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. 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"), ("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 has served on the boards of the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance and the Saskatchewan Association of Theatre Professionals. In 2010 and 2011 Nolan was hosted in New Zealand  to a Māori theatre festival called the Matariki Development Festival where she contributed as a playwright, director and dramaturg. 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 In 2021 she taught at the Canadian College of the Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C. https://www.ccpacanada.com/personnel/yvette-nolan/ She is currently completing her ongoing work about the role of Boards of Directors in arts organisations as she works towards completing her  Masters of Public Policy at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2022/03/18/ceos-in-the-green-room-should-arts-groups-be-run-by-corporate-style-boards.html?rf In 2022 she is the Interim Co-Artistic Director along with Skye Brandon at Shakespeare On The Saskatchewan.https://www.shakespearesask.com/blog/blog_detail/a_message_from_cointerim_festival_curators_yvette_nolan_and_skye_brandon She is a Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto. 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 and 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. She was the Writer-in-Residence at McGill University in 2018. https://www.mcgill.ca/arts/article/mordecai-richler-writer-residence-yvette-nolan 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