“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 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.
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.
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
Dance Division
Musical Theatre Division
General Theatre Division
Independent Theatre Division
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.
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