Yvette Nolan


Yvette Nolan 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 and Women in View Festival.
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, Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble and Marie Clements, Kenneth T Williams, Melanie J. Murray.
From 1998 until 2001, Nolan was also president of the Playwright's Union 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.
Nolan is an Artistic Associate at Signal Theatre and co-director with Michael Greyeyes of a dance opera at the 2017 Luminato Festival. She also directed 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. 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.

Plays

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