External links
Yvette Nolan fonds (R16870) at Library and Archives Canada
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Yvette Nolan | |
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| Born | Yvette Nolan 1961 (age 63–64) Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Occupation(s) | Playwright, director, educator |
Yvette Nolan (born 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. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Nolan was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to an Algonquin mother and an Irish immigrant father. [4] She was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba and graduated with Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba. In 2024, she completed a Master of Public Policy at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy in Saskatchewan. [5]
Her commitment to Indigenous and feminist live art is attributed to the first time saw an Indigenous character on stage during Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe . [4]
In 1990, she started playwright career at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival with premier of her play, Blade. It was later remounted at both the Best of the Fringe (1990) and Women in View Festival (1992). [6] She has worked at various theatre companies throughout Canada, including the Agassiz Theatre, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse, and Native Earth Performing Arts, a theatre company based in Ontario province. [7] [8]
As a director, she has contributed significantly to the development of Aboriginal theatre within Canada. She has directed plays by George Ryga (The Ecstasy of Rita Joe), Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble (The Only Good Indian), Marie Clements (Tombs of the Vanishing Indian and The Unnatural and Accidental Women), Kenneth T. Williams (Café Daughter and In Care), and Melanie J. Murray (A Very Polite Genocide). [3] [9]
From 1998 until 2001, she was also president of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She was the artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts from 2003 to 2010, was president of the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance, and has sat on the boards of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance [4] and the Saskatchewan Association of Theatre Professionals. [10] In 2010 and 2011, she hosted Matariki Development Festival in New Zealand. [11]
She is an Artistic Associate at Signal Theatre and co-director with Michael Greyeyes of a dance opera (Bearing) at the 2017 Luminato Festival. She also directed (Nôhkom) with Signal Theatre. [12] In 2017, she was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership to the CATR / ACRT.[ citation needed ]
In 2021, she taught at the Canadian College of the Performing Arts in Victoria, British Columbia. [13] In the same year, she was awarded the Gascon-Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Theatre School of Canada. [14] In 2022, she was the Interim Co-Artistic Director along with Skye Brandon at Shakespeare On The Saskatchewan. [15] She is a Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto.
Her play, The Unplugging, received two productions in 2023 at the Belfry Theatre in the city of Victoria in British Columbia [16] and the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa. [17] It was also produced in 2025 by Burnt Thicket Theatre in Sasaktoon, Canada. Her work with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard continued with The First Stone at Buddies in Bad Times in 2022 [18] and at Great Canadian Theatre Company in 2023. [19]
She directed Frances Koncan's Women Of The Fur Trade at the Stratford Festival in 2023. [20] as well as at the Globe Theatre in Regina. From 2016–2022, she was the Company Dramaturge at Sum Theatre in Saskatoon. [21]
Performing Indigeneity: with Ric Knowles, Playwrights Canada Press, 2016 Beyond The Pale: Refractions: Solo with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Playwrights Canada Press
Medicine Shows: Indigenous Performance Culture, Playwrights Canada Press, 2015 [23]
Yvette Nolan fonds (R16870) at Library and Archives Canada
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