Small-scale plays and musicals win big at the 2026 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards

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Through the Eyes of God, a 45-minute drama about a mother on a quest to rescue her daughter from a human trafficking ring, dominated the 2026 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards, receiving prizes for director Thomas Morgan Jones and solo performer Gabriella Sundar Singh. The production, which played in Theatre Passe Muraille’s intimate Backspace for a short run in February, also took home the award for best production of a play.

But Through the Eyes of God wasn’t the only small-scale show to make an impression on the jury, which this year included critics from The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Next Magazine and Intermission Magazine, among others.

Bug, written by Tracy Letts and given a harrowing, claustrophobic production at the tiny King Black Box in Parkdale, received nods for lead actor Nicholas Eddie and scenic designer Sophie Ann Rooney. Eldritch Theatre, meanwhile, Eric Woolfe’s beloved horror company in residence at the cozy Red Sandcastle Theatre in Leslieville, received a special citation for its largest – and largest-impact – season yet.

“Eldritch Theatre’s dark and twisted tales grew bigger and more complex, with more weird little guys and angsty outsiders, without compromising Woolfe’s unique style and vision,” wrote jury member Robyn Grant-Moran in a short tribute to the company, whose production of Night at the Grand Guignol also won an award for best costume design.

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Indie theatre continued to fare well in the musical theatre categories. Martin Julien, who played Man in Chair in Shifting Ground Collective’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone, was awarded best lead performance in a musical, with jury members highlighting Julien’s ability to telegraph the character’s love of Broadway without much singing or dancing. Meredith Shedden, meanwhile, artistic director of Bowtie Productions, took home the prize for best director of a musical for her work on the company’s Tick, Tick… Boom!, which played for a short run at Alumnae Theatre in November.

Toronto’s larger theatre companies also had a strong showing at this year’s awards. Crow’s Theatre, in particular, received a number of commendations for work in both of its performance spaces. Octet, the a cappella musical about internet addiction directed by Chris Abraham, won awards for best production of a musical and best ensemble performance in a musical. Rogers v. Rogers, about one of Canada’s most prominent telecom empires, also snagged a prize for its digital design by Nathan Bruce.

Also at Crow’s, multiple shows in the company’s small studio theatre were recognized in performance and design categories. Matthew G. Brown was honoured with the prize for best supporting performance in a play for his extraordinary work in The Christmas Market, while the casts of both Pu Songling: Strange Tales and The Division received awards for best ensemble performance in a play. On the scenography side of things, Ashley Naomi was singled out for her sound design of The Veil, the frightening solo show in which every sound cue contributed to the play’s spooky atmosphere.

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Vanessa Sears was commended for her lead performance as Juliet in Mirvish’s all-Canadian & Juliet. TTCA jury members said Sears’s work in the high-energy jukebox confection was some of her strongest to date, with impressive flourishes across acting, singing and dancing disciplines.

Rounding out the performance category winners were Sophia Walker, Kristen Thomson, Damien Atkins and Thomas Winiker for their roles in Slave Play, Fulfillment Centre, Robin Hood: A Very Merry Family Musical and Kimberly Akimbo, respectively. All three received praise from the jury for deeply felt, nuanced performances in roles that fit like a glove.

Ronnie Burkett, arguably this country’s most prolific puppeteer, won the inaugural award for best puppetry for his work on Little Willy. Bonnie Beecher snagged a nod for best lighting design for her gorgeous work on The Welkin, which made Soulpepper’s Marilyn and Charles Baillie Theatre feel like a painting, or even a memory.

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Prizes for best choreography went to Alyssa Martin for her work on Dance Nation, produced by Coal Mine Theatre and Outside the March in association with Rock Bottom Movement, and Christopher Wheeldon, for his work on the touring production of MJ, which played at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre last fall.

Writing awards went to The Neighbours, Canadian playwright Nicolas Billon’s thriller about a small community’s harrowing past, and Eureka Day, American scribe Jonathan Spector’s anti-vax satire about a private school and its fight to appease both sides of a hot-button issue.

The Neighbours “is horror at its best,” wrote Toronto Star arts critic Joshua Chong in a tribute to the unsettling script. “Billon’s play is a mature, full-fledged work, reminiscent of the shimmering glow of a surrealist painting. Its astonishing Canadian premiere, produced by Green Light Arts at Tarragon Theatre, proves why it deserves to have a long life at theatres around the country.”