The Toronto Queer Theatre Festival was Founded in 2012 as Gay Play Day by Darren Stewart-Jones and was rebranded in 2019 with its new name to better represent its inclusive mandate. In 2020, the festival continues under the leadership of Nick May and Mark Keller at Theatre Topikos, with a mission of providing an opportunity for queer artists to produce unseen work that is bold, topical and meaningful.

Following their participation in the Toronto Queer Theatre Festival, artists have gone on to produce their shows around the world, including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. Other playwrights have developed their scripts into screenplays.

The 2020 festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we’ll be back next year with the incredible artists that were accepted to the 2020 Festival. A full list of the artists accepted to the festival in 2020 can be found here.

Our theme for the 2021 Festival is Bold Stories That Need To Be Told.
Stay tuned for our submissions call for the 2021 Festival!

Beginning in 2021, participants will have 24 hours to write a new play!
Stay tuned for details by subscribing to our mailing list.