Stratford

City and river port in southwest Ontario, Canada, on the Avon River; population (1991) 27,700. It is a railway centre, with six lines of the Canadian National Railway and repair shops. Industries include food-processing, and the manufacture of furniture, agricultural implements, textiles, and woollen goods. Since 1953 Stratford has held a major festival of Shakespearean and other drama, which now takes place annually from May to October.

Founded in the early 1830s, the city was named after Stratford-upon-Avon, England, birthplace of the Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare.

Stratford's main centres for the performing arts are the Festival and Avon theatres, and the Third Stage.

Stratford

Town in Fairfield County, southwest Connecticut; population (1996) 49,400. It is situated at the mouth of the Housatonic River, on Long Island Sound, 8 km/5 mi northeast of Bridgeport. It is home to the American Shakespeare Theatre and was the site of an annual Shakespeare festival (1955-82). Local industries produce helicopters (Sikorsky), aircraft engines, roofing, plastics, industrial machinery, and brake linings; early activities included shipbuilding and oystering. The Bridgeport Municipal Airport is near the village of Lordship, on a peninsula to the southeast. Stratford was founded in 1639.