Joanna McClelland Glass' Palmer Park, about racial divide in a Detroit neighborhood, and Morris Panych's retelling of Herman Melville's Moby Dick are being planned for Stratford's intimate Studio Theatre for the 2008 season. A spokesperson for Stratford would not confirm that programming on Sept. 4, but said official news about the next season would be announced shortly.
Saskatchewan native Glass is the author of such plays as Trying and Artichoke, and has lived in the U.S. and Canada.
Playwright-director Panych is one of the artists behind the movement-heavy international stage hit, The Overcoat. His other works are regularly produced in Canada.
Palmer Park, set in Detroit in the late 1960s, has had readings in regional theatres in recent years. According to The Star, the play began life as a screenplay.
The paper also reported that Lynn Redgrave will bring her one-woman show, Shakespeare for My Father, to Stratford in 2008. The 2008 season is a year of change for the venerable festival in Ontario: Three artistic directors, instead of one, will be at the helm.
As previously reported, Richard Monette is retiring after 2007 to be replaced by Des McAnuff, Marti Maraden and Don Shipley. The festival's general director is Antoni Cimolino.
For more information visit www.stratfordfestival.ca.