Paprika Alumni
Paprika’s list of alumni is extensive and wide-reaching. In our 24 seasons to date we have supported the artistic work of over 1,600 individuals and launched over 160 professional careers. Here are some former Paprika participants who continue to create for the stage:
Bilal Baig
Bilal Baig (she/they) is a writer, actor, and producer for stage and screen, as well as a workshop developer and facilitator for art-focused non-profits. Baig’s published works include their first play, Acha Bacha (2020, nominated for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writer’s Trust of Canada), and an anthology of monologues they co-edited for queer/trans artists titled This Is Beyond (2023). Baig was a co-creator, executive producer, and lead actor in their Peabody Award–winning series Sort Of (2021–2023), for which Baig received the Canadian Screen Award for comedy writing and performance, as well as a Gotham Award nomination for performance in a new series. Baig has facilitated creative writing and playwriting programs for trans artists, BIPOC artists, and trans youth, including Trans Gemmes (2019–2020), Paprika Festival’s Playwrights Unit (2019–2023), Being Me (2023–), and Dialogue Dolls (2023–).
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/sortofbilal
Maddie Bautista
Maddie Bautista (she/her) is a Bi, Saudi Arabia-born Filipina sound designer and composer based in Treaty 13, Tkaronto. Maddie received 2 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Love You Wrong Time (Outstanding Sound design and composition, and Outstanding Ensemble).
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/xlqpopart/
Website: https://www.maddiebautista.com/
Isi Bhakhomen
Magda “isi bhakhomen” Uculmana-Falcón is a storyteller of Afro-Peruvian and Nigerian descent. Their work as an artist spans many different mediums. Through stories they aim to build worlds that give black folks the freedom to breathe, to laugh and to heal.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/isi_bhakhomen/
Website: https://www.isibhakhomen.com/
Kanika Ambrose
Kanika Ambrose is a two-time Dora Award-winning playwright, opera librettist, and screenwriter. Her plays “Our Place” and “Truth” both earned Dora Awards for “Outstanding New Play” in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
She is a graduate of Canadian Film Centre’s Bell Media Primetime TV Program (2022-2023).
Other notable works: Opera “Of the Sea” (2023) with composer Ian Cusson (Tapestry Opera/Obsidian Theatre). Concert “The Big Easy: Music of New Orleans” (2024) (Soulpepper), writer of two pieces on Juno-nominated classical album “Known to Dreamers: Black Voices in Canadian Arts Song” (2021) (Canadian Art Song Project), Tak-tak-shoo with composer Rene Orth (Opera Philadelphia).
Kanika is Associate Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company and a former Artistic Producer of Paprika Festival. She was featured as one of Cahoots Theatre Company’s 30 for 30 theatre makers for their 30th anniversary season. This year, she is Tarragon Theatre’s OAC Playwright in Residence.
Joelle Peters
Joelle Peters is an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) award-winning playwright and actor from Walpole Island First Nation in Southwestern Ontario. A graduate of Seneca College’s Acting for Camera and Voice Program, Joelle has appeared on Shoresy (Crave/Hulu), Web of Lies (Discovery+), and in the film In Her City (Raven West Films Ltd). Selected theatre credits: Dreary and Izzy (Theatre Northwest), The Election (Nightwood/Theatre Direct/Commonboots/Passe Muraille), Only Drunks and Children Tell The Truth (Western Canada Theatre/Thousand Islands Playhouse), Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin (Signal/Soundstreams), Women of the Fur Trade (Stratford Festival).
She is also the Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts.
In 2020, Joelle was named the Siminovitch Prize Protegee for Playwriting by Laureate Tara Beagan. Joelle’s plays include Frozen River (co-written by Carrie Costello and Michaela Washburn, winner of the 2021 Sharon Enkin Plays for Young People award), Niizh (supported by and premiered at Native Earth Performing Arts and commissioned by the Blyth Festival, published by Playwrights Canada Press), and do you remember? (commissioned by Burnt Thicket Theatre for the We Treaty People audio series).
Instagram: @joellepeters.jpg
Twitter/X: @j0ellepeters
Website: joellepeters.ca
Testimonials
Rosamund Small, Dora award-winning playwright and Paprika alumniI can’t imagine that much of my work would have seen the light of day without this festival. I can draw a direct line from my experience with Paprika and my work being heard and produced.
Mitchell Marcus, Artistic + Managing Director, The Musical Stage CompanyPaprika offers a nurturing and expansive entry point for young artists into the Toronto theatre scene and the Festival contributes significantly to our cultural fabric by growing the artists of tomorrow.
Bilal Baig, Paprika alumni and returning participantThe Paprika Festival gave us the space to take risks and be fearless. We were given the support of wonderful artists who all helped in some way to shape our show. I feel validated as a young artist because Paprika takes my work seriously and their support has made me the artist I am today.
Owais Lightwala, Paprika alumniPaprika was one of the first experiences where I remember getting taken seriously as a young person with something to say, I will never forget getting feedback on our tiny little collective’s tiny little show from people like Daniel MacIvor and Matthew Jocelyn that Paprika gave us access to. It was so validating and motivating to have those leaders with all their experience take the time to talk to this nobody from Scarborough. It was my invitation into a community I now call home.