The 45th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards are officially on their way, with a slew of amazing nominees announced this morning. On June 30, the Doras will celebrate more than 80 Toronto productions in theatre, dance, and opera with a ceremony at Meridian Hall.
The 225 nominations announced today paint a picture of which live performances have resonated most with our city’s artists, audiences, and critics. Mahabharata, an epic two-part play presented by Why Not Theatre and Canadian Stage, leads with 15 nominations, followed by Britta Johnson’s musical Life After with a total of 8 nominations. Other major players across categories include dance piece everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now), opera La Reine-garçon, and play FLEX, presented by Crow’s Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Company.
With so much media to consume digitally nowadays, we often forget the talent and joy that exists in the live performance sector. The Dora Awards allow artists to be recognized in their field for excellent work, and highlight some of the artists and companies in our city you should keep paying attention to. Here’s our list of the women and gender-diverse-led productions up for Dora Awards that stood out to us this year.
Photo by Dahlia Katz
Table for Two by Akosua Amo-Adem
Nominated for Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Direction (Djanet Sears), and Outstanding Performance By An Individual (Akosua Amo-Adem).
This piece was funny, thoughtful, moving, and sweet. Table for Two is a tale about a single woman in the pursuit of love that takes us through main character Abena’s memories leading up to tonight—the blind date she’s been anticipating. This is an exploration of modern dating through the eyes of a first-generation immigrant dealing with family pressure, old friends getting married, and the grief of past love stories.
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Mahabharata Parts One and Two by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain
Nominated for 15 Awards including Outstanding Production, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble, and Outstanding Performance by an Individual (Miriam Fernandes).
Mahabharata is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Redefining our modern view of theatre by placing immigrant bodies on stage, this is an epic tale of power, spirituality, and family dynamics. Blending theatrical forms in dance, opera, and even live projections, this touring production was one of the best plays of the year. We are so happy to see it receiving the praise and accolades it deserves, with a truly lovely and deeply talented group of people behind its creation.
Photo by Audrianna Martin Del Campo
MONKS by Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján
Originally produced at the Toronto Fringe Festival before being mounted at The Theatre Centre, this interactive comedy was nominated for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in the independent division.
What happens when there’s nothing to do but count lentils and pray? MONKS follows two Spanish monks through a day in their lives. Simulated weather, donkeys, and the audience transform the piece night to night, making each evening a unique and joyful experience to indulge in. This is a hilariously side-splitting new work that will alter the way Torontonians do comedy.
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Big Time Miss by Rock Bottom Movement, presented by Fall For Dance North
Nominated for Outstanding Original Choreography and Outstanding Production in dance, plus four other awards, Big Time Miss is a surrealist dance epic that has been making waves.
The piece invites the real-life biographies of its dancers into an arena, where funny people have to face unfunny feelings. Hyperphysical, theatrical, and musically magnificent, Big Time Miss rediscovers what it means to be ambitious, soft, terrified, and in love. Alyssa Martin, the show’s creator, choreographer, and founder of Rock Bottom Movement, is one of the top movers and shakers in the city. Cool as hell and unafraid to tell stories in ways we’ve never seen before, Alyssa is an artist who is transforming contemporary dance in Toronto. Anything Alyssa does, we have our eyes on. And you should too.
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FLEX by Candrice Jones
FLEX, presented by Crow’s Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Company, is nominated for 6 awards including Outstanding Direction (Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu), Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble, and Outstanding Production.
This play follows a 1997 high school women’s basketball team and their individual pursuits of going pro. Navigating the pressures of being young, Black, and female in rural Arkansas, where a mistake on the court can become a foul in real life, FLEX is a complex, funny, and beautiful story about ambition, athleticism, teamwork, and basketball. With one of the coolest sets of the season, excellent directorial choices, and a team of young actors on the brink of long and lustrous careers, this play is expected to win big!
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Wilma by Itzhel Razo
Wilma is up for one award: Outstanding Touring Production, and it is a play absolutely worth mentioning in this list.
Written and performed by Itzhel Razo, this show came all the way from Mexico and graced the Toronto stage with a performance that will likely not be forgotten for many years to come. Wilma tells the story of a girl who grows up as a foreigner on her own land, isolated by racism, classism and forbidden to learn her origin language—Maya. When one of the worst hurricanes in history arrives on the peninsula, an early cyclone alert is issued in the Maya languages. Unable to communicate, she tries to survive a hurricane without anyone’s help. This is a vocally, physically, and emotionally bold piece of work that we’re happy to see nominated.
For the full list of nominees, check out tapa.ca or @tapa_to on Instagram. Tickets for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards are currently available on Ticketmasker for an early bird price.
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