Yvette Nolan is a vital force in Canada’s Aboriginal theatre community.
She is committed to staging productions that illustrate the true life of the city and its people and reflecting stories that go beneath the surface of the issue at hand – moving the audience past a purely emotional reaction to a critical understanding of the issues.
She’s currently the Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts and has helped to evolve the organization through growth and the development of new programming which aims to create global pathways for presenting indigenous works. During her tenure, both she and Native Earth have achieved recognition as leaders in the Aboriginal performing arts community and the broader Canadian theatre community, including Yvette’s Access, Equity and Human Rights Award for Aboriginal Affairs from the City Of Toronto in 2008.
Her artistic involvements have ranged from Assistant Producer of Winnipeg’s Fringe Festival, to Aboriginal Writer-in-Residence at Brandon University, to Playwright-in-Residence at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Since the early 1990’s Yvette has written, directed, published and been involved with an incredible array of artistic endeavours – most of which portray and tell the stories of Aboriginal people. Her work has found its way into all corners of this country- from Whitehorse to Halifax, as well as outside our borders.
Yvette will use her grant funds for a sabbatical, during which she will begin to research and write a much-needed resource on Native Theatre, the first of its kind. She will frame her work through consultations with Ric Knowles, one of the most learned scholars on Native Theatre in Canada.
