Kanika Ambrose Bringing the Caribbean experience to light through the arts

The performing arts have always been part of Kanika Ambrose’s life from a young age, whether it be creating theatre, or performing. At a young age, Ambrose has been in cultural performances within the Dominican community, the Commonwealth of Dominca Ontario Association and with Club Carib.

Ambrose is not the only member of her family who is involved in the dramatic arts. Her father is also involved in the arts through dub poetry and community acting.

Ambrose began to take the performing arts more seriously in high school. She started writing her own plays and received encouragement from drama teachers who recognized the value in young women speaking for themselves and advocating for their own stories. As Ambrose continued to create her own work, she took the opportunity to see as much theatre in Toronto and the GTA as much as possible, noting that there were a lot of opportunities for young people to see theatre for free, or for a cheap price. Using what she was seeing and not seeing around her, Ambrose took it as an opportunity to form her aesthetic and interests through that.

Ambrose trained as an actor at Toronto Metropolitan University, known as Ryerson University at the time. While acting for a few years, Ambrose realized her voice was better suited and more important as a playwright. So, she made the shift and took the steps to make playwriting her career. Ambrose got a job at a large theatre arts organization in Toronto to get on the inside and learn what it takes to run a company, while building her craft by getting involved in playwrights’ units.

For some years, Ambrose did playwrights’ units out of Obsidian Theatre and Cahoots Theatre. She participated in residencies and applied to the arts councils and got funding to do residencies so she could carve up more time to commit more fully to her development as a playwright. She engaged in mentorships, and after a few years, it became clear that it was the right moment for her to take that leap by quitting her full-time job and heading fully into her work as a playwright and opera librettist.

Ambrose was starting to gain momentum both financially and in terms of production, where she could see there was a trajectory she could fully dive into. At the same time, she got some opportunities to co-lead organizations such as Necessary Angel as the associate artistic director. She also ran the Paprika Festival as the artistic director. These were the early steps within Ambrose’s playwright career, and things carried on from there.

Ambrose’s plays typically touch on social issues around Black people living in Canada and the Caribbean diaspora.

Moonlight Schooner, Ambrose’s upcoming play, is set to premiere on November 21^st, 2025, and will run until December 14^th, 2025. The play is about three Caribbean Black male sailors who get stranded on the island of Saint Kitts on Mayday in 1958. While stranded, they decide to go out for a night on the town and run into an unfortunate incident. The play touches on the impacts of colonialism, imperialism, enslavement and the struggles to build nationhood and manhood under all these circumstances.

The play’s themes are masculinity under impressive systems, trying to find purpose, livelihood, reason, a living, and supporting a family under oppressive systems.

Ambrose has received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards to date. In 2023, she received her first one under the “Outstanding New Play” category for her play, our place. She was honoured to receive an award and to be nominated alongside established playwrights, whom she respected growing up.

The play is about two Black women who were working under the table at a Caribbean restaurant, and some of the struggles they had to go through to gain citizenship.

“I was honoured, but I also felt I had a great responsibility, and I was put there on purpose to bring more attention to these issues that not a lot of people outside of our community really have a lot of insight into,” said Ambrose.

During the pandemic, Ambrose got the opportunity to work in a television writing room. It opened a new world of experience for her, where her voice could go between theatre arts and television.

She realized that although she had been training and preparing for a career as a theatre artist and playwright, her voice could also go into television. So, Ambrose got an agent and worked with some other television writers when she realized it would be advantageous to train specifically in television writing. This led to Ambrose applying and getting into the Bell Media Primetime TV Program at the Canadian Film Centre, graduating in 2023.

Television is still something that Ambrose is growing into. She has received the opportunity to work with some prominent writers in the television sphere, such as Catherine Hernandez, who wrote the acclaimed 2021 film Scarborough.

 Ambrose loves all her plays, because they all come from her heart, different aspects of who she is and different issues and conflicts in her own life, or what she sees in her community or the people around her.

All of Ambrose’s plays have to do with issues that affect the Caribbean diaspora. She continues to keep attuned to what issues are arising by following, reading and listening to what folks are talking about in her community. Ambrose will listen and whatever hits her, impacts and causes a stir in her, she will respond to what’s bubbling and creeping up inside her body, telling her she needs to respond.