Announcing the winners of the 2025 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards
iPhoto caption: 'A Strange Loop' photo by Dahlia Katz.
The Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards (TTCAs) jury has announced its 2025 results — 22 winners across 17 categories, plus a pair of special citations.
This 12th iteration of the TTCAs recognizes professional theatre productions that opened in the city between May 16, 2024 and April 30, 2025. That date range is inclusive, which turned out to be great news for the Canadian premiere of the musical A Strange Loop. The still-running show opened on the final day of eligibility and took home three awards.
Why Not Theatre’s two-part Mahabharata, presented by Canadian Stage, also received three prizes, tying with A Strange Loop for most awarded show. It will now head to Ottawa’s National Arts Centre from May 13 to 25, and New York’s Lincoln Center from June 24 to 29.
Founded in 2011, the TTCAs are given out by a jury of professional theatre critics, this year consisting of myself, Ryan Borochovitz, Joshua Chong, Paula Citron, Karen Fricker, Stephanie Fung, Arpita Ghosal, James Karas, Ilana Lucas, Aisling Murphy, Steven Ross, Drew Rowsome, Scott Sneddon, and Glenn Sumi — the largest amount of voters in the awards’ history.
The scope of the awards has also expanded. For the first time, there are categories for individual design elements as well as solo performance.
Soulpepper Theatre was the most awarded company; its presentations won a total of six prizes. In addition, outgoing Soulpepper artistic director Weyni Mengesha was honoured with a special citation. “As Weyni Mengesha’s tenure at Soulpepper Theatre Company comes to an end, the jury wishes to recognize her myriad contributions to theatre in Toronto since her appointment in 2018,” wrote Murphy in a press release. “Mengesha shored up Soulpepper during a period of intense change — and a global pandemic not long after that — and today leaves behind a company in stellar artistic shape.”
The jury awarded another special citation to Caleigh Crow’s The Born Again-Crow, recognizing Native Earth Performing Arts and Buddies in Bad Times’ co-production of the Toronto premiere as a remarkable blend of the two companies’ artistic mandates. “If you’ve submitted a cover letter in the past year, this show probably hit close to home. The Born-Again Crow was a spectacle in a slow-cooker that uniquely captured the disenchantment of a younger working class,” wrote Fung. “[The show] was not just a standout co-production between Buddies and Native Earth, but a perfect fusion of their respective styles and ethos.”
Here is this year’s full list of winners:
Best New Canadian Work
Mahabharata by Miriam Fernandes and Ravi Jain (produced by Why Not Theatre and presented by Canadian Stage)
Monks by Veronica Hortigüela and Annie Luján (produced by Hortigüela and Luján at Crow’s Theatre and The Theatre Centre)
Best International Work
Infinite Life by Annie Baker (produced by Coal Mine Theatre)
What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck (co-produced by Soulpepper Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, in association with Necessary Angel Theatre Company and Talk is Free Theatre)
Best Production of a Play
Mahabharata (produced by Why Not Theatre and presented by Canadian Stage)
Best Production of a Musical
A Strange Loop (co-produced by Soulpepper Theatre, Musical Stage Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live)
Best Lead Performance in a Play
Noah Reid, A Case for the Existence of God (produced by Coal Mine Theatre)
Ins Choi, Kim’s Convenience (produced by Soulpepper Theatre in association with American Conservatory Theater and Adam Blanshay Productions)
Best Lead Performance in a Musical
Malachi McCaskill, A Strange Loop (co-produced by Soulpepper Theatre, Musical Stage Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live)
Best Supporting Performance in a Play
Nancy Palk, Infinite Life (produced by Coal Mine Theatre)
Dan Mousseau, There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death, or, The Born-Again Crow (co-produced by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and Native Earth Performing Arts)
Best Supporting Performance in a Musical
Julia Pulo, Life After (produced by Yonge Street Theatricals and presented by Mirvish)
Best Ensemble Performance in a Play
Kragva, Moog, and Wug, Goblin: Macbeth (produced by Spontaneous Theatre and presented by Tarragon Theatre)
Best Ensemble Performance in a Musical
Charlie Clark, Sierra Holder, Nathanael Judah, David Lopez, Marcus Nance, Matt Nethersole, David Andrew Reid, and Amaka Umeh, A Strange Loop (co-produced by Soulpepper Theatre, Musical Stage Company, Crow’s Theatre, and TO Live)
Best Solo Performance in a Play or Musical
Haley McGee, Age is a Feeling (co-produced by the Soho Theatre and Haley McGee Productions in association with Luminato Festival Toronto, and presented by Soulpepper Theatre)
Best Director of a Play
Dylan Trowbridge, Cock (produced by Talk is Free Theatre)
Best Director of a Musical
Ilana Khanin, I Was Unbecoming Then (produced by Olivia Daniels at the Next Stage Theatre Festival)
Best Scenic Design of a Play or Musical
Ken Mackenzie, Last Landscape (produced by Bad New Days in association with Common Boots Theatre, and presented at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre)
Best Lighting Design of a Play or Musical
Bonnie Beecher and Jeff Pybus, People, Places and Things (produced by Coal Mine Theatre)
Chris Malkowski, Measure for Measure (produced by HOUSE + BODY in association with Crow’s Theatre)
Best Costume Design of a Play or Musical
Pythia, Oraculum (co-produced by Buddies in Bad Times and Denim + Pythia)
Best Sound Design and Music of a Play or Musical
John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran, Mahabharata (produced by Why Not Theatre and presented by Canadian Stage)
Special Citation
There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death, or, The Born-Again Crow (co-produced by Buddies in Bad Times and Native Earth Performing Arts)
Weyni Mengesha, artistic director of Soulpepper Theatre
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Weyni Mengesha has done an amazing job of transforming Soulpepper and the Canadian theatre industry. Looking forward to what she does next!