Lighting designer Sonoyo Nishikawa wins Siminovitch Prize

By Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press on December 2, 2024.

Lighting designer Sonoyo Nishikawa, shown in a handout photo, has won the Siminovitch Prize, Canada's largest theatre prize. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO

TORONTO – Lighting designer Sonoyo Nishikawa has won Canada’s largest theatre prize.

The Siminovitch Prize was announced at a ceremony in Toronto on Monday evening.

Jurors praised the Montreal-based Nishikawa for designs that “push the boundaries of what we expect lighting to do.”

Nishikawa has been a lighting designer since 1986, and began collaborating with director Robert Lepage in 1993.

Nishikawa takes home $75,000, while $25,000 will go to a protégé of her choice: Mayumi Ide-Bergeron, a Montreal-based multidisciplinary artist.

Finalists for the prize, who each receive $5,000, include Vancouver-based lighting designer Itai Erdal, Toronto sound designer Debashis Sinha and Calgary’s Old Trout Puppet Workshop.

The Siminovitch Prize rotates on a three-year cycle, recognizing professionals in the alternating fields of theatre design, direction and playwriting.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2024.