Tomson Highway is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, children's author and musician. He is best known for his plays The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award.
Daniel David Moses was a Canadian poet and playwright.
Canada's contemporary theatre reflects a rich diversity of regional and cultural identities. Since the late 1960s, there has been a concerted effort to develop the voice of the 'Canadian playwright', which is reflected in the nationally focused programming of many of the country's theatres. Within this 'Canadian voice' are a plurality of perspectives - that of the First Nations, new immigrants, French Canadians, sexual minorities, etc. - and a multitude of theatre companies have been created to specifically service and support these voices.
René Highway was an Indigenous Canadian dancer and actor of Cree descent from Brochet, Manitoba. He was the brother of playwright Tomson Highway, with whom he frequently collaborated during their time at Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto, and the partner of actor and singer Micah Barnes.
The Centre for Indigenous Theatre is a non-profit theater educational institution located in Toronto, Ontario. It focuses on performance art from an Indigenous cultural foundation.
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, Buddies in Bad Times is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical expression". It is the largest and longest-running queer theatre company in the world.
Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz, and it was run for almost 20 years by Dian English.
The Debajehmujig Storytellers, also Debahehmyjig Theatre Group, or informally Debaj, is a First Nations theatre group and multi-arts organization based in the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island in Northern Ontario. Debaj is the longest running Indigenous theatre in North America.
The Dora Mavor Moore Awards are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped establish Canadian professional theatre, the awards program was established on December 13, 1978, with the first awards held in 1980. Each winner receives a bronze statue made from the original by John Romano.
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing is a play by Canadian writer Tomson Highway (Cree), which premiered in 1989 at Theatre Passe-Muraille in Toronto.
Jani Lauzon is a Canadian director, and multidisciplinary performer of Métis, French, and Finnish ancestry from East Kootenay, British Columbia. Lauzon resides in Toronto, Ontario.
The Rez Sisters is a two-act play by Canadian writer Tomson Highway (Cree), first performed on November 26, 1986, by Act IV Theatre Company and Native Earth Performing Arts.
Billy Merasty is an Aboriginal Canadian actor and writer of Cree descent.
Joseph A. Dandurand is a Kwantlen person (Xalatsep) from Kwantlen First Nation in British Columbia. He is a poet, playwright, and archaeologist.
Michael Greyeyes is an Indigenous Canadian actor, dancer, choreographer, director, and educator.
Cheri Maracle is an Aboriginal Canadian actress and musician of Mohawk-Irish descent.
Yvette Nolan (Algonquin) (1961) is a Canadian playwright, director, actor, and educator based out of Saskatchewan, Canada. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. She has contributed significantly to the creation and performance of Indigenous theatre in Canada.
Monique Mojica is a playwright, director, & actor based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was born in New York City, but came to Canada as founding member of Native Earth Performing Arts.
Cris Derksen is a two-spirit Juno Award–nominated Cree cellist from Northern Alberta, Canada. Derksen is known for her unique musical sound which blends classical music with traditional Indigenous music. Her music is often described as "electronic cello" or classical traditional fusion.
Early Native American culture was rich with ceremonies, rituals and storytelling. The stories that inspire Native American theatre have been around for hundreds of years, but did not gain formal recognition by colonial America. This lack of recognition lasted until the 1930s when Lynn Riggs, a playwright of Cherokee descent, brought Native Theatre into the spotlight through the Six Nations Reserve Forest Theatre in Ontario. Through these events, Native Theatre has been introduced to mainstream society and contemporary Native American Theater was born. Indigenous American cultures have been a major aspect of Chicano drama.
