Full Name Yvette Nolan Name Yvette Nolan | Role Playwright Education Brandon University | |
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Occupation Playwright, Director, Dramaturg Books The Unplugging, Annie Mae's Movement, Medicine Shows: Indigeno, Blade ; Job's Wife ; Video | ||
Lit happens with writer in residence yvette nolan
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.
Contents
- Lit happens with writer in residence yvette nolan
- Yvette nolan on growing up and her family part 1 of 6
- Early life
- Career
- Writer in Residence
- Plays
- Editor
- Culture Studies
- Director
- Awards
- References
Yvette nolan on growing up and her family part 1 of 6
Early life
Nolan was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to an Algonquin mother and an Irish immigrant father. Nolan was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba and attended the University of Manitoba where she graduated with a B.A.
Nolan's commitment to Indigenous and feminist live art is attributed to the first time she saw a Native character on stage during Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe.
Career
Nolan launched her career as a playwright at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival in 1990 where her play Blade premiered. It was later remounted at both the Best of the Fringe (1990) and Women in View Festival (1992).
She has worked at various theatre companies throughout Canada including Agassiz Theatre, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Nakai Theatre in Whitehorse, Native Earth Performing Arts.
As a director, Nolan has contributed significantly to the development of Aboriginal theatre. She has directed plays by George Ryga (The Ecstasy of Rita Joe), Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble (The Only Good Indian) and Marie Clements (Tombs of the Vanishing Indian and The Unnatural and Accidental Women), Kenneth T Williams (Café Daughter and In Care), Melanie J. Murray (A Very Polite Genocide).
From 1998 until 2001, Nolan was also president of the Playwright’s Union of Canada (now called the Playwrights Guild of Canada). She was artistic director of Native Earth from 2003 to 2010. She was president of Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance, and currently serves on the board of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance.
Nolan 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.
In 2017 she was awarded an Honorary Lifetime Membership to the Canadian Association of Theatre Research.
Writer-in-Residence
Nolan has been a writer-in-residence at several institutions including Brandon University (1996). During this term as writer-in-residence, Nolan wrote Annie Mae's Movement. She was also playwright-in-residence at the National Arts Centre. She was also resident at Mount Royal College in 2009. In 2011 she began a nine-month term as writer-in-residence at the Saskatoon Library and playwright-in-residence at the University of Regina.
Plays
Editor
Performing Indigeneity: with Ric Knowles, Playwrights Canada Press, 2016 Beyond The Pale: Refractions: Solo with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Playwrights Canada Press
Culture Studies
Medicine Shows: Indigenous Performance Culture, Playwrights Canada Press, 2016
Director
2016-2017