Inaugural production in the newly built Festival Theatre, with Christopher Plummer as the first Canadian actor to take a major role at Stratford. Stratford actors had been the core group responsible for bringing Equity into Canada; Douglas Campbell and Lloyd Bochner were two of the 'Committee of 7', an early Canadian Advisory Committee group. Mervyn 'Butch' Blake became a CAEA life member in 1977 and played 42 consecutive seasons at Stratford.