Snubs and surprises from the Dora Award nominations | Canada Voices

It’s that time of year again: The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts has unveiled this year’s slate of Dora Award nominees and, as usual, the list contains surprises ranging from delightful to bizarre.

While the awards’ various juries have made a few inspired choices, particularly in the independent theatre division, some of these categories are a touch confounding.

But we’ll get to that.

First, let’s highlight what the Dora jurors got right this year. In the theatre for young audiences division, I’m pleased to see the Assembly Theatre – a scrappy storefront venue in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood – going toe-to-toe with larger companies such as Soulpepper and Young People’s Theatre.

I was really impressed by Patty Picker, Evan Bawtinheimer’s sweet-but-not-saccharine tale of a queer nose-picker, when it played at the Assembly last November, and I hope more theatres across Canada choose to produce it with this new wave of recognition. The production earned four Dora nods across writing, performance and direction categories.

The independent theatre division has some gems, too. Having argued in favour of Monks at this year’s Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, I’m pleased to see that clown show nominated in both performance and writing categories.

Wickedly funny and surprisingly poignant, Monks could be the Toronto Fringe’s next great success story

Makram Ayache’s The Tempest: A Witch in Algiers, too, is a welcome surprise. While last year’s production by Shakespeare in the Ruff didn’t wow me, the play is a formidable piece of writing that combines Shakespearean and contemporary sensibilities with intentionality and grace.

Coal Mine Theatre has had a great season, and I’m glad that’s reflected in this year’s Dora nominations. The company has received a staggering 13 nominations across its four productions and, for the most part, I agree with those nods, particularly for People, Places and Things and A Case for the Existence of God.

Another surprise: Riot King’s exquisite production of Red. I’ll admit I entered Red with minimal expectations, but Lindsay Merrithew’s portrayal of painter Mark Rothko in particular was deeply nuanced and thoughtfully directed by Kenzia Dalie. I’m glad to see both that performance and Dalie’s design work singled out here.

The top three 2025 Dora nomination peculiarities

Mahabharata

Last year’s jurors issued ensemble nominations for both parts of Canadian Stage’s production of The Inheritance (whose ensemble was virtually identical between parts, save for a brief appearance by Louise Pitre in the last half-hour of Part Two). That seemed like peak TAPA silliness – unsurprisingly, neither part won. That’s vote-splitting for you.

This year, the Doras have continued to treat two-part plays as separate entities, and so Mahabharata, Why Not Theatre’s sprawling, beautiful adaptation of the Sanskrit epic poem of the same name, is competing against itself in production, ensemble and nearly the full slate of design categories (minus costumes).

Mahabharata and A Strange Loop win big at the 2025 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards

There’s a bigger difference between Mahabharata’s two parts than there was between The Inheritance’s, but the parts are meant to be enjoyed together, as a whole. Mahabharata is a gorgeous piece of theatre that deserves a Dora sweep, and that’s now a much loftier goal owing to how its parts have been nominated. I’m hoping the jurors are somehow able to take this anomaly into account, and pool their votes behind one part. (If it were up to me, I’d go for Part Two.)

Julia vs. Julia

Since her star turn as Anne Boleyn in Mirvish’s Canadian production of Six, Julia Pulo has been a hot commodity. In fact, both of her recent roles – Dorothy in Canadian Stage’s The Wizard of Oz and Hannah in Life After – have earned her nominations in this year’s musical theatre division.

Pantomime newbie Julia Pulo on playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz: The Toto-ly Awesome Family Musical

But why are lead and supporting roles still competing against each other in performance categories? Dorothy is a much larger part than protagonist Alice’s best friend in Life After, and yet I’d argue the latter was Pulo’s stronger performance. I’ll be interested to see which way the jury swings on this – Malachi McCaskill, currently playing Usher in A Strange Loop, won the corresponding category at this year’s Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, so this one could go a few different ways.

Former Globe theatre critic J. Kelly Nestruck wrote last year about the Doras’ performance categories “wiping out” supporting role recognition. I’m glad to see a handful of supporting performances singled out in the musical theatre division this year, but it also seems unfair that they need to compete against the eponymous heavy-hitters of this year’s buzziest musicals – especially when one person is nominated on both ends of that spectrum.

Big Stuff … or half of it

Big Stuff was a poignant, gentle surprise of a show that snuck in right at the end of 2024. Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram’s autobiographical show about objects and the stories they tell was magical in large part because it made use of their chemistry as a real-life couple.

This year, the Doras have given Big Stuff two nominations in the independent theatre division: best production and, strangely, best performance by an individual for Snieckus alone.

Snieckus was great, don’t get me wrong. But to not recognize both actors – perhaps within the ensemble performance category – feels as if this year’s jurors missed the point of that show.