Dora Awards return with record submissions since 2019

Toronto's Dora Awards are returning this month with the highest number of show submissions since 2019, signaling the city's theatre industry is regaining momentum. The 46th annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards will be held at Meridian Hall on June 29. A total of 214 productions were submitted this year, and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 221 nominations across 44 gender-inclusive categories spanning theatre, dance, and opera. Founded in 1978, the awards honour the legacy of Dora Mavor Moore, a theatre teacher and director whose work shaped the development of professional theatre in Canada. Actor Amaka Umeh will host the ceremony after earning two nominations this season for roles in *Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary* and *Narnia*, bringing their career total to 10 Dora nominations. Several awards were handed out ahead of the main ceremony. Designer Ashley Naomi received the Pauline McGibbon Award for early-career promise, becoming the first trans person and trans woman of colour to win the prize. "I carry the full weight of this amid the heavy tides that this world is facing from multiple angles," Naomi said in her acceptance speech, "and I hope to be the first of many." Artistic director Michael Caldwell won the biannual George Luscombe Mentorship Award for outstanding mentorship in the performing arts, while Clay and Paper Theatre received the Ray Ferris Innovation and Sustainability Grant worth $25,000.