Founded by Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley in 1998, Expect Theatre is an award-winning Toronto-based company dedicated to telling bold, original Canadian stories. Through multidisciplinary performance and immersive audio drama, we explore the complexity of contemporary urban life from a distinctly Canadian perspective.
Expect Theatre is the creator of PlayME, the CBC podcast that transforms Canada’s top stage plays into bingeable audio dramas. PlayME won Gold for Best Audio Drama at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and was named a Webby Awards Honoree. Our original thriller, Tunnel Runners, received Silver at the New York Festivals in 2025.
We’ve created original work for CBC TV, CBC Radio, and CBC Kids, including the children's series Mini Makeover. Our productions span live performance, film, and audio, pushing artistic boundaries through site-specific theatre, verbatim storytelling, and cross-genre experimentation.
Notable projects include AWAKE, which was adapted into both a stage production and an award-nominated short film, and Romeo/Juliet REMIXED, a Dora-nominated remix of Shakespeare for a new generation. Expect has been nominated for five Dora Awards, received a Dora for Outstanding Choreography, and has twice been shortlisted for the Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. Our work is regularly featured across national platforms, including CBC TV, CBC Podcasts, CTV, The Globe and Mail, and The Toronto Star and performed across Canada and the United States.
We are also deeply committed to mentorship, training, and community. Our programs support the next generation of audio and theatre artists, particularly those from underrepresented communities, by providing professional development, paid training, and meaningful connections to industry leaders.
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
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Laura Mullin is a published playwright and writer, a director, producer, and the Co-Artistic Director of the award-winning Expect Theatre. She is also the Co-Host and Producer of CBC’s PlayME Podcast, transforming plays into binge-able audio dramas. PlayME won Gold at the New York Festival Radio Awards and is a Webby Award Honoree.
Laura has worked in film, TV, radio, and theatre and has regularly contributed to CBC.ca. Her short story “History of Visual Sources” won the Open Book Short Story contest, and her play of the same name received an Honourable Mention for the National Voaden Playwright Prize. She recently wrote the seven-part original audio drama series Tunnel Runners, which she co-created with Chris Tolley and will be released in October 2024. It ranked in the top 10 fiction podcasts on Apple
Her work with Expect Theatre has been nominated for five Dora Awards in the General Category and shortlisted twice for the Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. Notable works include Romeo/Juliet Remixed; The Tunnel Runners (originally a CBC Radio commission); STATIC (Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage Festival); AWAKE (Next Stage Festival); Awake The Film (film festivals across North America and Europe); Rapid Eye Movement, Profile, Relay (Nuit Blanche); One Sleepless Night (International Festival of Authors); Burusera (national 21-city tour commissioned and produced by Watermark Theatre) which was developed into a pilot for CBC TV, and the CBC Kids series Mini Makeover.
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
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Chris Tolley is the co-host and producer of CBC Radio’s PlayME, the show that turns Canada’s top theatre plays into bingeable audio dramas. PlayME won the Gold Medal for Audio Drama at the 2020 New York Festival's Radio Award.
He is also the President of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, and has also run twice for Canadian Parliament on a strong arts-based platform.
Together with Laura Mullin, his work as a playwright and director has been produced in every province and territory, and recognized with multiple awards and nominations within Canada and the US. He is also the co-Artistic Director of EXPECT Theatre.
Working in partnership with Laura Mullin, his work has been nominated for five Dora Awards in the General Theatre category and has been shortlisted twice for the Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. In 2006, both Laura and Chris won Harbourfront Centre's inaugural Fresh Ground commissioning award for the site-specific play STATIC.
Notable works for the duo include: Dora award-winning Romeo/Juliet REMIXED (Toronto and Philadelphia), STATIC (World Stage Festival), AWAKE (Next Stage Festival), the CBC Radio drama The Tunnel Runners, and the short film AWAKE which toured the festival circuit and was the official selection of festivals across North America and Europe. It was nominated for Best Social Drama at the New Renaissance Festival in Amsterdam. In 2017, Tolley and Mullin created and produced the TV series Mini Makeover for CBC Kids.
Chris Tolley est le co-animateur et producteur de PlayME sur CBC Radio, l'émission qui transforme les meilleures pièces de théâtre du Canada en drames audio captivants. PlayME a remporté la médaille d'or pour le meilleur drame audio aux Radio Awards de New York en 2020.
Il est également le président de la Guilde des dramaturges du Canada et s'est présenté deux fois aux élections au Parlement canadien avec une plateforme axée sur les arts.
En collaboration avec Laura Mullin, son travail en tant que dramaturge et réalisateur a été produit dans chaque province et territoire, et a été reconnu par de multiples récompenses et nominations au Canada et aux États-Unis. Il est également le co-directeur artistique d'EXPECT Theatre.
En partenariat avec Laura Mullin, leur travail a été nominé cinq fois aux prix Dora dans la catégorie du théâtre général et a été présélectionné deux fois pour les prix de la Fondation des Arts de Toronto. En 2006, Laura et Chris ont remporté le prix de commande Fresh Ground du Harbourfront Centre pour leur pièce statique.
Parmi les œuvres notables du duo, on peut citer: Romeo/Juliet REMIXED, lauréat du prix Dora (Toronto et Philadelphie), STATIC (Festival World Stage), AWAKE (Festival Next Stage), le drame radio de CBC The Tunnel Runners et le court métrage AWAKE qui a tourné dans les festivals et a été sélectionné officiellement dans des festivals en Amérique du Nord et en Europe. Il a été nominé pour le meilleur drame social au Festival de la Nouvelle Renaissance à Amsterdam. En 2017, Tolley et Mullin ont créé et produit la série télévisée Mini Makeover pour CBC Kids.
Radio drama: Theatre podcast captures buzzy performances to give plays a second life
The TORONTO STAR
On PlayME’s Mixtape: "In this one-woman show, Zorana Sadiq shares her real-life story about discovering her love of music. A child of Pakistani immigrants who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Zorana's obsession with sound began at school. There she learned to play the flute at band camp, using her imagination to play the notes. When her teacher instructs her to visualize the notes in her mind, she discovers she can play the music she sees in her imagination."
Podcast Playlist: New and notable
Podcast Playlist
On PlayME’s Mixtape: "In this one-woman show, Zorana Sadiq shares her real-life story about discovering her love of music. A child of Pakistani immigrants who grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Zorana's obsession with sound began at school. There she learned to play the flute at band camp, using her imagination to play the notes. When her teacher instructs her to visualize the notes in her mind, she discovers she can play the music she sees in her imagination."
Pandemic Performance: Even in a shutdown, their show goes on
York U Magazine
“All of a sudden, CBC had to shut down a lot of their entertainment programming. They looked around and said, “Well, what can we still do?” Leah Rumack talks to Chris and Laura about how they pivoted during the pandemic.
'PlayME' podcast brings Canadian theatre to your earbuds
CBC Radio
"Though international audiences weren't the duo's initial goal — the project is billed as "Canada's national digital theatre" — the series' first season has found success around the world.”
‘It’s democratizing theatre’: How PlayMe brings the best of Canadian theatre straight to audience’s ears
Intermission Magazine
”While the theatre-going experience typically involves the engagement of both the auditory and visual senses, it is also possible to be immersed into a play’s universe through nothing but sounds — allowing one’s imagination to do the rest. Just ask Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley, co-artistic directors of Expect Theatre and hosts of the podcast PlayMe, produced in partnership with CBC Podcasts.”
