Nice to meet you.
We are…
MONICA BRADFORD-LEA (she/her)
Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director
Monica is a playwright, actor, producer, and co-Artistic Director of Spicy Day. With Spicy Day, she has created, performed, and toured award-winning original plays across Canada since 2016.
For over a decade, Monica has led a successful administrative career alongside her thriving artistic career. As an Arts Marketing Specialist and Project Manager, she has worked in senior marketing positions for organizations including Canada’s National Arts Centre, Tarragon Theatre, SummerWorks, What the Festival, and others.
In 2026 she completed a Metcalf Performing Arts Internship at Soulpepper Theatre, expanding her skills in executive leadership with her mentor Gideon Arthurs.
Monica is dedicated to making the theatre industry more inclusive and liveable for artists and arts workers.
She is also known for her solo physical comedy, Beth-Anne, about a girl who turns herself into a horse.
LAUREN WELCHNER (she/her)
Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director
Lauren is an award-winning actor, writer, and producer.
She is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Spicy Day, a feminist theatre company that tours new, interactive plays across the country.
Lauren’s work with Spicy Day, which she has co-created, performed, and produced, has won ‘Best Of Fringe’ in the Toronto Fringe Festival (out of over 150 plays), been awarded ‘Critic’s Pick’ by Mooney On Theatre, and been nominated for a Prix Rideau Award for ‘Outstanding New Work’.
On screen, Lauren can be seen as Sis in ‘Self Driver’ on Crave and Apple TV, and upcoming starring in ‘Flukes’ from the same team.
In 2024, Lauren received a Harold Award in Toronto “in recognition of an outstanding and often under-recognized dedication on or off the stage”.
Outside of her work in the arts, Lauren is a Certified Clinical and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist, and runs her own hypnotherapy practice in Toronto.