The Siminovitch Prize is Canada's largest theatre award recognizing excellence in mid-career directors, playwrights and designers. $100,000 is awarded annually, and for recipients, who are given the public recognition and financial resources, it is truly life-changing!
Anyone may nominate a qualified candidate for the Prize, and winners are selected by a jury made up of prominent theatre professionals. Nominees must be a professional director, playwright, or designer who, in the preceding 10 years, has made a significant creative contribution to no fewer than three noteworthy theatre projects in Canada.
A condition of the award is that one quarter of the prize (CAD$25,000) must be awarded to an emerging artist "Protégé" selected by the winner.
The Protégé must be an individual involved in professional direction, playwriting, or design in Canadian theatre.
The winner may choose to grant the amount to a single Protégé or divide it between two eligible Protégés. Three finalists also receive CAD$5,000.
History
Formally, the Elinore & Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, the Siminovitch Prize was launched in 2000 to honour the values and achievements of the distinguished scientist
Louis ("Lou") Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore Siminovitch who was a pioneering playwright. A group of Dr. Siminovitch’s friends and colleagues came together on the occasion of his 80th birthday to create this award . Twelve individuals and six organizations founded the prize; primary amongst them was the prize's largest financial sponsor, the
BMO Financial Group
The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...
.
In March 2012, BMO announced that the 12th edition of the prize would be its last.
[,] In an interview one of the prize's founders, Joseph Rotman, he stated that the Siminovitch Prize was never conceived to run in perpetuity.
However, in July 2013, new financial supporters were secured resulting in the revival of the Siminovitch Prize.
The Prize has continued ever since, under the direction of the Siminovitch Prize Foundation, funded annually by individual donors and corporate sponsors.
Recipients
The recipients of the Siminovitch Prize since its inception are:
*2001 (director) -
Daniel Brooks
*2002 (playwright) -
Carole Fréchette
Carole Fréchette (born 1949) is a Canadian playwright. She won the Siminovitch Prize in 2002. To date she has written more than a dozen plays including ''The Four Lives of Marie'', ''The Seven Days of Simon Labrosse'', ''Helen's Necklace'', ''J ...
*2003 (designer) - Louise Campeau
*2004 (director) -
Jillian Keiley
Jillian Keiley is a director from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, who was the founding artistic director of ''Artistic Fraud'' ''of Newfoundland''. Since August 2012, Keiley has been the artistic director for English Theatre at Canada's Na ...
*2005 (playwright) -
John Mighton
*2006 (designer) - Dany Lyne
*2007 (director) -
Brigitte Haentjens
Brigitte Haentjens, is a Canadian theatre director and president of her own company, Sybillines, which she founded in 1997.Jean St-Hilaire"Brigitte Haentjens reçoit le prestigieux prix Siminovitch" ''Le Soleil'', online posting in Cyberpresse'', ...
*2008 (playwright) -
Daniel MacIvor
*2009 (designer) -
Ronnie Burkett
Ronnie Burkett, OC is a Canadian puppeteer, best known for his original theatrical plays for adults, performed with marionettes. Burkett, who hails from Medicine Hat, was the puppeteer for Ralph on the TV Ontario series '' Harriet's Magic Hats'' ...
*2010 (director) - Kim Collier
*2011 (playwright) -
*2012 (designer) - Robert Thomson
*2013 (director) - Chris Abraham (the only laureate to receive both the protégé and main prize)
*2014 (playwright) -
Olivier Choinière
Olivier Choinière (born July 10, 1973) is a Canadian playwright from Granby, Quebec.Gaëtan Charlebois"Choinière, Olivier" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', April 24, 2020. He is most noted as a three-time nominee for the Governor General's Aw ...
*2015 (designer) - Anick La Bissonnière
*2016 (director) - Nadia Ross
*2017 (playwright) - Marcus Youssef of Vancouver
["Playwright Marcus Youssef wins $100K Siminovitch Prize"]
CBC News
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
, November 6, 2017.
*2018 (designer) - Stéphanie Jasmin of Montreal
*2019 (directors) - Maiko Yamamoto and James Long
*2020 (playwright) - Tara Beagan
*2021 (designer) - Gillian Gallow
*2022 (director) -
Marie Brassard
Marie Brassard is a Canadian actress,Histoire du théâtre au Canada'. Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto; 1990. p. 158. theatrical writer and director. She is known for her work with playwright and actor Robert LepageNew Yo ...
J. Kelly Nestruck
James Kelleher Nestruck ( ; styled as J. Kelly Nestruck) is a Canadian journalist and theatre critic. He is currently the chief theatre critic for ''The Globe and Mail''.
Life and career
Nestruck was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was raised in Mo ...
"Marie Brassard wins 2022 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre"
''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', December 1, 2022.
The protégé recipients of the Siminovitch prize are:
*2001 - Chris Abraham
*2002 - Geneviève Billet
*2003 - Magalie Amyot and Michèle Magnon
*2004 - Danielle Irvine
*2005 - Anton Piatigorsky
*2006 - Camellia Koo and April Anne Viczko
*2007 -
Christian Lapointe
Christian Lapointe (born 1978) is a Canadian theatre director from Quebec.
Biography
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Born in the region of Quebec, Christian Lapointe was admitted as a student in interpretation at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec and then t ...
*2008 -
Daniel Arnold and
Medina Hahn
Medina Hahn is a Canadian actress and writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is most noted as cowriter with Darrell Dennis and Daniel Arnold of ''Inheritance: a pick-the-path experience'', a stage play which was shortlisted for the Gover ...
*2009 - Clea Minaker
*2010 - Anita Rochon
*2011 -
Anusree Roy
*2012 - Jason Hand and Raha Javanfar
*2013 - Mitchell Cushman
*2014 - Annick Lefebvre
*2015 - Marilène Bastien
*2016 - Shaista Laif and Sarah Conn
*2017 -
Christine Quintana
Christine Quintana is a Canadian actor, playwright and theatre director from Vancouver, British Columbia, whose play ''Selfie'' was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2021 Governor General's Awards.
''S ...
[
*2018 - Max-Otto Fauteux
*2019 - Conor Wylie
*2020 - Joelle Peters
*2021 - Joyce Padua and Joshua Quinlan
*2022 - Philippe Boutin][
]
References
{{reflist
External links
Official website
Canadian theatre awards
Awards established in 2001