Toronto – March 10, 2025 – The Gina Wilkinson Prize Committee is pleased to announce that Keshia Palm is the recipient of the 14th annual Gina Wilkinson Prize. Gina’s Prize recognizes theatre artists from underrepresented genders which includes cis women, trans women, and non-binary people with a demonstrated body of work, who are recognized by their communities for their practice, leadership and dedication to their craft.
2025 Recipient
Keshia Palm
Hometown: Tkaron:to / Treaty 13 / Toronto, where there are trees standing in the water
Keshia Palm (they/them) is a director, dramaturge, creator, performer, producer, and mentor. As a storyteller, Keshia’s work centres postcolonial and queerfeminist perspectives sprinkled with theatre magic and seeks to spark connection and conversation through shared live experiences. They hope to create art and spaces that bring and hold us together in all our Multitudes.
Keshia is the 2025 Tarragon Theatre Urjo Kareda Resident Artist. They previously served as artistic producer for Paprika Theatre Festival (2021-2024), online content producer for ArtistProducerResource.com (2018-2021), resident dramaturge for Puente Theatre (2022), and interim program director of Write from the Hip (2023-2024). They have developed and performed new work with artists and companies big and small, from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland. Recent acting credits: Anya in The Cherry Orchard (Modern Times Stage Company), and understudy/assistant director of The Year of the Cello (Theatre Passe Muraille + Music Picnic). Dramaturgy: NewfoundLanded by Santiago Guzmán and Nabila Qureshi (TODOS Productions), WHITE MUSCLE DADDY by Raf Antonio (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre + Pencil Kit Productions). Direction: Radium Girls (York University), SEPH (RISERx Why Not Theatre + Toronto Metropolitan University). Co-creator of Shadow Girls (Rhubarb Festival 2017, Pencil Kit Productions + Blank Canvas at Gladstone Hotel 2018). @keshiapalm // @theatrepotluck // keshiapalm.com
Artist Statement:
“I am honoured and genuinely touched to be recognized along with recipients and finalists of Gina’s Prize past and present, and to be included among Canada’s fiercest, boundary-pushing, and truly kind artists who embody Gina’s legacy in their work. To be in the company of artists who have broken down barriers, who have inspired me personally and professionally, whom I admire greatly, is astonishing. How cool to be recognized for those very traits that I so deeply admire in my mentors, my elders, and in Gina: bold artistry, magic, fearless living. I will continue to expand my practice without compromise, and to dream of abundant futures for artists and for all — ones that involve family, travel, rest, financial freedom and security, sovereignty and dignity. This is where great art grows.
Thank you to my nominators, the Paprika Board of Directors, and especially Michelle Yagi and Naz Afsahi, for believing in me early and always. Thank you, Nina Lee Aquino, Marjorie Chan, David Yee, Andrea Donaldson, Tanisha Taitt, Jivesh Parasram, Mel Hague, Mercedes Bátiz- Benét, Peter McGuire — for saying the right thing or connecting me to the right opportunity to keep me moving forward, finding my way, forging my own path.”
Finalists
Esie Mensah
Hometown: Hamilton, Ontario of Ewe roots from Ghana and Togo
Esie Mensah is an award-winning choreographer, director, dancer, movement director, educator, and TEDx speaker working across dance, theatre and film. Worked with Rihanna, Howie Mandell, Kenny Ortega, Nelly Furtado, AGO, Nelly Furtado, Holt Renfrew, Toronto Raptors and more. On the stage, Mensah has worked as a choreographer/movement director on Three Sisters (Soulpepper/Obsidian Theatre), Russian Play, Victory, and Farmers’ Revolt (Shaw Festival), directed Serving Elizabeth (Theatre Aquarius) and is making her debut at Stratford Festival choreographing Ransacking Troy. She was the choreographer for Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha: A Musical Reimagining presented by Luminato Festival and TOLive which will be making its US premiere at the Harris Theatre in Chicago in the spring.
What being a finalist means to me?
I am so honoured and grateful to have been shortlisted for The Gina’s Prize amongst a legacy of brilliant women. Gina was a changemaker who took it upon herself to set a new rhythm for herself and everyone that came after her. I did not have the pleasure of meeting her but walking into her legacy with the people she worked with and loved is an honour. This prize is a major affirmation on a long road towards discovery, authenticity and truth within myself to follow a road that honours me in my fullness so I can be of service to those around me. To the theatre community that has poured into me and helped to transform my world of dance into so much more, I can’t thank you enough. From one dancer (Gina) to the next, I am grateful.
Mieko Ouchi
Hometown: amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton)
Writer, director and dramaturg, Mieko is the Associate Artistic Director at the Citadel Theatre. Before that, she was in artistic leadership at Concrete Theatre for 31 years. Her award-winning films have screened at over thirty festivals including the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals and Asian American Film Festivals in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego. Her directing work has been recognized with seven Sterling Award nominations and three Awards. Her plays have been translated into seven languages, and been finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award, the City of Edmonton Book Prize and recognized with the Carol Bolt Prize and the Enbridge Award for Established Canadian Playwright. In 2023, Mieko received the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award.
What being a finalist means to me?
I am so incredibly moved to be a finalist for the 2025 Gina’s Prize and to be counted amongst the phenomenal humans who have been recognized since 2012. It truly humbles me. I had the opportunity to meet Gina at ATP in Calgary and see her perform and direct a play at playRites. I will never forget the care she took with those new works. Her path from performer to director is one that I have also undertaken, and she has been such a fortifying role model. Her impact continues to be felt and resonate.
When my dad Eugene passed away, our family came up with a saying when we hit the hardest moments. A question that tried to encompass the complicated question of what we needed to move forward. ‘Slug or a hug?’. For me, Gina’s Prize is both those things. It is the slug in the arm we all need as artists that says: stay strong, I believe in you, you’re tough, you got this. But it’s also the hug that says: I recognize this isn’t easy, this might be the hardest thing you’ve ever done, I’m here, I understand, I know what this feels like.
Thank you to Gina’s Prize for this incredible slug and hug. It means the world.
Megan Stewart
Hometown: Epekwitk / Prince Edward Island
Megan Stewart is a theatre artist based in Epekwitk / Prince Edward Island. As a director, producer, dramaturge, and performer, she seeks out projects that are intrinsically collaborative, interdisciplinary, and rooted in specific community contexts.
Megan is the artistic director of River Clyde Arts, which produces a season of outdoor, community-engaged theatre and arts events in New Glasgow, PEI. Its flagship project is The River Clyde Pageant, which she co-founded with Ker Wells in 2016 and continues to co-direct each summer with Ker’s sister Jane Wells.
Dedicated to fostering spaces for unconventional theatre and art to thrive on PEI, Megan has established celebrated festivals and performance events, including the March of the Crows for Art in the Open, and the Island Fringe Festival, with Sarah Segal-Lazar.
What being a finalist means to me?
It’s an incredible honour to be a finalist for this prize, alongside such remarkable theatre artists from across the country. Gina Wilkinson’s legacy as an artist, collaborator, and chaser of joy shines brightly, reflected in the vital work of current and past prize recipients and nominees.
I often think about creative legacy – the web of friendships, practices and artistic values we inherit from the people who taught us, inspired us, and helped us grow, and how these connections find expression and renewed life across communities. I’m indebted to my friend and collaborator Ker Wells; to be woven into his web, and to carry on the project we started together over a decade ago. Being a finalist for Gina’s Prize compels me to keep nurturing these connections, creating spaces where joy, experimentation, and collaboration can flourish, and where the next generation of theatre artists can discover their own creative inheritance. I’m filled with gratitude. Thank you!
Nominations and Selection Committee
The 28 nominations from across the country spoke to an incredibly diverse, dynamic and passionate group of artistic leaders who are serving their communities. They were inspiring, original and dedicated to creating positive spaces centered around care and innovative practice.
About the Prize
Gina’s Prize pays tribute to Gina Wilkinson, who passed away in 2010, and whose dedication, vision and indomitable spirit imbued her work and her life.
Gina’s interdisciplinary artistry as a dancer, visual artist, actor, playwright and director established her as a daring, strong, inventive leader and collaborator in the Canadian theatre. She believed in the necessity of fun in the rehearsal hall, on and off stage, and in all aspects of one’s life. In the spirit of Gina’s appetite for life, the prize money is a gift to be used in any way the recipient chooses. The award recipient receives a $10,000 prize, and $5,000 is awarded to each of the finalists.
The Gina Wilkinson Prize Committee (Micheline Chevrier, Krista Jackson, Ann-Marie Kerr, Lindsay Lachance, Kimberley Rampersad, Tom Rooney & Tanisha Taitt) extends its heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters. Through their incredible generosity, the spirit of Gina lives on.
To contribute a gift to Gina’s Prize: https://oafdn.ca/make-a-donation/.
Gina’s Prize honours artists who work across Turtle Island on both treaty and unceded territories. Through this prize, we look to acknowledge and amplify their relationship to the land they live on and the communities they serve.
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For more information about the award:
Krista Jackson & Kimberley Rampersad, Committee Co-Leaders
ginasprize@gmail.com
www.ginasprize.ca
For more information about the Ontario Arts Foundation:
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director
Ontario Arts Foundation
416-969-7413 | bbennett@oafdn.ca