Toronto Theatre Critics Awards

The Toronto Theatre Critics Awards are annual awards, presented by a committee of theatre critics in the media of Toronto, Ontario, to honour achievements in the city's theatre production in the previous year.

The awards were launched in 2011 by John Colbourn of the Toronto Sun , Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star , Robert Cushman of the National Post and J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe and Mail , as the first new opportunity for Toronto theatre critics to vote on or present awards since the discontinuation of the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 2001. ^[1]

The awards went on hiatus after 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on theatre production. ^[2] They returned in 2024. ^[3]

Awards

Best New Canadian Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2012	Ins Choi	Kim's Convenience	[4]
2013	Hannah Moscovitch	This Is War	[5]
2014	Robert Lepage	Needles and Opium	[6]
2015	Michel Marc Bouchard	Tom at the Farm	[7]
2016	Jordan Tannahill	Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom	[8]
2017	Norah Sadava, Amy Nostbakken	Mouthpiece	[9]
2018	Hannah Moscovitch	Bunny	[10]
	Matthew MacKenzie	Bears
2019	Ho Ka Kei	Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)	[11]
2020	Anthony MacMahon, Thomas McKechnie	The Jungle	[12]
2024	Nick Green	Casey and Diana	[3]
	Michael Healey	The Master Plan
2025	Miriam Fernandes, Ravi Jain	Mahabharata	[13]
	Veronica Hortigüela, Annie Luján	Monks

Best New International Play

To be eligible for this award, a play only has to have received its first production in the Toronto market within the eligibility period, and does not necessarily have to be a world debut.

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2012	Roland Schimmelpfennig	The Golden Dragon	[4]
2013	Mark O'Rowe	Terminus	[5]
2014	Sarah Ruhl	Passion Play	[6]
2015	Stephen Adly Guirgis	The Motherfucker with the Hat	[7]
2016	None presented		[8]
2017	Annie Baker	John	[9]
2018	Stephen Karam	The Humans	[10]
2019	Tarell Alvin McCraney	The Brothers Size	[11]
2020	Annie Baker	The Flick	[12]
2024	Natalya Vorozhbit (Sasha Dugdale, translator)	Bad Roads	[3]
2025	Annie Baker	Infinite Life	[13]
	Heidi Schreck	What the Constitution Means to Me

Best New Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2012	Jacob Richmond, Brooke Maxwell	Ride the Cyclone	[4]
2016	Red One Theatre Collective	The Chasse-Galerie	[8]
2019	Hannah Moscovitch, Christian Barry, Ben Caplan	Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story	[11]

Best Production of a Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Theatre Passe Muraille, Canadian Stage	The Middle Place	[1]
2012	Tarragon Theatre	The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs	[4]
2013	Mirvish Productions	Terminus	[5]
2014	Soulpepper Theatre	Angels in America	[6]
	Tarragon Theatre	Lungs
2015	Mirvish Productions	Arcadia	[7]
	Outside the March	Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play
2016	Butcher's Block Collective, Why Not Theatre	Butcher	[8]
2017	The Company Theatre	John	[9]
	Ex Machina, Canadian Stage	887
2018	Canadian Stage	The Humans	[10]
2019	Obsidian Theatre, Nightwood Theatre	School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play	[11]
2020	Outside the March, Crow's Theatre	The Flick	[12]
2024	Canadian Stage	The Inheritance	[3]
2025	Why Not Theatre, Canadian Stage	Mahabharata	[13]

Best Production of a Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Lincoln Centre	South Pacific	[1]
2012	Acting Up Stage Company	Caroline, or Change	[4]
2013	Mirvish Productions	The Book of Mormon	[5]
2014	Canadian Stage	London Road	[6]
2015	Soulpepper Theatre	Spoon River	[7]
2016	Mirvish Productions	Kinky Boots	[8]
2017	Mirvish Productions	Come from Away	[9]
2018	Musical Stage Company	Fun Home	[10]
2019	Young People's Theatre	Mary Poppins	[11]
2020	Orin Wolf, Stylesfour Productions, Evamere Entertainment, Atlantic Theater Co.	The Band's Visit	[12]
2024	Crow’s Theatre, Musical Stage Company	Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812	[3]
2025	Soulpepper Theatre, Musical Stage Company, Crow’s Theatre, TO Live	A Strange Loop	[13]

Best Lead Performance in a Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	David Ferry	Blasted	[1]
	Yanna McIntosh	Ruined
2012	Paul Sun-Hyung Lee	Kim's Convenience	[4]
	Nicole Underhay	The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs
2013	Stuart Hughes	The Crucible	[5]
	Michelle Monteith	Little One
2014	Damien Atkins	Angels in America	[6]
	Carly Street	Venus in Fur
2015	David Ferry	Blackbird	[7]
	Fiona Reid	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
2016	Kawa Ada	Bombay Black	[8]
	Laura Condlin	An Enemy of the People
2017	Dawn Jani Birley	Prince Hamlet	[9]
	André Sills	"Master Harold"...and the Boys
2018	Lovell Adams-Gray	Ma Rainey's Black Bottom	[10]
	Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory	Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools
2019	Eric Peterson	The Father	[11]
2020	Daren A. Herbert	Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train	[12]
	Amy Rutherford	A Streetcar Named Desire
2024	Sean Arbuckle	Casey and Diana	[3]
	Amaka Umeh	Sizwe Banzi Is Dead
2025	Ins Choi	Kim's Convenience	[13]
	Noah Reid	A Case for the Existence of God

Best Lead Performance in a Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Louise Pitre	A Year with Frog and Toad	[1]
	Tony Sheldon	Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
2012	Sahr Ngaujah	Fela!	[4]
	Arlene Duncan	Caroline, or Change
2013	Bruce Dow	Of a Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical	[5]
	Bree Greig	Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata
2014	Ramin Karimloo	Les Misérables	[6]
	Chilina Kennedy	The Little Mermaid
2015	Daren A. Herbert	The Wild Party	[7]
	Trish Lindstrom	Once
2016	Alan Mingo Jr.	Kinky Boots	[8]
	Carly Heffernan	One Night Only
2017	Beau Dixon	Passing Strange	[9]
	Patricia Cano	The (Post) Mistress
2018	Jordan Chang	Mr. Shi and His Lover	[10]
	Hannah Levinson, Sara Farb, Laura Condlln	Fun Home
2019	Robert Markus	Dear Evan Hansen	[11]
2020	Jully Black	Caroline, or Change	[12]
	Chilina Kennedy	The Band's Visit
2024	Damien Atkins	De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail	[3]
2025	Malachi McCaskill	A Strange Loop	[13]

Best Supporting Performance in a Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Richard McMillan	After Akhmatova	[1]
	Cara Ricketts	Eternal Hydra
2012	Kelli Fox	The Penelopiad	[4]
	Philip Riccio	The Test
2013	Maev Beaty	Proud	[5]
	Alon Nashman	THIS
2014	Ian D. Clark	Cock	[6]
	Nancy Palk	Angels in America
2015	Juan Chioran	The Motherfucker with the Hat	[7]
	Beatriz Pizano	Blood Wedding
2016	Anna Chatterton	Independent Aunties	[8]
	Danny Ghantous	A Line in the Sand
2017	James Daly		[9]
	Nora McLellan	John
2018	Carolyn Fe	Calpurnia	[10]
	Maxwell Haynes	The Aliens
2019	Akosua Amo-Adem	School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play	[11]
	Sabryn Rock	The Royale
2020	Sarah Dodd	Marjorie Prime	[12]
2024	Jadyn Nasato	Four Minutes	[3]
	Oyin Oladejo	Three Sisters
2025	Nancy Palk	Infinite Life	[13]
	Dan Mousseau	There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or, The Born-Again Crow

Best Supporting Performance in a Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Oliver Dennis	The Fantasticks	[1]
	Kate Hennig	Billy Elliot the Musical
2012	Deborah Hay	Caroline, or Change	[4]
	Elliott Loran	Ride the Cyclone
2013	Darrin Baker	Falsettos	[5]
	Bryn McAuley	Snow White: The Deliciously Dopey Family Musical
2014	James Monroe Iglehart	Aladdin	[6]
	Lana Carillo	The Little Mermaid
2015	Susan Gilmour	The Wild Party	[7]
	Jacob MacInnis	James and the Giant Peach
2016	Justin Bolt	The Wizard of Oz	[8]
	AJ Bridel	Kinky Boots
2017	Dan Chameroy	Matilda the Musical	[9]
	Vanessa Sears	Passing Strange
2018	Cynthia Dale	Fun Home	[10]
	Derek Kwan	Mr. Shi and His Lover
2019	Mary Fay Coady	Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story	[11]
	Jessica Sherman	Dear Evan Hansen
Ephraim Sykes	Ain't Too Proud
2020	Vanessa Sears	Caroline, or Change	[12]
2024	George Krissa	Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812	[3]
	Heeyun Park
2025	Julia Pulo	Life After	[13]

Best Ensemble Performance in a Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2019	Rachel Cairns, Aisha Evelyna, Ruth Goodwin, Annelise Hawrylak, Ula Jurecka, Brittany Kay, Heath V. Salazar, Hallie Seline, Amaka Umeh, Robyn Stevan	The Wolves	[11]
2020	Colin Doyle, Amy Keating, Durae McFarlane, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett	The Flick	[12]
	Kaleb Alexander, Mazin Elsadig, Alex McCooeye	Pass Over
2024	Christopher Allen, Ben Carlson, Philippa Domville, Peter Fernandes, Tara Nicodemo, Yanna McIntosh, Mike Shara	The Master Plan	[3]
2025	Kragva, Moog, Wug	Goblin: Macbeth	[13]

Best Ensemble Performance in a Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2019	Rielle Braid, Peter Deiwick, Bruce Dow, Donna Garner, Kira Guloien, David Fox, Britta Johnson, Dave Autar, Mia Johnson, Zahra Khan, Abi Lee, Liam Lockhart-Rush, Alejandra Nunez, James Parchment, Danté Prince, Emmett Young, Jill Wood	Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life	[11]
2020	Beau Dixon, Hailey Gillis, Kira Guloien, Andrew Penner	Ghost Quartet	[12]
2024	Dave Ball, Joel Cumber, Eva Foote, Peter Fernandes, Mike Jackson, Julia McLellan, Jessica Sherman, Margaret Thompson, Kelsey Verzotti, Jeremy Walmsley	Kelly v. Kelly	[3]
2025	Charlie Clark, Sierra Holder, Nathanael Judah, David Lopez, Marcus Nance, Matt Nethersole, David Andrew Reid, and Amaka Umeh	A Strange Loop	[13]

Best Solo Performance in a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2025	Haley McGee	Age Is a Feeling	[13]

Best Director of a Play

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Gina Wilkinson	Wide Awake Hearts	[1]
2012	Weyni Mengesha	The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs	[4]
2013	Mitchell Cushman	Terminus	[5]
2014	Albert Schultz	Of Human Bondage	[6]
2015	Soheil Parsa	Blood Wedding	[7]
2016	Ravi Jain	Salt-Water Moon	[8]
2017	Philip Akin	"Master Harold"...and the Boys	[9]
2018	Erin Brubacher	Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools	[10]
	Jani Lauzon	The Monument
2019	Nina Lee Aquino	School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play	[11]
	Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu	The Brothers Size
2020	Philip Akin	Actually	[12]
		Pass Over
2024	Andrew Kushnir	Bad Roads	[3]
	Leora Morris	The Sound Inside
2025	Dylan Trowbridge	Cock	[13]

Best Director of a Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2012	Britt Small, Jacob Richmond	Ride the Cyclone	[4]
2013	Casey Nicholaw, Trey Parker	'The Book of Mormon	[5]
2014	Jackie Maxwell	London Road	[6]
2015	Albert Schultz	Spoon River	[7]
2016	Tyrone Savage	The Chasse-Galerie	[8]
2017	Christopher Ashley	Come from Away	[9]
2018	Robert McQueen	Fun Home	[10]
2019	Christian Barry	Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story	[11]
2020	Marie Farsi	Ghost Quartet	[12]
	Conor McPherson	Girl from the North Country
2024	Gregory Prest	De Profundis: Oscar Wilde in Jail	[3]
2025	Ilana Khanin	I Was Unbecoming Then	[13]

Best Design of a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2011	Robert Gardiner	Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge	[1]
2012	Creative team (names not specified in source)	War Horse	[4]
2013	Nick Blais	Terminus	[5]
2014	Lorenzo Savoini, Erika Connor, Mike Ross	Of Human Bondage	[6]
2015	Nick Blais, Ken Mackenzie, Lindsay Junkin, Sam Sholdice, Marcus Jamin	Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play	[7]
2016	Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani, Meg Roe, Jay Gower Taylor, Tom Visser, Nancy Bryant	Betroffenheit	[8]
	Lorenzo Savoini, Kimberly Purtell, Debashis Sinha	Eurydice
2017	Robert Lepage, Jean-Sébastien Côté, Laurent Routhier, Félix Fradet-Faguy	887	[9]
2018	Nick Blais, Lindsay Dagger Junkin, Andre du Toit, Richard Feren	Jerusalem	[10]
2019	Patrick Lavender, Richard Feren, Michelle Bohn, Nick Bottomley	The Nether	[11]
2020	Nick Blais, Nick Bottomley, Anahita Dehbonehie, Richard Feren	The Flick	[12]
2024	Nick Blais, Heidi Chan, Anahita Dehbonehie, Niloufar Ziaee	A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney	[3]

Best Scenic Design of a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2025	Ken Mackenzie	Last Landscape	[13]

Best Lighting Design of a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2025	Bonnie Beecher, Jeff Pybus	People, Places and Things	[13]
	Chris Malkowski	Measure for Measure

Best Costume Design of a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2025	Pythia	Oraculum	[13]

Best Sound Design of a Play or Musical

Year	Recipient	Play	Ref
2025	John Gzowski, Suba Sankaran	Mahabharata	[13]

Special Citation

Year	Recipient	Reason	Ref
2011	Ken Gass	Contributions to Toronto theatre as founder and artistic director of Factory Theatre	[1]
2012	Eric Peterson	Lifetime achievement as an actor	[4]
2013	None presented		[4]
2014	VideoCabaret	Outstanding body of work	[6]
2015	None presented		[7]
2016	Videofag		[8]
2017	Jon Kaplan	Posthumous honour as a theatre critic	[9]
2018	Bob Nasmith	"untraditional, decades-long theatre career and his spirit of adventure and enquiry"	[10]
2019	None presented		[11]
2020	Outside the March	creative response to the COVID-19 pandemic via the improvisational phone-based drama The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries	[12]
2024	Daniel MacIvor	Exceptional artistic achievement	[3]
2025	Buddies in Bad Times, Native Earth Performing Arts	There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or, The Born-Again Crow	[13]
	Weyni Mengesha	Contributions to Toronto theatre as artistic director of Soulpepper Theatre from 2018 to 2025

See also

• Dora Mavor Moore Awards

References

1. J. Kelly Nestruck, "The Tonys, the Doras - now the critics weigh in on the best of the theatre season". The Globe and Mail , June 7, 2011.
2. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards laud Natasha and Pierre, The Master Plan and Casey and Diana". The Globe and Mail , June 11, 2024.
3. Liam Donovan, "Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards announce 2024 winners". Intermission, June 11, 2024.
4. Rachel Phan, "Five thumbs up for these plays; A matter of Kim's Convenience for Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". National Post , May 31, 2012.
5. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Mirvish posts big and small wins at Toronto critics' awards". The Globe and Mail , May 23, 2013.
6. Glenn Sumi, "Critics’ choice". Now , May 22, 2024.
7. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Toronto theatre critics name their favourites of the year". The Globe and Mail , May 27, 2015.
8. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Kinky Boots takes top honour at the Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". The Globe and Mail , May 27, 2016.
9. Karen Fricker, "Come From Away wins Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". Toronto Star , May 25, 2017.
10. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Fun Home, Mr. Shi and His Lover top Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". The Globe and Mail , May 24, 2018.
11. J. Kelly Nestruck, "Old Stock, School Girls are big winners at first gender-neutral Toronto Theatre Critics Awards". The Globe and Mail , May 22, 2019.
12. Glenn Sumi, "Toronto theatre critics acknowledge best of a shortened season". Now , June 3, 2020.
13. Liam Donovan, "Announcing the winners of the 2025 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards". Intermission, May 9, 2025.