Applications for the Creators Unit program are Now Open until November 8, 2026 at 11:59pm ET!
This program is supported by Sweet Action Theatre and Tarragon Theatre.
About
The 2027 Creators Unit is for individual artists interested in collective creation and performance. This program will run from January – May 2027 and will be composed of four performing artists.
Aimed towards applicants interested in being part of a tight-knit creative team, the cohort will receive training in clown*, physical theatre and devised creation (with no experience necessary). The unit will culminate with a workshop performance of a collective creation for the 2027 Paprika Festival.
A facilitator will guide the group through an introduction to clown training, explorations in devised creation and various forms of physical theatre. The Creators Unit will also give the cohort the opportunity to work with guest artists, with a focus on physical theatre, characterization, comedy, dance, puppetry, viewpoints, and more, depending on the needs of the show.
Applicants should be comfortable improvising and creating on their feet. While applicants don’t need to have any creation or performing experience/training, they should be excited to perform in front of an audience.
We encourage artists who identify as Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Trans, Non-binary, Queer, Fat, Disabled, Mad, Neurodivergent, low income, and intersections of those identities to apply!
Applicants must be available the evening of Monday, November 30 or Tuesday, December 1 for an in-person audition in Toronto. Applicants don’t need to prepare anything, it will be a group audition with some physical training and collaborative creation to see how you all work together.
* What is clown? Great question. It’s a form that is often hard to summarize and means a lot of things to a lot of different people. In this context, it will be an exploration of comedy and theatre-making shaped by one’s individual sense of play and the experience of the audience. You do not have to be a ‘comedian’ to clown, we’re more interested in your ability to bring your authentic self to the stage and an excitement to find out what’s on the other side of ‘failure.’
Annie Luján
Facilitator
Annie (she/her) is a Dora Award-winning Costa Rican-Canadian actor, clown and theatre creator. Her critically-acclaimed clown show MONKS (co-created with Veronica Hortigüela) was named ‘Canada’s Best New Work’ by the Toronto Theatre Critics’ Awards (2025), earned a Critic’s Pick from the Globe and Mail and recently returned from a rave-review run at The 2026 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Annie is delighted by risk-taking theatrical mediums, microscopically specific characterization, bold physicality, and integrating audiences into theatrical work. She is passionate about theatre that allows us to travel into different worlds to make more sense of our own. As a clown, she views comedy, failure and the ridiculous as underutilized tools in modern theatre and is deeply curious about exploring their uses in her work.
As an actor and clown, Annie has trained/worked internationally in Italy, the U.S., U.K. and across Canada. Her credits include: Laura Secord’s Thing (Crow’s – Upcoming) Dance Nation (Coal Mine Theatre), The Welkin, King Lear (Soulpepper) A Little Closer (The Vault) Last Landscape (Bad New Days), Comedy of Errors (The Grove) and Storybook Search (Bad Hats). She is a graduate of the 2022 Soulpepper Academy and holds a BFA from Concordia University.
What you receive
- $2,500 honorarium
- A $800 budget shared with the collective for production costs
- 7 company-wide training days where you will learn from professional artists about topics such as accessibility, marketing and communication, pitching your work, networking, and more
- Tech and a public staged reading in a professional theatre venue
- Promotion of your project on Paprika’s social media and marketing materials
- A section in the Festival Program and a professional headshot
- Technical guidance and training for your team before moving into the theatre venue
- The support of a Venue Technician, Production Manager, Lighting Designer, Assistant Festival Stage Manager, as well as Box Office, Front of House, and Festival Staff
- Professional archival photography and videography of your Festival presentation
- Access to free tickets to theatre productions across the city (and beyond!)
- Snacks and meals at Training Days and some program meetings
Time commitment
Approximate time commitment:
- 45 hours in group sessions (weekly in-person 3-hour session on Monday evenings between January 11 – April 26, 2027)
- 30 hours in training days (January 10, January 27 online session, February 7, February 21, April 3, April 18, May date TBD)
- Up to 30 hours of additional work / rehearsal outside of group sessions to prepare for the Festival showcase
- Attend your project’s tech day during the Festival Tech week (one four-hour session between May 3-9, 2027 – exact date TBD, will be communicated to you by mid-March)
- Attend your project’s showcase during the Festival week (Two to three performances between May 11-16, 2027 – exact date TBD, will be communicated to you by mid-March)
Eligibility
The Creators Unit program is open to emerging artists who are 18+. Artists must be eligible to work in Canada.
This program was designed for artists under 30, however, we recognize that emerging artists can be any age. We invite folks over 30 who are new to their craft to apply.
We highly encourage and will prioritize applicants who are from equity-seeking groups — including those who identify as Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, Trans, Non-binary, Queer, Fat, Disabled, Mad, Neurodivergent, low income, and intersections of those identities. We will also be prioritizing applicants who have not received formal training in the program’s main discipline.
Location
📍Toronto
Accessibility
Paprika seeks to lower barriers for all its programs. This year, we are offering transportation support when requested, food and snacks at program events, as well as a $2,500 artist honorarium.
Face masks will be required for all full-company meetings, and during group sessions, the use of face masks will be discussed and decided upon by each program. Paprika will provide KN95 or N95 face masks (or equivalent) upon request. Face masks will be required throughout Paprika’s Tech week and Festival (with the exception of performers) in May 2027.
Internet access and a smartphone, tablet, and/or computer are required for participation in Paprika’s programs. Our programs are not accessible to Deaf or Blind artists at this time. Group meetings can be recorded and shared internally to accommodate schedule conflicts and emergencies with prior notice to program facilitators and Paprika staff.
Company-wide Training Days take place in the following locations:
- The Young Centre for the Performing Arts / Soulpepper Theatre (physically accessible, although there are cobblestone roads in the Distillery District, gendered washrooms)
- Paprika Office (elevator requires staff assistance to use, non-gendered washrooms)
The Paprika Festival tech and performances will take place at Native Earth Performing Arts’ Aki Studio, which is fully physically accessible for audiences. The Aki Studio tech booth is not fully physically accessible as it has a flight of stairs leading up to it. The Aki Studio has a non-gendered washroom backstage, and gendered washrooms in the lobby.
The Creators Unit will meet at the following locations:
- Tarragon Theatre (physically accessible, gendered washrooms)
- Sweet Action Theatre (physically accessible, non-gendered washrooms)
If you have any more questions regarding the accessibility of this year’s programs, please reach out to Amanda!
A note on the use of AI
We at Paprika prefer that applicants do not use AI-generated materials in their applications – however, if you use AI tools for access, we will ask you to disclose which tools you used and how you used them.
We will not be using AI to screen applications and will never upload your application to an AI model.
Application support
We’ve compiled the most frequently asked questions about Paprika programs and answered them here!
We’re happy to arrange an application process that’s best for you. If you have any questions, require additional support or an extension, please email Amanda. We will try our best to respond to emails within 48 hours.
Click here to view the application questions in a separate document. Note that this is not the application form, but a way to preview the questions!