TAPA announces Beatriz Pizano as the 2025 Silver Ticket Award Recipient
Toronto, ON (June 30, 2025) – The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) today
announced that Beatriz Pizano is this year’s recipient of the annual Silver Ticket Award.
Inaugurated in 1980, this award is presented by TAPA to an individual who has made an
outstanding contribution to the stage in the Toronto area. The distinguished panel of past Silver
Ticket recipients considers individuals who have worked professionally in the performing arts
industry and not only have excelled in their own careers, but also contributed to the development
of Canadian theatre by helping and encouraging others. The recipient receives a lifetime of
complimentary tickets to TAPA member company productions. Past recipients include playwright
Tomson Highway, theatre producers David Mirvish and Marlene Smith, and choreographer
Christopher House.
Pizano is an award-winning actor, director, and playwright, and the Founding Artistic Director of
Aluna Theatre, a celebrated not-for-profit company that creates, develops, produces and
presents artistically innovative and culturally diverse performance work, with a focus on Latin
Canadian and women artists.
Says Pizano about her Silver Ticket Award win: “The Dora Awards keep changing my life. My
very first play, For Sale, received three nominations in 2003, and won two. I went from being a
nobody to suddenly being invited to partake in internships and opportunities in the established
theatres. It was not only a recognition for us at Aluna Theatre for a whole community of
underrepresented artists. In 2014, I became the first Latinx female actor to win an award for my
performance in Blood Weddings. Now, as I look at my future and that of my community, the
Silver Ticket Award recognizes a long trajectory of work as an artist and community builder. But
most of all, it encourages me to keep dreaming, creating, and shaping the sector.”
The Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Canada’s largest and oldest awards program, celebrates the
incredible talent within Toronto’s professional theatre, dance, and opera communities. For
additional information, please visit tapa.ca/doras.
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About Beatriz Pizano
Beatriz Pizano is an actor/director/playwright and the founder and Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre. Over
the last two decades, she has built Aluna into an international company recognized for its unique
approach to creation, its daring political work, and its experimentation with multiple-language productions.
Her bold creations, in English and Spanish are marked by a distinct theatrical language drawing from the
heritages, cultures, and languages from across the Americas. She has been the recipient of numerous
awards including the John Hirsch Prize, the Chalmers Fellowship, K.M. Hunter Award, 100 Colombianos
and Colombiano Estrella. She is the first Colombian actress to win the Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award and
a Dora Award for her performance in Blood Weddings. She has been recognized twice by the Colombian
government (President Santos and President Duque) for her work as a promoter and a mentor to the
Latinx artists living and working in Canada. In 2019 she was named TD Bank’s 10 Most Influential
Hispanic Canadians. In 2023 she received the Trailblazer & Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (Caltac). In 2024 she was a finalist for The Celebration of Cultural
Life Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation.
She has written and directed a number of award winning and touring productions for Aluna. Her play
Madre and Dividing Lines | Líneas Divisorias have both been published by Playwrights Canada Press.
She is passionate about her work as a playwright, dramaturge and director. In 2019 she was the senior
playwright at the Banff Centre’s Playwright’s Lab. Her writing challenges Eurocentric approaches to
theatre creation. She is a fierce activist who creates spaces and opportunities for racialized artists and
playwrights.