Yvette Nolan facts for kids

Yvette Nolan (born 1961) is a talented Canadian playwright, director, actor, and teacher. She was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and has made a big impact on Indigenous theatre in Canada. She helps create and perform plays that tell important stories.

Early Life and Inspiration

Yvette Nolan grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her mother is Algonquin, and her father came from Ireland. She studied at the University of Manitoba and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

A special moment changed her life. She saw an Indigenous character on stage for the first time. This was during a Royal Winnipeg Ballet show called The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. This experience made her want to create art that celebrates Indigenous and feminist voices.

Yvette Nolan's Career in Theatre

Yvette Nolan started her career as a playwright in 1990. Her first play, Blade, was shown at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. It was so popular that it was performed again at other festivals.

She has worked with many theatre groups across Canada. These include the Manitoba Theatre Centre and Native Earth Performing Arts.

Directing Plays

As a director, Yvette Nolan has helped many Indigenous plays come to life. She has directed works by famous playwrights like George Ryga and Marie Clements. Some plays she directed include The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and Tombs of the Vanishing Indian. She also directed Café Daughter and In Care by Kenneth T. Williams.

Leadership Roles

Yvette Nolan has held important leadership positions. From 1998 to 2001, she was the president of the Playwright's Union of Canada. This group is now called the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She also led Native Earth Performing Arts as its artistic director from 2003 to 2010.

She has served on boards for groups like the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance. In 2010 and 2011, she visited New Zealand. There, she helped with a Māori theatre festival called the Matariki Development Festival. She worked as a playwright, director, and dramaturg.

Recent Work and Awards

Yvette Nolan is an Artistic Associate at Signal Theatre. She co-directed a dance opera called Bearing in 2017. She also directed Nôhkom with Signal Theatre.

In 2017, she received an Honorary Lifetime Membership from the Canadian Association for Theatre Research. In 2021, she taught at the Canadian College of the Performing Arts. That same year, she won the Gascon-Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is from the National Theatre School of Canada.

She is currently studying for her Masters of Public Policy. She is researching how Boards of Directors work in arts organizations. In 2022, she was a co-artistic director for Shakespeare On The Saskatchewan. She is also a Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto.

Her play The Unplugging was performed twice in 2023. Her work with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, The First Stone, was also performed in 2022 and 2023. In 2023, she directed Women Of The Fur Trade at the Stratford Festival.

Yvette Nolan has won several awards for her plays. She won the Jessie Richardson Award in 2013 for The Unplugging. In 2020, she won the Dora Mavor Moore award for Shanawdithit. From 2016 to 2022, she was the Company Dramaturge at Sum Theatre.

Writer-in-Residence Programs

Yvette Nolan has been a writer-in-residence at many places. This means she was invited to work on her writing at these institutions.

• In 1996, she was at Brandon University. During this time, she wrote her play Annie Mae's Movement.
• She was also a playwright-in-residence at the National Arts Centre.
• In 2009, she was a resident at Mount Royal College.
• In 2011, she started a nine-month term at the Saskatoon Library. She was also playwright-in-residence at the University of Regina.
• In 2018, she was the Writer-in-Residence at McGill University.

Plays Written by Yvette Nolan

Here are some of the plays Yvette Nolan has written:

• A Marginal Man
• Annie Mae's Movement
• Blade
• Child
• Job's Wife
• Shakedown Shakespeare
• The Unplugging
• Donne In
• Owen (a radio play)
• Toronto Rex
• Ham and the Ram
• Prophecy
• Alaska
• from thine eyes
• Henry IV Pt 1: (an adaptation)
• Hilda Blake (a libretto for an opera)
• The Birds: (an adaptation)
• Scattering Jake
• Finish Line
• Video
• What Befalls The Earth

Books and Edited Works

Yvette Nolan has also worked on books:

• Performing Indigeneity: She edited this book with Ric Knowles in 2016.
• Beyond The Pale: Refractions: Solo with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard.
• Medicine Shows: Indigenous Performance Culture: This book was published in 2015.

Awards and Recognitions

Yvette Nolan has received many awards for her work:

• John Hirsch Award for Most Promising New Writer (nomination), 1995.
• James Buller Award for Playwrighting (nomination), 1997.
• Maggie Bassett Award for service to the theatre community, 2007.
• City of Toronto's Aboriginal Affairs Award, 2008.
• George Luscombe Award for mentorship in professional theatre, 2011.
• Bob Couchman Award for direction (for Café Daughter).
• Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Script (for The Unplugging), 2013.
• Mallory Gilbert Leadership Award, 2014.
• Woman Of Distinction (nomination) - YWCA Saskatoon, 2017.
• Gina Wilkinson Prize, 2021.
• Gascon-Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award, 2021.