Anusree Roy

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Anusree Roy is a Canadian playwright. She is also an actor and has written for television.[1][2]

Education

Roy was born in Kolkata, India, and emigrated to Canada with her family at age 17.[1]

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in theatre from York University and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto.[1]

Theatre work

She premiered her first piece, breathlessness, in 2006.[1] Her play Pyaasa debuted at Theatre Passe Muraille in 2007 and won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the independent theatre division in 2008, including Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Performance (Female).[1]

Her subsequent plays have included Letters to My Grandma, Roshni, and Brothel #9.[1] Brothel #9 won the Carol Bolt Award and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2011, and was a nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2012 Governor General's Awards.[1] She has also won the RBC Emerging Artist Award,[3] the K.M. Hunter Award,[4] and the Siminovitch Protege Prize.[5]

Trident Moon premiered at the Finborough Theatre in London, England,[6] and was a 2018 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist.[7] Her subsequent play Little Pretty & The Exceptional premiered at the Factory Theatre in 2017.[8]

Her audio play Sisters premiered online on Apple Podcasts and Spotify on March 20, 2021.[9] She has written two operas, Noor over Afghan and The Golden Boy.[1]

She has been playwright-in-residence at the Canadian Stage Company,[10] Theatre Passe Muraille,[11] Nightwood Theatre, Factory Theatre, and Blyth Festival.[12] She is co-artistic director with David DeGrow and Thomas Morgan Jones of Theatre Jones Roy.[13]

Television work

She played Nurse Patel on the TV show Remedy in 2014 and 2015. She was also a story editor for Remedy in its first season.[14] She was an executive story editor on season 5 of sci-fi drama Killjoys.[15] She has been an executive story editor and consulting producer, respectively, on the first two seasons of Nurses. She was a consulting producer and writer on CTV'sTransplant.[16][17]

Plays

  • Brothel # 9 - Rekha, a young woman from a South Asian village, travels to Kolkata for a job, only to discover she has been sold into a brothel. There she meets Jamuna, the jaded madam, who believes there's no escape from their trade. Strong-willed and determined Rekha realizes she can shape her own destiny and discovers that compassion, faith, and forgiveness are the foundation of true liberty.[18]
  • Letters to My Grandma - Malobee unearths letters detailing her grandmother's fight to survive the1947 partition of India, which resonates with Malobee's own struggles to create a new life in present-day Toronto.[19]
  • Pyaasa - Set in Kolkata, Pyaasa tells the story of Chaya, an eleven-year-old Dalit who dreams only of learning the multiplication tables. When Chaya's mother begs a woman from a higher caste to give Chaya a job at a local tea stall, Chaya's journey from childhood to adulthood begins and ends over ten days.[19]
  • Little Pretty and The Exceptional - This play is a family drama involving two sisters and their father preparing to open their new sari shop in Toronto's Little India neighbourhood.[20]
  • Trident Moon - In 1947, six women, three Muslim and three Hindu, hide inside a coal truck as it speeds through the newly-divided British India. Alo is trying to get to West Bengal. Her former employers are now her captives and she wants revenge for what they have done, even if she has to harm the child she is raising. Violence and hatred threaten to engulf those inside the truck and can also be heard outside in the streets. When suddenly the truck stops, the women must find what unites them in order to have any chance of survival.[21]
  • Sisters - This play follows Millie and Rai, who have recently immigrated to Toronto from India with their father. Set over the course of one evening at Tatos Laundromat in New Toronto, the sisters fantasize about what they will order at Tim Hortons, getting a cell phone, and how exciting their new life will be as soon as their dad lands his first job. Their daydreaming is cut short when an event occurs at the laundromat, threatening their sense of security and their ability to withhold secrets from each other.[22]

Awards and nominations

Year Nominated work Award Category Result Ref.
2008 Pyaasa Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding New Play or Musical Winner [23]
Outstanding Performance by a Female
2009 RBC Emerging Artist Award [3]
2010 Letters to My Grandma Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding New Play Nominated [24]
Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Principal Role - Play
2011 Brothel #9 Outstanding New Play Winner [23]
Carol Bolt Award [25]
K.M. Hunter Artist Award Theatre [4]
Siminovitch Prize in Theatre Protégé [5]
2012 Brothel #9 Governor General's Awards English-language drama Finalist [26]
2014 Sultans of the Street Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding New Play for Young Audiences Winner [23]
2018 Trident Moon Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist [5]
2025 Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding New Play Nominated [24]
Little Pretty and the Exceptional Governor General's Awards English-language drama Finalist [27]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Roy, Anusree, Nothof, Anne. Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  2. ↑ Anusree Roy. TAPA. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Another award for Anusree Roy. Toronto.com(2009-10-21). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Awards Archive (1995-2022) -. KM Hunter Foundation. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Anusree Roy. Siminovitch Theatre Foundation. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  6. ↑ Trident Moon. Finborough Theatre. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  7. ↑ Trident Moon. The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  8. ↑ Anusree Roy's Little Pretty and The Exceptional, McKeown, Lisa. My Entertainment World(20 April 2017).
  9. ↑ Sisters. Factory Theatre. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  10. ↑ Alumna weaves hardships into award-winning play about caste, McLean, Sandra. YFile(2008-07-16). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  11. ↑ York alumni shortlisted for Toronto Mayor’s Arts Awards. YFile(2009-10-14). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  12. ↑ 'I always want to make art that is real and truthful', Gokhale, Veena. Montréal Serai(2013-09-22). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  13. ↑ Cover story: Anusree Roy, Sumi, Glenn. NOW Toronto(2012-01-05). Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  14. ↑ Remedy (2014-): Full Cast & Crew. IMDb.
  15. ↑ Women Behind Canadian TV: Anusree Roy, Liszewski, Bridget. The TV Junkies(15 February 2019).
  16. ↑ Production Begins on Season 2 of Acclaimed CTV Original Series TRANSPLANT. BellMedia(2021-02-09).
  17. ↑ Anusree Roy. Hart House. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  18. ↑ Anusree Roy. New Play Exchange. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Pyaasa & Letters to My Grandma. Playwrights Canada Press. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  20. ↑ What playwright Anusree Roy is watching, looking forward to and tuning into. The Globe and Mail(29 March 2017).
  21. ↑ Trident Moon. Playwrights Guild of Canada. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  22. ↑ Sisters. Factory Theatre. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Recipients. TAPA. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Nominees. TAPA. Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  25. ↑ Anusree Roy Wins Carol Bolt Award For Playwrights. BroadwayWorld(2011-10-31). Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  26. ↑ Governor General’s Awards: Vincent Lam among authors shortlisted, Irish, Paul. Toronto Star(2012-10-02). Retrieved 2026-05-05.
  27. ↑ Vinh Nguyen, katherena vermette and Lorna Goodison among finalists for $25K Governor General's Literary Awards. CBC Books(2025-10-21).

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