Overview
Indian Act is a tribute and thank you to those who survived the Indian Residential School system so that future generations could be free to pursue their lives unhindered by educationally enforced lowered expectations and institutionalized abuse. Seven plays by contemporary First Nations and Metis playwrights cover the broad scope of residential school experiences, all kinds of characters, and no stereotypes, giving voice to those who could not be heard.
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard is an emcee, playwright, and arts administrator. Her work has been recognized with a Siminovitch Prize nomination, SATAward nomination, the Herman Voaden Playwriting Award, the Enbridge playRites Award, a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and two nominations for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. She is the current artistic director of New Harlem Productions. She is based in Toronto.
Daniel David Moses
Daniel David Moses is “a coroner of the theatre who slices open the human heart to reveal the fear, hatred and love that have eaten away at it. His dark play... can leave its audience shaking with emotion.” (Kate Taylor, The Globe & Mail, about The Indian Medicine Shows).
Moses, a Delaware from the Six Nations lands on the Grand River, lives in Toronto, where he writes, and in Kingston, where he teaches in the Department of Drama at Queen’s University.
Falen Johnson
Falen Johnson is Mohawk and Tuscarora from Six Nations. She is an actor, playwright and emerging dramaturg. She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School. Selected theatre credits include: The Only Good Indian with Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble, The Triple Truth, Savage, Strong Medicine, Death of a Chief, A Very Polite Genocide, and Tombs of the Vanishing Indian all with Native Earth Performing Arts. She has also been seen in The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, a co-production between Western Canada Theatre and the National Arts Centre. Recently Falen was seen in The River with Nakai Theatre as well as Tout Comme Elle, a co-production between Necessary Angel and Luminato, and in Where the Blood Mixes with Saskatchewan Native Theatre.
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