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.
For over a decade, she has led a successful administrative career alongside her thriving artistic career. She is an Arts Marketing and Communications Specialist and Project Manager with 12+ years experience working in senior marketing positions for organizations including Canada’s National Arts Centre, Tarragon Theatre, SummerWorks Performance Festival, What the Festival, and others.
In 2026 she completed a year-long Metcalf Performing Arts Internship at Soulpepper Theatre, expanding her skills in executive leadership under her mentor Gideon Arthurs, Executive Director of Soulpepper Theatre and the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
Monica is also known for her solo physical comedy, Beth-Anne, about a girl who turns herself into a horse. The play had its Toronto premiere at the 2024 SummerWorks Performance Festival.
LAUREN WELCHNER (she/her)
Co-Founder, Co-Artistic Director
Lauren is an award-winning playwright, actor, and producer.
Lauren’s work with Spicy Day, which she has co-created, performed, and produced, has won ‘Best Of Fringe’ in the Toronto Fringe Festival, been awarded ‘Critic’s Pick’ by Mooney On Theatre, and been nominated for a Prix Rideau Award (Ottawa’s professional theatre awards) for ‘Outstanding New Work’.
In 2024, Lauren received a Harold award in Toronto “in recognition of an outstanding and often under-recognized dedication on or off the stage”.