Joshua Quinlan

Joshua Quinlan

Protégé, 2021

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Joshua Quinlan is a set and costume designer whose work was most recently a part of the Langham Directors’ Workshop at the Stratford Festival. Since 2016, Joshua has assisted many of Canada’s leading designers for theatres coast to coast, including Terra Bruce, Mirvish, The National Ballet of Canada, Arts Club, Blyth Festival, Globe Theatre, Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, and he has assisted on twenty productions over five seasons at the Stratford Festival. Joshua is a recipient of the 2019 Tom Patterson Award and the 2017 Ian and Molly Lindsay Fellowship, and in 2020, he was a Pauline McGibbon Award nominee. Joshua is a graduate of The University of Windsor, and he completed his M.F.A. in Theatre – Design at The Ohio State University.

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Acceptance Speech

I cannot begin to express my gratitude without acknowledging how difficult and dark the past 20 months have been. I have come to appreciate the pause, for it has been a time to question, to reflect, and to breathe.

At this very moment — the time of this filming — it is opening night of my first full-capacity, indoor show in two years. I feel our world coming back to life and I feel very alive in it.

I would like to begin by thanking the Siminovitch Prize Foundation, as well as the RBC Foundation and their Emerging Artists Program. It means the world to me that there are people so dedicated to supporting artists and creators; giving us a platform to be seen, and a chance to learn. Your commitment to the arts makes our dreams possible.

Thank you to my many mentors for sharing your brilliant minds with me. I wouldn’t be here today without your guidance.

My family. Thank you for your unwavering love and support. Myles. Ross. Grandma. Alyssa. And my Mom, who has been with me through it all. I love you.

Gillian. Thank you so much for this opportunity and my sincerest congratulations on your incredible achievement. I still remember my first encounter with your work — a set of costume renderings for The Physicists. Your characters jumped off the page and have been with me ever since. I am in awe of your precision and creativity, from the page to the stage, the micro to the macro, the worlds you create are absolutely breathtaking. Thank you for your trust and for believing in me — it means more to me than my words will ever be able to express.

Joyce. I am so grateful and humbled to be in this moment with you looking forward.

Here’s to the future.

Thank you.

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Nancy Bryant

Nancy Bryant

Finalist, 2021

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Biography

Nancy Bryant is an established costume designer living in Vancouver and works widely designing for dance, theatre, opera, and television. Her work brings her together with various teams of fellow designers, directors, writers, and choreographers to theatre spaces and production workshops both locally and far afield.

Nancy’s approach to costume design has been influenced by her visual arts background and her work with innovators and groundbreakers including Morris Panych (The Overcoat), Kim Collier (Angels in America, Hamlet), and Jonathon Young (Betroffenheit, Revisor) to name a few.

Collaborations with choreographer Crystal Pite have had much notoriety in Europe, the UK, the USA, and across Canada, including pieces with The National Ballet of Canada, The Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Opera House, Zurich Opera House, Netherlands Dance Theatre, and with Pite’s company Kidd Pivot.

Recipient of the 2020 BC Achievement Foundation Award of Distinction, Olivia Awards for Best New Dance Production (2017 and 2018), Toronto Critics’ Theatre Award, a Leo Award, and twelve Jessie Richardson Awards.

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Nathalie Bonjour

Nathalie Bonjour

Jury Member, 2017

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Biography

Originally from France, Nathalie has lived in Montreal and Ottawa and has been based in Toronto since 2000. She is a senior performing arts consultant, producer and coach who has worked in leadership positions in the performing arts in Canada for the past twenty five years – from independent companies creating new work to larger organizations, including: MAI (Montreal, Arts Interculturels), Just for Laughs Festival, National Arts Centre, Nightwood Theatre and Queen of Puddings Music Theatre.

Nathalie has been instrumental in developing and producing many important new Canadian theatre, dance and opera works and has toured several of them nationally and internationally. Nathalie has been a consultant since 2012, producing, touring, and providing organizational development and strategic planning services to several companies. In the last couple of years she has produced shows presented by Panamania and Luminato Festivals in Toronto, Magnetic North Festival, as well as Festivals in Morocco, Taiwan, Germany and the UK, including this August the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.

As a lay person Nathalie has sat on many Boards, committees and juries. Nathalie holds a Masters degree from UQAM; her thesis examined theatre as a tool for intercultural communication. She also completed the program of the Schulich School’s Executive Directors’ Institute, the Coach Training Institute curriculum and recently obtained a Positive Psychology Coaching Certificate from the Wholebeing Institute.

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Joey Tremblay

Joey Tremblay

Jury Member, 2018

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Biography

Joey grew up in a very small hamlet called Ste. Marthe in Southeast Saskatchewan. He received a B.F.A. in Drama from the University of Regina (1987) and a diploma from the Vancouver Playhouse Acting School (1989). After working several years as a freelance actor, Joey co-founded Noises in the Attic, a theatre company mandated to produce and create new Canadian plays on the fringe festival circuit across Canada. From 1996 to 2002, Joey became Artistic Co-director of Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton where he wrote, directed and produced (and sometimes performed in) the following plays: Electra, The Abundance Trilogy, My Perfect Heaven, Elephant Wake, Songs for Sinners, The House of Pootsie Plunket, The Blue Orphan and Carmen Angel, which, combined, have garnered over 30 awards and nominations for outstanding work: including two Scotsman Fringe First awards for outstanding writing. Currently Joey is living in Regina and is the Artistic Director of Curtain Razors, a company dedicated to incubating and nurturing a theatrical ecology of new work that expresses the experiences of living in Saskatchewan.

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Anita Rochon

Anita Rochon

Jury Member, 2018

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Biography

Anita Rochon is a director and theatre maker. Since 2006, she’s been the artistic director of The Chop with Emelia Symington Fedy. The Chop is an award winning Vancouver-based company whose work is known for its sophisticated experimentation with authenticity and involves non-traditional collaborators and some of the finest artists working in Canada. The Chop tours nationally and internationally with past presentation in Toronto (Factory Theatre), Victoria (Belfry) Burnaby (Shadbold Centre for the Arts), Richmond (Gateway Theatre), Whitehorse (Pivot Festival), Ottawa (Magnetic North), Halifax (2b Theatre), Stratford (Stratford Festival), Montreal (Usine C and Segal Centre), Portland (TBA Festival), Seattle (On the Boards), Edinburgh (Edinburgh Fringe), Dublin (Abbey Theatre, Dublin Fringe), Brighton (SICK Festival) and London, England (Battersea Arts Centre). As a director, Anita has worked at The Shaw Festival, Electric Company Theatre, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Replacement, Belfry Theatre, Théâtre la Seizième, Globe Theatre and Vancouver Opera. She is a graduate of Studio 58 (Acting) and the National Theatre School of Canada (Directing). She is the recipient of the Ray Michal Prize for an Outstanding Body of Work by a New Director, a Mayor’s Arts Award (awarded by Donna Spencer) and the Siminovitch Protégé prize (awarded by Kim Collier).

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Simi News

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> Be the first to know about current artistic projects of the Siminovitch Prize community.

> Learn about emerging artists who are shaping the future of Canadian theatre.

> Stay informed about upcoming opportunities and calls for nominations.

Stay in the know.