Rose Napoli and Antoni Cimolino at the Saturday, Sunday, Monday first rehearsal at Stratford Festival. (Photos by ANN BAGGLEY/Stratford Festival)
By John-Paul Bonadonna
For Antoni Cimolino (BFA ‘84, DHum ‘04), the final weeks of his 14-season tenure as artistic director of the Stratford Festival are unfolding onstage in Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
The production also marks a milestone for fellow UWindsor graduate Rose Napoli, who is making her Stratford debut under Cimolino's direction.
And just days after the production closes, Cimolino's own story will return to Windsor, this time on the big screen.
The documentary This Above All: The Theatrical Life of Antoni Cimolino will screen Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. at the OLG Pentastar Theatre in at the Capitol Theatre as the Windsor International Film Festival’s (WIFF) 2026 Centrepiece film centrepiece film.
For Cimolino, the film offers an opportunity to look beyond his own career at the people, relationships and creative work that have defined his four decades at Stratford.
“When somebody proposes to do a documentary about you, you never know how it’s going to turn out,” Cimolino says.
Initially apprehensive about the project, Cimolino says he was impressed by director Barry Avrich's portrayal of his life and work.
“I think he did a gorgeous job of bringing forward certain things in my life,” he says.
“He paints a very compelling picture that draws people in.”
Beyond the personal portrait, Cimolino believes the documentary offers audiences a rare glimpse behind the scenes at Stratford.
“I’m really struck by how much it helps people understand the Stratford Festival itself,” he says.
“You watch it and you understand what goes on, what happens behind the scenes, some of the considerations in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise get.”
The documentary arrives as Cimolino prepares to conclude his 39th season with the festival and step away from the role of artistic director after 14 seasons.
Italian, intimate, incendiary
His final directorial project is Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Eduardo de Filippo’s comedy about a family whose tensions erupt around a traditional Sunday meal before husband and wife begin to find their way toward reconciliation.
Cimolino co-adapted the new English version with Donato Santeramo and directs the 17-member company. The production runs at the Avon Theatre through Oct. 24.
For Cimolino, the choice of final project was deliberate.
“I love the play, and I love the actors,” he says.
“It’s an affirmation of the power of theatre in our lives. It has people laughing. It has them crying. And it’s about family.”
It was, he says, the project he wanted to “go out with.”
Among the actors helping him close this chapter is another University of Windsor alumna, Rose Napoli (BFA ‘06, BED ‘07).
Napoli is making her Stratford Festival debut this season, appearing in both The Tempest and Saturday, Sunday, Monday. In Cimolino’s latter production, she plays Rosa Priore, the family matriarch.
The casting also marks the first time Napoli and Cimolino have worked together professionally.
For Napoli, working alongside a fellow UWindsor graduate at such a pivotal moment in his career has been particularly meaningful.
"Antoni and Graham Abbey (who plays “Peppino”, Donna Rosa’s husband) really opened their arms and had me be part of the process in a way that was equal and strong,” she says.
“I’ll never forget it.”
Cimolino says Napoli quickly demonstrated why the decision was worthwhile.
“Rose is extraordinary,” he says.
“I hadn’t worked with her before. I was blown away by her understanding of the material and her commitment to it.”
He says her portrayal captures the frustrations of a woman whose devotion to her family has often gone unrecognized and makes those experiences resonate with contemporary audiences.
“Rose captures all of that in a way that I think still speaks to people today – specifically women and families,” he says.
For Napoli, the role offers an unusual opportunity to draw on comedy, drama and her own cultural background.
“It’s an Italian play and I’m an Italian woman,” she says.
“It’s just accessing so many various parts of myself that I don’t typically get to do all in one show.”
The production brings that sense of family and tradition to life in an unusual way. Food is prepared live on stage, with the aroma of Italian cooking filling the theatre. Ragù is sold to audience members during intermission, who can then eat it while watching the family’s meal unfold in the second act.
Napoli says the play ultimately comes down to something universal.
“It’s about family, and about love and about honouring the people that are closest to you.”
The Windsor connection
For both artists, the road to Stratford began at the University of Windsor.
Cimolino says he could never have predicted during his university years where his career would lead.
“I’m very grateful that it turned out as happily as it has for me,” he reflects.
“I love the Stratford Festival and I have since I was a kid, so to be able to make a contribution there has been the dream of a lifetime.”
Napoli’s Windsor experience similarly helped shape the career that followed.
She trained in the BFA Acting program at a time when classical theatre was central to the curriculum, building relationships with instructors and directors who would help shape her early professional path.
Now, those shared Windsor roots have brought the two artists together on one of Canada's most prominent stages, as Napoli makes her Stratford debut and Cimolino prepares to take his final bow as artistic director.
“The purpose of playing … was and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature.”
At WIFF, Cimolino hopes This Above All will leave audiences with an appreciation for more than his own journey.
“The story is about the life of actors, it’s about touching people’s hearts and wanting to make a difference in the world,” he says.
It's a philosophy he hopes will continue to shape the Stratford Festival long after his departure.
“I think theatre needs to entertain,” Cimolino says.
“But it should also provoke our emotions and make us reflect.”
His Stratford chapter is nearing its final curtain.
But for one evening in November, his story returns to Windsor, where his journey began and where the stage continues to connect two generations of UWindsor talent.