Audience members are seen through a screen on the Stratford Festival's opening night in Stratford, Ont. on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. The Stratford Festival is growing its digital reach while working towards rebuilding live audiences. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The Stratford Festival is growing its digital reach while working towards rebuilding live audiences that withered in the early days of the pandemic.

The southwestern Ontario theatre company says stage fans can now find highlights of its past seasons on iOS/tvOS, Apple TV, Android/Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.

The app Stratfest@Home costs $7.99 per month for access to stage productions, behind-the-scenes content, audio plays and original programming.

The tool expands a web-only version launched in October 2020 that cost $10 per month.

It comes as the festival continues efforts to rebound from a $4-million loss in 2020, when pandemic restrictions cancelled 15 planned productions just as previews were about to start.

The festival's publicity director says they hope to lure 400,000 audience members this season, which features 13 shows across all four venues.

Ann Swerdfager said Monday the company expects a gradual, years-long rebuild to reach the pre-pandemic norm of roughly 500,000 audience members, a quarter of them typically from the United States.

So far, she said 19 per cent of this year's audience is U.S.-based, up from last year's 12 per cent.

Stratford’s 2023 lineup includes the musical “Rent,” the Arthurian comedy “Monty Python’s Spamalot” and “King Lear,” starring Paul Gross.

Swerdfager said the new streaming app can help the company grow new audiences and maintain existing ones.

“It's an area we have to be engaged in,” said Swerdfager.

“It's a great way for people to see our programming. It is an amazing new dimension. You certainly can't leave it behind, the digital area. And it is absolutely an area that we are looking towards for growth.”

Earlier this year, the festival said it had achieved a “moderate surplus” in 2022 – its first fully indoor season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 lineup – shorter than the norm with just 10 productions including “Hamlet,” “Chicago” and “The Miser” — attracted nearly 326,000 theatregoers, slightly above its target of 320,000.

That was up from 2021, when the festival mounted a smaller outdoor season that was further restricted by capacity limits. That season attracted just 34,000 people.

On Monday, the Shakespeare-focused company also announced its first original podcast, “Director’s Notes,” available through the app, Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as a revamped web version of Stratfest@Home.

In addition to Stratford's 2021 production of “Serving Elizabeth,” 2012’s “Twelfth Night” and 2010’s “The Tempest,” Stratfest@Home features content licensed from other theatre companies and producers.

That includes “Ursa: A Folk Musical” by the Uncommon Folk Collective and the upcoming “Bound,” billed as “a Handel opera hybrid” by Against the Grain Theatre.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2023.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2023