Opera company cleans up at Doras
The Canadian Opera Company has emerged as the big winner at the 36th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, capturing eight prizes.
Five of the awards went to the company’s acclaimed production of Falstaff, including Outstanding Production, and three to Die Walkure, including an Outstanding Direction award for filmmaker Atom Egoyan.
A total of 48 Doras were conferred in the categories of general theatre, independent, musical, musical theatre/opera, opera, theatre for young audiences and dance on Monday night. Modern Times Stage Company and Aluna Theatre won six awards for their co-production of Blood Wedding in the independent theatre category, including Outstanding Production and Direction by Soheil Parsa.
Soulpepper Theatre took home five awards, including three in the general theatre division; two for Accidental Death of an Anarchist, including Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Ensemble for Twelve Angry Men. Soulpepper’s Spoon River won two awards, including Outstanding New Musical/Opera.
In the musical theatre division, Mirvish Productions landed three awards for Once, including Outstanding Production and Ensemble, and one for The Heart of Robin Hood.
In the general theatre category, Hannah Moscovitch won Outstanding New Play for Infinity, a coproduction by Tarragon Theatre and Volcano Theatre. Jordan Tannahill won Outstanding New Play for Concord Floral, a production of Suburban Beast with Why Not Theatre, in the independent theatre category.
The annual Silver Ticket Award, given to an individual for an outstanding career in the Canadian theatre, was presented to prop builder Fina MacDonell.
The Audience Choice Award for Outstanding Production was given to Sheridan College’s Canadian Music Theatre Project production of Brantwood. Bruce DeMara