Buddies in Bad Times' 2012/13 season looked to empower the individual as an agent of social change. It began with Tawiah M'carthy's "Obaaberima", which was originally developed as a part of the Young Creators Unit (YCU) in 2009. In the Spring Canadian theatre icon Daniel MacIvor returned to Buddies with his darkly poetic play "Arigato, Tokyo". The season also included Sky Gilbert's "A Few Brittle Leaves", a partnership with performance company Ecce Homo to present "Of a Monstrous Child: a gaga musical" and Studio 180's "The Normal Heart". Laura Nanni returned as the Rhubarb Festival Director and oversaw the return of the wildly successful One-To-One Performance Series and Mobile Works projects. The 34th Rhubarb Festival broke all previous attendance records and engaged almost 200 artists. The season saw 22 Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations overall, including three awards for "Obaaberima", music, set design and Outstanding Production. In 2012, Buddies was voted Toronto's Best Small Theatre Company by Now Magazine.