“Tonight we get to celebrate those who bring dreams to life,” said former Dora Awards producer Jacoba Knaapen at this year’s event.
The Dora Mavor Moore Awards gala was held at Toronto’s Meridian Centre on June 30, showcasing the achievements of the city’s performing arts community.
“For 45 years, the Dora Awards have celebrated the world-class excellence that our performing arts sector in Toronto can offer. This has been a banner year for the Awards, honouring an unstoppable amount of talent in our city across divisions of Theatre, Opera, and Dance.
“My heart soars specifically for the artists who received their first nominations or first awards this year; 26 individual artists and companies received their first ever Doras, some of whom took home multiple in their divisions. I hope these awards and nominations prove as monumental to these artists and companies as they have to the countless artists who have been celebrated since the first Awards in 1980, and that we continue to see their names in lights across our city, our province, and on national and international stages,” said Victor Pokinko, Producer, Dora Awards, in a statement.
The big winners include Mahabharata, Last Landscape, , Mukashi, Mukashi (Once Upon a Time), People, Places and Things, everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now), Big Time Miss, La Reine-garçon, and Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White, all of whom took home multiple Doras.
Outstanding Individual Performance Awards went to Miriam Fernandes, Alexandra Laferrière, Louise Lambert, Kirsten MacKinnon, Malachi McCaskill, and Sully Malaeb Proulx.
The 2025 Doras
The awards are named after teacher and director Dora Mavor Moore (1888-1979), a British-born artist who played a key role in helping to establish professional theatre in Canada during the 1930s and 1940s.
The Dora Awards are administered by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), and both the nominees and winners come via a large jury of specialists in various performing arts. Jurors include a range of performers, designers, directors, producers, administrators, arts educators and others drawn from diverse backgrounds.
The Gala
Actor Peter Fernandes (Fat Ham) played host, emerging on stage in a variety of costumes from shimmering gold to sparkly black and back again.
This was not your average night at the theatre.
The large crowd was dressed in everything from evening gowns to denims, a noisy crowd that — in one of many aspects contrary to the usual theatre etiquette — didn’t quiet down and take their seats until ordered to by Fernandes.
“This is clearly the best dressed Doras ever!” he declared. “We encourage raucous responses!” he continued, and the crowd did not disappoint, ignoring instructions to refrain from applause as the nominees were listed, and generally cheering each other on. It was an industry night, with dance performances and comedic bits by Fernandes on stage to punctuate the presenters and awards themselves.
As Fernandes explained, the winners were limited to a 60 second speech each, strictly enforced by the on stage band, who would hilariously cut off those who over spoke their slot by sliding into the opening bars of Hit The Road Jack at that one minute mark.
As all the winners acknowledged, every Dora won represented a team effort, and a group of people who’d poured their hearts and lives into each production.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow was one of the first presenters, along with former Dora producer (and also former TAPA Executive Producer) Jacoba Knaapen, who oversaw the organization and awards for decades.
Winners: Highlights
The Doras are awarded in the following divisions: General Theatre, Independent Theatre, Musical Theatre, Dance, Opera, Theatre for Young Audiences, Touring, and Innovation. This year, that includes 225 nominations in 43 gender-inclusive award categories, encompassing 81 shows from 59 registered companies.
Opera Division
- Outstanding Production: La Reine-garçon (A Canadian Opera Company co-production with Opéra de Montréal)
- Outstanding Performance by an Individual: Kirsten MacKinnon in La Reine-garçon (A Canadian Opera Company co-production with Opéra de Montréal)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White: Neema Bickersteth, Adrienne Danrich, SATE (Canadian Opera Company, in association with the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, and Ontario Arts Council)
- Outstanding Creative Direction: Angela Konrad (Director) and Johannes Debus (Musical Director) for La Reine-garçon (A Canadian Opera Company co-production with Opéra de Montréal)
Dance Division
- Outstanding Production: everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now) (Citadel + Compagnie)
- Outstanding Original Choreography: Jessie Garon, everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now) (Citadel + Compagnie)
- Outstanding Performance by an Individual: Sully Malaeb Proulx, everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn’t, so here it is now) (Citadel + Compagnie)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: Big Time Miss: Drew Berry, Brayden Jamil Cairns, Sam Grist, Steph Harkness, Natasha Poon Woo (Rock Bottom Movement presented by Fall For Dance North)
- Outstanding Original Sound Composition: Semiah and Jacob Vanderham for Big Time Miss (Rock Bottom Movement presented by Fall For Dance North)
Musical Theatre Division
- Outstanding Production: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Shifting Ground Collective)
- Outstanding New Musical/New Opera: (shared by the Musical Theatre and Opera divisions): Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White by Sean Mayes (Composer); HAUI (Librettist) (Canadian Opera Company, in association with the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, and Ontario Arts Council)
- Outstanding Performance by an Individual: Malachi McCaskill in A Strange Loop (The Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: A Strange Loop: Sierra Holder, Amaka Umeh, Matt Nethersole, David Andrew Reid, Nathanael Judah, Marcus Nance, Charlie Clark, David Lopez (The Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live)
General Theatre Division
- Outstanding Production: Mahabharata: Karma (Part 1), The Life We Inherit (Why Not Theatre presented by Canadian Stage)
- Outstanding New Play: Mahabharata: Karma (Part 1), The Life We Inherit by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain (Why Not Theatre presented by Canadian Stage)
- Outstanding Direction: Ravi Jain, Mahabharata: Karma (Part 1), The Life We Inherit (Why Not Theatre presented by Canadian Stage)
- Outstanding Performance by an Individual: Miriam Fernandes in Mahabharata: Karma (Part 1), The Life We Inherit (Why Not Theatre presented by Canadian Stage)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: FLEX: Jewell Bowry, Jasmine Case, Asha James, Trinity Lloyd, Shauna Thompson, Sophia Walker (Crow’s Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Company)
Independent Theatre Division
- Outstanding Production: People, Places and Things (Coal Mine Theatre)
- Outstanding New Play: The Tempest: A Witch in Algiers by Makram Ayache (Shakespeare in the Ruff)
- Outstanding Direction: Diana Bentley and Alyssa Martin, People, Places and Things (Coal Mine Theatre)
- Outstanding Performance by an Individual: Louise Lambert in People, Places and Things (Coal Mine Theatre)
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble: People, Places and Things: Oliver Dennis, Nickeshia Garrick, Farhang Ghajar, Matthew Gouveia, Sam Grist, Sarah Murphy-Dyson, Kwaku Okyere, Fiona Reid, Kaleb Tekeste (Coal Mine Theatre)
The Silver Ticket Award, presented annually by TAPA to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the stage in the Toronto area, went to actor/director/playwright and Founding Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre, Beatriz Pizano.
- For a full list of all winners, see [HERE].
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