Makram Ayache is a Governor General’s Literary Award finalist and a Dora Mavor Moore Award–winning playwright, performer, director, and producer based in Toronto. His playwriting explores representations of queer Arab voices and aims to bridge political struggles to the intimate experiences of the people impacted by them. Ayache was selected as one of six breakthrough artists in Toronto in the Toronto Star in 2023. The Hooves Belonged to the Deer was selected as one of ten best productions in Ontario in 2023 by the Globe and Mail and won an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Independent Production in Edmonton in 2023. His play The Green Line (Downstage Theatre and Chromatic Theatre) garnered four Betty Mitchell Award nominations, winning two, including Outstanding New Play. Most recently, Ayache has written an adaption of Shakespeare’s The Tempest titled A Witch in Algiers (Shakespeare in the Ruff), which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2025. Alongside writing, Ayache directs, most recently in the development showcase of Small Gods the Musical with Theatre Sheridan and Factory Theatre. Learn more at www.makramayache.com.