Raoul Bhaneja to Host 2017 Dora Awards at the Elgin Theatre

The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) today announced the date, creative team, host and venue for the 38th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the awards show and party that celebrates extraordinary Toronto talent in the performing arts.

Dora Awards Producer Jacoba Knaapen announced that the much-anticipated event will take place on Monday, June 26 and that it will, for the very first time, be held in the Elgin Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre.

Knaapen also announced accomplished actor and musician Raoul Bhaneja as host of the event. A Gemini, Dora and Canadian Comedy Award nominee, Bhaneja has toured extensively with his own Hamlet (solo) and with Disgraced, which returns to Toronto in November, co-presented by his company Hope and Hell and Mirvish Productions once again at the Panasonic Theatre. Bhaneja earned a Dora nomination for his Life, Death and the Blues, co-produced with Theatre Passe Muraille. A Maple Blues Award winner, he has released five records with his band The Big Time, who also perform at the event.

TAPA also announced multi-talented Emmy, Gemini and Dora-nominated artist Diane Flacks as the writer for the show. Flacks takes on this key role for her second year in a row. Most recently she wrote and starred in Unholy for Nightwood Theatre, which is being remounted in the fall. Other plays include Myth Me,Waiting Room (being published this spring), By a Thread, SIBS with Richard Greenblatt and Theory of Relatives. Flacks writes for TV including Global/NBC'sWorking the Engels and CBC TV's Working Moms, Baroness Von Sketch Show, Young Drunk Punk and Kids in the Hall. She is currently the supervising producer of Qanuril, an Inuit language comedy for APTN.

Flacks joins a veteran creative team: acclaimed theatre director, actor and writer Ed Roy takes the helm as Director for his fifth time, and multi-award-winning Lighting and Production Designer Andrea Lundy returns for her sixteenth (!) consecutive year.

The Dora ceremony will take place for the first time in the Elgin Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. It has previously been held in the Winter Garden, but never the Elgin Theatre.

The always-fabulous pre-show VIP Reception and the fun-filled After-Party will both take place in the lobbies throughout the venue. Guests for the glamorous pre-show VIP reception will be greeted on the red carpet once again by the gifted Elley-Ray Hennessy, a veteran of stage, screen and radio. Guests will dance the night away at the After-Party to the rockin' blues of the award-winning The Big Time.

TAPA announces the nominees for the 2017 Dora Mavor Moore Awards at a press conference at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on the morning of May 30. The Province of Ontario's Pauline McGibbon Award, and the Leonard McHardy and John Harvey Award for Outstanding Leadership in Administration, are also given out at the press conference.

Tickets for this celebratory evening go on sale May 31 through the box office at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, either in person at the theatre at 189 Yonge Street or by calling 1-855-622-2787, and online via www.tapa.ca.

The Doras are named for Dora Mavor Moore (1888-1979), a well-loved teacher and director who helped establish Canadian professional theatre in the 1930s and 1940s. Recognizing the outstanding achievements in Toronto's performing arts industry, the Doras honour the creators of over 200 theatre, dance and opera productions annually in the following divisions: General Theatre, Independent Theatre, Musical Theatre, Dance, Opera and Theatre for Young Audiences.

The Dora Mavor Moore Awards are administered by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA). In addition to the Doras, other programs and services provided by TAPA include: Toronto's Official Theatre Guide, hipTIX (offering $5 tickets to students between the ages of 14 and 29), citySPECIAL, the Commercial Theatre Development Fund and the Travel Retreat Initiatives Program - TRIP.

IF YOU GO:

38th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards
- Toronto's Theatre, Dance and Opera Awards -

Hosted by Raoul Bhaneja
Written by Diane Flacks
Directed by Edward Roy
Lighting and Production Design by Andrea Lundy
Produced by Jacoba Knaapen

Monday June 26, 2017

At the Elgin Theatre of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, 189 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5B 1M4

6:00pm-7:00pm Pre-Show VIP Cocktail Reception in the Lobbies of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre

7:30pm Dora Mavor Moore Awards Show in the Elgin Theatre

10:30pm After-Party in the Lobbies of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre

TICKETS ON SALE May 31, 2017

Regular Tickets for Awards Show & After-Party: $90.00 (+HST & Ticketmaster fees)
Student, Senior, Artsworker Tickets for Awards Show & After-Party: $70 (+ HST & Ticketmaster fees)

For tickets, visit the Elgin Theatre Ticketmaster Box Office at 189 Yonge St, or call 1-855-622-ARTS (2787), or book online at tapa.ca

$20 After-Party Only Tickets can be purchased only onsite at the event beginning at 10:30pm

For $190 VIP Tickets (Pre-show VIP Reception, Dora Awards Show, After-Party), email Scott Dermody at scottd@tapa.ca

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