The 2022 Tom Hendry Playwriting Awards are going virtual!
Join us for a national celebration of excellence in playwriting.
Sunday, October 30 at 7pm EDT | YouTube
Suggested Dress Code is FORMAL but no one will see your shoes so bunny slippers are acceptable.
You can click the button below to watch the event on YouTube at 7pm EDT!
This event is free and open to the general public.
ASL Interpretation will be provided at the event.
The Awards shortlists have been announced and you can read about the nominees HERE!
Ten awards will be announced this year…
The Playwrights Guild Drama Award, The Playwrights Guild Comedy Award, The Dan School of Drama & Music Musical Award, The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation’s Robert Beardsley Award for Young Playwrights, The Theatre for Young Audiences Award, The RBC Emerging Playwright Award, The Bra d’Or Award, The John Palmer Award, The Honorary Membership Award, and The CASA Award.
The 2022 Tom Hendry Awards Host is…
Sharron Matthews
Sharron can currently be seen on John Ridley’s FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL as NURSE CHERI LANDRY (streaming on AppleTV+), as LUCY LAFONTAINE on the Family Channel’s hit show RUBY AND THE WELL and she just finished filming on both the Disney+ feature film OUT OF MY MIND as MRS. BILLINGS and a guest starring role on MURDOCH MYSTERIES directed by Emmy Award winning actor, Eric McCormack. One of the stars of CBC, Ovation (U.S.), Alibi, (U.K) and PBS’s (U.S.) hit period crime drama FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES, which just wrapped up its fourth and final season, now airing in other countries all around the world. In both 2021 and 2019, she was nominated for Canadian Screen Awards for playing the role of FLO CHAKOWITZ on Frankie. On the fourth season of FDM, Sharron co-wrote the critically well-received episode LIFE IS A CABARET with Keri Ferencz.
As a exec-producer, writer and voice actor Sharron, alongside her co-creators Rebecca Liddiard and Carmen Albano, recently won the TOWEBFEST award for Best Animated Content for their original animated series MARY AND FLO ON THE GO, and a show which has been short listed for a Content Inovation Award from TBI in London.
Also known for her portrayal of JOAN THE SECRETARY in Tina Fey’s iconic MEAN GIRLS, Sharron Matthews is an excitingly diverse, award winning Canadian artist, actress, singer, comedienne, writer and producer. Sharron has worked on stage and screen with artists like John Travolta, Andrea Martin, and Ron Howard as well as toured her award winning one woman shows around the world from Africa to New York, Scotland and beyond.Sharron was also featured in the films CINDERELLA MAN, TAKE THE LEAD, THE MUSIC MAN movie for Disney and HAIRSPRAY:THE MOVIE. She can also be seen on NBC’s TAKEN, played Chef Sylvia on the multi EMMY AWARD winning children’s TV show ODD SQUAD.Sharron also co-wrote, hosted and consulted on SLICE TV’s MEME gURL for Slice.
Sharron’s solo cabaret work has taken her across around the across Canada(where she was named BEST CABARET PERFORMER by Now Magazine and Broadway World) and around the world, selling out at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe for three years in a row (where, out of 3000 productions, her show was awarded BEST OF THE FEST). Sharron has toured all across Canada on a double bill with Canadian comedy icon, Mary Walsh, collaborated with Gavin Crawford of CBC’s Because News on a sell out World Pride show, and in 2017 premiered at Just For Laughs in Montreal and one week later packed Toronto’s High Park Amphitheatre for one night only with her acclaimed, award winning show, Girl Crush, which Broadway World awarded BEST CABARET PERFORMANCE of 2017.
She has toured North America in LES MISERABLES and Harold Prince’s SHOWBOAT, recorded her own album, PARTY GIRL, can be heard on the SHOWBOAT cast album, THE MUSIC MAN (for Disney) soundtrack and sang back ups on Jann Arden’s award winning Christmas album. One of the projects Sharron is most passionate about is her CABARET FOR KIDS, which she spent three years developing with Canada’s largest theatre for young audiences, Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre. Sharron’s CABARET FOR KIDS explores the issues of body positivity, childhood anxiety, bullying and loving yourself the way you are, targeting 9-12 year olds and has played across Canada. It was nominated for Best New Play, Best Performance and Best Production at the 2018 Dora Awards.
Sharron has written essays and articles for publications around the world, recently she completed the first draft of her first book. She is a well known body positivity/neutrallity warrior with large followings on all three of her socials platforms (Twitter, Facebook and INSTAGRAM). Her newest venture, HOW VERY DARE SHE is a shamelessly irreverant blog on which she tackles issues like periomenopause, aging, sexism, sex, dating, love, self love, throwing away shit you don’t need (spiritually and physically) and anything else that makes people gasp because a woman in her 50’s says the word F**K, is quickly growing an enthusiastic, like-minded and empowered following of people… who can’t believe THEY have not said the word F**K in so long.
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