Latest news with #WhyNotTheatre
Toronto Star
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Dora Awards 2025: ‘Mahabharata' dominates Toronto's top theatre honours amid major upsets
A sinewy, multidisciplinary retelling of an ancient Sanskrit epic dominated the 2025 Dora Awards on Monday night, capping an extraordinary journey for a show that was born in Canada and has gone on to tour the world. 'Karma, The Life We Inherit,' the first half of Why Not Theatre's two-part play 'Mahabharata,' won five Doras in the general theatre division, including for outstanding production and outstanding new play. Co-written by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain, who also won individual awards for performance and direction, respectively, the show tells the story of two warring factions of an ancient noble family, whose conflict spills across generations.
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
First half of two-part Sanskrit epic big winner at Dora Awards in Toronto
TORONTO - A modern take on a millennia-old Sanskrit epic was the big winner in the general theatre division of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards. 'Mahabharata Part One: Karma: The Life We Inherit' took home five of the nine prizes in its division at the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts' award ceremony on Monday night. Both halves of the two-part play from Why Not Theatre and Canadian Stage were nominated for a total of 15 Doras, but 'Part Two: Dharma: The Life We Choose' didn't win any. Co-creators Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes both won for the play — the former for best direction, the latter for outstanding individual performance, and together for best new play. The production, which presents a 4,000-year-old story about a feud between families, also won outstanding production and best sound design or composition. In the musical theatre division, 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' from Shifting Ground Collective took home the Doras for outstanding production and best creative direction. Shifting Ground Collective's production of the Broadway musical also won the audience choice award. 'People, Places and Things' from Coal Mine Theatre won outstanding production in the independent theatre division, while 'La Reine-garçon,' which was a Canadian Opera Company co-production with Opéra de Montréal, took home the same award in the opera division. Soulpepper Theatre Company's 'Alligator Pie' won outstanding production for young audiences, and 'everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn't, so here it is now)' from Citadel + Compagnie won that prize in the dance division. Monday's ceremony marked the Doras' 45th anniversary. The Dora Awards are nominated by members of Toronto's professional performing arts community. Jurors include performers, designers, directors, producers, administrators and educators. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
First half of two-part Sanskrit epic big winner at Dora Awards in Toronto
TORONTO – A modern take on a millennia-old Sanskrit epic was the big winner in the general theatre division of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards. 'Mahabharata Part One: Karma: The Life We Inherit' took home five of the nine prizes in its division at the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts' award ceremony on Monday night. Both halves of the two-part play from Why Not Theatre and Canadian Stage were nominated for a total of 15 Doras, but 'Part Two: Dharma: The Life We Choose' didn't win any. Co-creators Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes both won for the play — the former for best direction, the latter for outstanding individual performance, and together for best new play. The production, which presents a 4,000-year-old story about a feud between families, also won outstanding production and best sound design or composition. In the musical theatre division, 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' from Shifting Ground Collective took home the Doras for outstanding production and best creative direction. Shifting Ground Collective's production of the Broadway musical also won the audience choice award. 'People, Places and Things' from Coal Mine Theatre won outstanding production in the independent theatre division, while 'La Reine-garçon,' which was a Canadian Opera Company co-production with Opéra de Montréal, took home the same award in the opera division. Soulpepper Theatre Company's 'Alligator Pie' won outstanding production for young audiences, and 'everything i wanted to tell you (but couldn't, so here it is now)' from Citadel + Compagnie won that prize in the dance division. Monday's ceremony marked the Doras' 45th anniversary. The Dora Awards are nominated by members of Toronto's professional performing arts community. Jurors include performers, designers, directors, producers, administrators and educators. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
Globe and Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
From a Mahabharata sweep to a Gen Z musical theatre boom, here's how the 2025 Dora Awards played out
Why Not Theatre's massive, intricate production of Mahabharata swept the 2025 Dora Awards, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced at the awards' in-person ceremony at Meridian Hall on Monday evening. Mahabharata, presented in Toronto for the first time this spring by Canadian Stage, walked away with five wins across acting, directing and design categories in the General Theatre division, including outstanding production. It's a welcome sweep for a deserving piece of theatre. First presented by the Shaw Festival in 2023, the show is fresh off a short run of performances at Lincoln Center in New York. Mahabharata and A Strange Loop win big at the 2025 Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards While both halves of the two-part endeavour were nominated in several categories, this year's Dora jurors came together to celebrate the first half of the production, subtitled Karma, The Life We Inherit. Other winners in the General Theatre division included the ensemble of Flex, co-produced by Crow's Theatre and Obsidian Theatre Company, and the scenic designers for seven methods of killing kylie jenner, another collaboration between Obsidian and Crow's. Wonderful Joe creator Ronnie Burkett and Flex lighting designer Raha Javanfar went home with Dora wins for costume design and lighting design, respectively. Meanwhile, the Independent Theatre, Musical Theatre and Theatre for Young Audiences divisions saw a much more varied slates of winners. Makram Ayache's The Tempest: A Witch in Algiers won the award for outstanding new play in the Independent Theatre division – Toronto audiences can look forward to experiencing more of Ayache's work when The Green Line plays at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre this fall. Coal Mine Theatre's electric production of People, Places and Things won four awards across acting and directing categories, including outstanding production. Last Landscape, a physical work about the relationship between humans and the environment, was singled out for its sound design and for its scenography, which included whimsical puppets and surprisingly large sets constructed entirely from recycled materials. Snubs and surprises from the Dora Award nominations CORPUS's production of Mukashi, Mukashi rounded out the division's design categories with wins for outstanding costume and lighting design. Over in the Musical Theatre division, an emerging company of Gen Z artists beat out far more established companies in a number of competitive categories. Shifting Ground Collective left the 2025 Dora Awards with three awards – including outstanding production and the coveted Jon Kaplan Audience Choice Award – for its production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Unsurprisingly, A Strange Loop, co-produced by the Musical Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre, Crow's Theatre and TO Live, won the Dora for outstanding performance by an ensemble, as well as an individual award for Malachi McCaskill in the leading role of Usher. Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White won the Dora for outstanding new musical or opera. (The category is split between the Musical Theatre and Opera divisions.) The show also received a nod for its ensemble in the Opera division. Rounding out the Musical Theatre division was Canadian Stage's holiday pantomime, The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical, which was singled out for Ming Wong's costume designs. While Soulpepper Theatre's production of Alligator Pie dominated the Theatre for Young Audiences division at this year's Doras with four wins, two other shows walked away with trophies: Evan Bawtinheimer's Patty Picker won the Dora for outstanding new play, while Alexandra Laferrière won for outstanding performance by an individual in Roseneath Theatre and Black Theatre Workshop's production of Taking Care of Maman.
CBC
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
This play is an adaptation of the longest poem ever written
In a Q interview, actor Miriam Fernandes tells Tom Power about co-creating Mahabharata Social Sharing The longest poem ever written is a 4,000-year-old Sanskrit epic called the "Mahabharata," which clocks in at roughly 1.8 million words. But the poem's daunting length didn't stop Toronto's Why Not Theatre from adapting it into a large-scale play of the same name. Miriam Fernandes, the co-creator and star of the show, joins Tom Power to tell us exactly what it took to bring this ancient Sanskrit epic to the stage.
