and such intentionality to include us in everything,” says Lilla Bozek ’27. “There were so many events that we attended that were created just for us.”
Students learned Newfoundland dialects from a vocal coach, practiced posture and projection in a class on the Alexander Technique, and shadowed stage managers during live productions. They toured costume shops, watched set changeovers, and even stepped onto the festival’s largest stage.
“The level of involvement that we had completely exceeded my expectations in the best way possible,” says Edith Stevenson ’27. “Getting to see how the spaces are used by different creatives and different performers, how that differs from show to show, and watching the physical spaces change—I mean, this is my Super Bowl.”
Beyond the professional exposure, the residency also fostered a deep sense of community among the students themselves. Sharing housing, meals, and nightly post-show reflections, the group quickly bonded over their shared experiences. “You get vulnerable real fast,” Bozek says. “I mean, if you're clowning with people, that takes a level of comfortability.”
Left to right: Lauren Mills ’27, Luke Gerdeman ’27, Jason Carenz ’25, actor and clown class instructor Derek Kwan, Lilla Bozek ’27, and Edith Stevenson ’27.
The intimacy of the group dynamic helped students process the emotional weight of the performances and strengthened their connection to the work and each other. They recognized the enormity of the opportunity and, each day, they made the most of these intimate moments with theater professionals.
“The students were so curious and asked very sharp questions,” says Hackett. “The people at the Stratford Festival were so kind and so open that the students responded to this and really took advantage of the opportunity.”
The residency changed their understanding of theater and the ways in which different roles can serve it. Before this experience, Bozek, who is majoring in theater and biological anthropology, had considered theater more of a personal interest than a professional one.
“I’m definitely coming out of it more seriously considering theater as a career path after seeing these professionals in the field,” Bozek says. “After this experience, I’ve just kept thinking: ‘I wish I could work on this team of amazing human beings. I wish I could be surrounded by this type of people and this type of community for the rest of my life.’”
A residency is born
The residency was made possible through the generosity of Upper Valley residents Dan Bernstein ’87 and his wife, Claire Foerster. Bernstein, who sits on the Board of Directors for the 2025 Stratford Festival Endowment Foundation, was responsible for bringing the Stratford Festival’s production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus to the Hopkins Center for the Arts in 2018.
His interest in connecting Dartmouth students with opportunities at the Stratford Festival sparked this initiative. Carol Dunne, senior lecturer of theater at Dartmouth and producing artistic director for Northern Stage, and Lois Adamson, director of education at the Stratford Festival, worked closely together to give it structure.
Even while the residency was happening, Adamson was orchestrating custom experiences and spontaneous backstage access that made the program feel both personal and expansive.
“Whether the students decide to go into theater or not, being exposed to the professional aspect of theater is absolutely necessary,” says Hackett. “It’s the equivalent of having a lab that the biology students work in. You can’t have a relevant theater program without a lab, a professional lab, and that’s what the Northern Stage E-term and the Stratford Festival Theater residency are.”
Continued experiential learning
This year, the five students who participated in the Stratford Festival Theater residency will complete the experiential learning program with Northern Stage, which enables Dartmouth students to work and learn in a professional theater environment, providing an immersive educational experience for undergraduates in theater.
“E-term is a little bit ‘choose-your-own-adventure,’” says Bozek, who is currently completing their experiential term. “I’m struck by the number of options they provide to get involved.”
Bozek, for instance, is interested in dramaturgy and scenic and prop work. They are working on a research project that will be on display in the lobby during the upcoming Northern Stage run of Peter & Wendy, and will also play Nana, the dog, in the production. Bozek has also been involved with a youth production, helped sand panes of plexiglass for the scenic department, and for the required passion project, will write a play and perform a staged reading.
Northern Stage and the Stratford Festival offer students a robust educational experience while showcasing the distinct characteristics of different professional theater models. Northern Stage, an American regional theater, is deeply rooted in its local community and typically stages one production at a time. In contrast, the Stratford Festival in Canada operates as a major cultural destination, presenting multiple rotating productions simultaneously and attracting audiences from across the globe.
“What I really love about theater is its collaboration aspect,” says Stevenson, who will complete her experiential learning term in spring 2026. “It’s all these moving pieces working together to make one part, and I saw that on such a massive scale at Stratford. I think it’ll be interesting to compare it to Northern Stage as something that isn't a repertory theater and to look at the differences between the two.”
These unique opportunities offer Dartmouth students a rare chance to step into the world of professional theater—not just as observers, but as participants. For many, it will mark the beginning of a deeper commitment to the craft and a clearer vision of how they might serve the theater in the years to come.
“The more exposure they have to how theater works, the better, and the more of an advantage they will have,” says Hackett.