Urjo Kareda

(BA 1966 UC) (MA 1967 U of T) (d. 2001) - 2016 Award Recipient

Arts journalist, dramaturg and theatre director Urjo Kareda was a key figure in Canadian film and theatre. Born in Estonia, at age five he moved with his parents to Toronto. He studied at UC, then Cambridge University in London, writing for the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. Returning to Toronto, he became the Star’s theatre critic before being hired by the Stratford Festival and, later, the Tarragon Theatre as artistic director.

Over the next 20 years, Kareda turned the Tarragon into the new play centre, earning it the unofficial title of the Playwright's Theatre. In the process, he became one of the most respected voices in English-Canadian theatre. For his tremendous contributions to the nation’s developing arts scene, he was recognized with the Order of Canada, the City of Toronto Award for the Performing Arts, the Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, and an honorary Dora Mavor Moore Award for theatre, among other honours.