Red Sky Performance

SHE HOLDS UP THE STARS SHINES BRIGHT WITH 8 DORA AWARD NOMINATIONS!

With 8 Dora Award nominations, we're over the moon to be this season's most nominated production in Toronto!

It's an honour to share this recognition with the extraordinary artists, creative team, and partners who brought this production to life.

Nominations include:
• Outstanding Production — Red Sky Performance.

• Outstanding New Play — Sandra Laronde

• Outstanding Direction — Sandra Laronde

• Outstanding Performance by an Individual — Julia Davis, Marsha Knight, and Mike Shara.

• Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble — Dayna Tietzen, Troy Feldman, and Brad Cook.

• Outstanding Achievement in Design — Nick Barnes

We extend our gratitude to our commissioners and partners: the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TO Live, National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts' National Creation Fund, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Thank you to the Toronto theatre community, the TAPA Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts Dora Awards jury for this acknowledgment.

We are all so thrilled and grateful!!!!

Red Sky Performance

Today is Red Dress Day — and we offered the Healing Dress Dance (now widely known as the Jingle Dress Dance) performed by Rylan Bomberry, Hope Osawamick, and Madison Noon in honour of the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People.

This day calls on all of us to focus our attention on ending the disproportionate violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and communities across this country—so that Indigenous sisters are valued, recognized, respected, and safe.

Backstage: She Holds Up the Stars featuring some of the core creative team including writer/director Sandra Laronde, conductor Trevor Wilson, and composer/sound designer Eliot Britton.

SHE HOLDS UP THE STARS: In the Globe and Mail today - "The multimedia theatrical experience from Red Sky Performance, She Holds Ups the Stars, is deeply personal to writer/director Sandra Laronde..."Misko is up against a world that is both beautiful and cruel...She keeps searching. She keeps connecting and she never gives up. That's where the hope is."

Throughout the story, Misko's resilience anchors the narrative. Laronde would love for audiences to see that "young people can stand up for what they believe is right and just. The world extends far beyond that which is human." And for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audience members to leave with "the understanding that Indigenous stories are powerful, exciting and expansive."

Red Sky's productions have appeared on stages around the world, including sold-out shows in Mongolia. Laronde hopes that the "expansive, rich and deep" She Holds Up the Stars will travel the world and continue her goal of "changing the the future of Indigenous storytelling on the orchestral stages of Canada."

At the world premiere, She Holds Up the Stars reached over 16,500 audience members at Roy Thomson Hall.

Photo: Red Sky Performance performs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall. Julia Davis (Misko), Dayna Tietzen (head of horse), Troy Feldman (heart of the horse), Brad Cook (hind of the horse). The horse is designed and built by Nick Barnes Puppets.

Thank you to our commissioners and partners: Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TO Live, National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts's National Creation Fund, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Thank you to our funders: Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, Ontario Arts Council - Conseil des arts de l'Ontario, Toronto Arts Council City of Toronto Culture Scotiabank and TD.

Eight performances. Extraordinary audience responses. Over 16,500 people in attendance.

She Holds Up the Stars, written by Sandra Laronde, resonated deeply with so many people. At Red Sky, we are driven to create bold, imaginative work that touches the heart. Through collaboration across disciplines, we bring performances to the stage that are emotional, inventive, and alive.

(A Red Sky Performance production: Julia Davis with Grayson Bird, Sequoia Cooper, Kehew Buffalo, and Jainee Fernandez and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra / photo by David Hou.

Toronto Symphony Orchestra National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts TO Live Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada Ontario Arts Council - Conseil des arts de l'Ontario Toronto Arts Council City of Toronto Culture

Two more standing ovations yesterday for She Holds Up the Stars at Roy Thomson Hall.

She Holds Up the Stars met audiences and they rose to meet us too! After 8 shows, more than 16,500 people have now experienced our world premiere.

Thank you for showing up and for leaning into the story, puppetry, and music - and for being a part of this incredible journey. So glad to see so many of you there!

Thank you the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, TO Live, National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts's National Creation Fund, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

(photo: (head of horse), Feldman (heart of horse), and (hind of horse) and actor Gerus. Design and build of the horse, Nick Barnes Puppets / photo by David Hou).

Chi miigwetch to Teme Augama Anishinabek Temagami FirstNation for coming to see She Holds Up the Stars. It meant a great deal to have you in attendance at Roy Thomson Hall here in Toronto.

Thank you to the extraordinary educator Patsy Turner for making this possible for the youth—it was also wonderful to see elder Millie White.

We know that you had to travel across ice, come down a gravel access road, and then along Highway 11 to see this show and then return. We are so grateful that you were here—and that you were able to come backstage and meet some of the performers.

These are the kinds of moments that stay with us for years to come. This work is made for you, and for youth and families like yours.

Two remaining shows for the world premiere of She Holds Up the Stars, on stage at Roy Thomson Hall on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 1:30pm and 4pm.

She Holds Up the Stars is an original multidisciplinary work -- blending contemporary Indigenous storytelling, theatre, large-scale puppetry, and live orchestral music, the production offers a powerful and emotionally resonant experience for audiences of all ages.

At its heart is a young Indigenous girl searching for her mother’s truth. Through an unexpected bond with a spirited horse, she finds courage and resilience in a world shaped by beauty and cruelty, and the deep pull of land and family.

Get your tix now: https://www.tso.ca/concerts-and-events/events/she-holds-up-the-stars

Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe Street, Toronto.

(L to R): , (Misko), Grayson Bird (Nimkii), Kehew Buffalo (Nelson), and (Kii) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

She Holds Up the Stars is commissioned by Toronto Symphony Orchestra in association with TO Live, National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra