The Canadian Press
Published on Monday, December 4, 2023, 11:50 PM EST
Last updated on Monday, December 4, 2023, 11:50 PM EST
Groundbreaking playwright David Yee was honored this year with the $75,000 Siminovitch Prize for his body of work dedicated to promoting Asian Canadian voices in theatre.
It is Canada’s largest theater awards ceremony and honors an artist whose work is helping to transform the country’s theater scene.
The 2023 jury praised Yee’s artistic range across forms and genres and the way he has opened doors for talent in the Asian Canadian community, both as an artist and as an advocate.
The Toronto playwright is also an actor and co-artistic director of fu-GEN Theater Company, which produces works by Asian North American playwrights.
His distinctive voice has earned him a Governor General’s Award for his play Carried away on the Crest of a Wave, as well as residencies at theaters in Toronto and beyond.
He says his playwriting, “shaped and cultivated by an overwhelming and essential need for community,” is inextricably linked to his role at fu-GEN.
Yee also received an additional $25,000 to present to a protégé. He selected Vietnamese-Hocloist writer, performer and arts manager Julie Phan, who is currently artist-in-residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theater in Toronto.
The runners-up – d’bi.young anitafrika from Brampton, Ontario; Mishka Lavigne of Gatineau, Que.; and Berni Stapleton of St. John’s, NL, will each receive $5,000.
Additionally, each runner-up will select an emerging artist to receive $5,000.
The Siminovitch Prize is awarded every three years and recognizes professionals in the varying fields of theater design, directing and dramaturgy.
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