The 2025 Siminovitch Prize shortlist of exceptional mid-career theatre artists includes:
Ravi Jain (Toronto,ON)
Anne-Marie Olivier (Québec, QC)
Estelle Shook (Armstrong, BC)
Adrienne Wong (Victoria/Calgary, BC/AB)
To mark the 25th anniversary, the Siminovitch Theatre Foundation paused its traditional three-year cycle of honouring directors, playwrights, and designers to welcome nominations from these three disciplines, as well as from theatre creators whose work does not fall strictly into the three established Siminovitch Prize categories. The four artists honoured this year together demonstrate the extraordinary breadth of Canadian theatre today.
“The 2025 Siminovitch Prize shortlist shows that theatre is not one form but many — digital and local, intimate and epic, portable and site-specific — and that all these forms can speak powerfully to our time.” — Guillermo Verdecchia, 2025 Jury Chair
The Laureate will receive $100,000; each of the three finalists will receive $10,000; the Protégé chosen by the Laureate will receive $25,000; and three additional emerging artists selected by the finalists will receive $5,000 each.
MEET THE FINALISTS
A visionary maker whose practice collides movement, music, realism, devised methods, and social practice, Ravi Jain is the founder and co-artistic director of Why Not Theatre. He has created over 40 collaborations, touring across five continents. From Prince Hamlet—a radical, fully integrated ASL/English interpretation placing a Deaf Horatio at the centre—to the epic Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, Barbican, Lincoln Center), Jain’s work reframes classic and contemporary narratives through equity of experience and radical inclusion.
“Art is a tool for social change… a rehearsal for the world we want to create.” — Ravi Jain
Anne-Marie Olivier blends documentary and fiction through a methodology of gathering true stories, crafting works that hold social reality and poetic language in the same breath—Venir au monde (Governor General’s Literary Award), Faire l’amour, Annette, Maurice. A celebrated performer and former Artistic Director of Théâtre du Trident, her solo and ensemble works open space for marginalized narratives with courage, virtuosity, and profound empathy.
A national leader in large-scale outdoor, site-specific, land-based theatre, Estelle Shook has built an internationally watched model at Caravan Farm Theatre, where story, environment and community are inseparable—often including human and equine performers, and programming year-round on eighty acres of Secwepemc and Syilx territories. Her eco-dramaturgical practice and rural community convening are transforming how Canadian theatre engages land, sustainability, and audience.
“I believe theatre can and should be more integrated into civil society, to serve as an encounter with the mystery at the heart of existence and entertainment and a community practice, alive and expressive and accessible to all.” — Estelle Shook
For two decades, Adrienne Wong has pioneered participatory and live-digital performance—“podplays,” locative audio works, platform-native theatre, and national knowledge-sharing through FOLDA. From The Apology Generator (CBC Q residency) to sector-shifting experiments at Neworld and SpiderWebShow, Wong uses ostensibly “soulless” technologies to excavate our humanity, inviting audiences to give more than attention and reshaping creation processes across the country.
“My whole career has been about mobilizing and motivating people to go beyond what they think is possible, and to do it with fearlessness and joy.” — Adrienne Wong
Danielle Irvine — Director, Artistic Producer of Perchance Theatre (NL)
Mike Payette — Director, Artistic Director of Tarragon Theatre (ON)
Christine Quintana — Actor, playwright, dramaturg (BC)
Simon Rossiter — Lighting designer, Director of Design at Fall for Dance North (ON)
Jean-Simon Traversy — Director, Co-Artistic Director of Duceppe (QC)
Guillermo Verdecchia (Chair) — Playwright, director, dramaturg, translator, and actor (ON)
WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
The 2025 Siminovitch Prize Laureate will be announced on December 1, 2025, following the premiere of short documentary portraits of each shortlisted artist.
ABOUT THE SIMINOVITCH THEATRE FOUNDATION
The Siminovitch Theatre Foundation (STF) uplifts groundbreaking theatre artists who are building greater human connection and understanding through their work. Over the past 25 years, the STF has transformed the lives of more than 125 mid-career and emerging artists, amplifying mentorship, profile, skill development, and community connection. The Siminovitch Prize is funded annually through the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporate partners.
Power Corporation of Canada is gratefully acknowledged as the presenter of the 2025 Siminovitch Prize shortlist. Their support enables the Siminovitch Theatre Foundation to celebrate and elevate four exceptional artists on a national stage throughout the year.
