Current Landscapes of Indigenous Theatre - Emerging Conversations

Gwaandak Theatre's EAD Colin Wolf will be curating this panel to feature some of the Indigenous artists who are travelling to Whitehorse YT for Awaken, PACTcon and CINASO. These influential artists will discuss, reflect, and perhaps even debate on emergent topics related to Indigenous theatre. Stay tuned for the full list of panelists!

Importance of Indigenous-led Processes - In the Performing Arts and Beyond

By Reneltta Arluk, Philip Jonah Logan Geller & Christine Genier

Join three Indigenous creatives with national theatre and performance experience as they discuss the importance and benefits of Indigenous-led processes in the performing arts - and beyond! This is a key component in supporting anti-racist and decolonization efforts across the performance industry, including among audience members. Arts organizations have a role to play in righting historical wrongs through supporting Indigenous performance as ceremony; by exploring the panelists’ individual perspectives as well as the broader landscape of the performing arts nationally, we hope that this conversation leads to a greater understanding of the need to include Indigenous-led processes in all facets of the creative landscape as well as the “day-to-day”.

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Reneltta Arluk, D.Litt., is Inuvialuk, Gwich’in and Denesuline, Cree from the Northwest Territories, raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age. This early nomadic life provided Reneltta with the unique skill set to become the multi-disciplinary nomadic performing arts artist she is. In 2008, she founded Akpik Theatre, the only professional Indigenous Theatre company existing from the Northwest Territories. Adhering to its namesake, the cloudberry, Akpik Theatre strives to flourish in the northern climate it reflects by developing, mentoring and producing performance-based work that is northern Indigenous inspired and created. Image by Nahanni McKay

Philip Jonah Logan Geller (they/them) is a Jewish and Red River Métis theatre creator, performer, director, dramaturge, producer, and clown. They have worked across Turtle Island with companies including The Stratford Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Gwaandak Theatre, and Centre for Indigenous Theatre. They are a graduate of the MFA directing program at York University and the BFA Acting Program at the University of Alberta.

Christine Genier is a Wolf Clan citizen of the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. (Yukon) She is a writer, poet, performer, storyteller, and a lifelong worker in language and culture. Her latest work, Dear Star Trek, ran for two nights in February at the Old Fire Hall, bringing the piece home after performing for audiences in Vancouver, BC and Wolfe Island, Ontario. Christine works to help keep her family and ancestral languages, Tageesh Koshé and Dawkwanjé. She is a gatherer of stories and moderator of talks.

Reaching Back, Reaching Forward - Opening Speech

By Tyra Ashauntie, Patti Flather & Leonard Linklater

This opening speech will be presented by an emerging Yukon First Nations playwright and actor, Tyra Ashauntie, as well as the co-founders of Gwaandak Theatre, Patti Flather and Leonard Linklater. Join us as we look to both the history of Indigenous Theatre in the Yukon and its future as well as the role we all play in reaching forward together.

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Tyra Ashauntie’s bio incoming!

Patti Flather is an award-winning published and produced writer, theatre artist, and cultural producer. She is a co-founder and past Artistic Director of Gwaandak Theatre for two decades, a co-producer with Yukon Digital Theatre Collective, and a winner of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Borealis Prize for literary and storytelling contributions in the Yukon. Find more at www.pattiflather.com.

Leonard Linklater, playwright and former co-artistic director of Gwaandak Theatre, is a citizen of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Born and raised in Inuvik, N.W.T. he now lives in Whitehorse, Yukon with his partner. He was a co-creator of Ndoo Treedyaa Gogwaandak (2019), radio plays. Leonard’s first play Sixty Below (Co-written with Patti Flather) received seven Dora nominations in Toronto (Native Earth, 1997). Justice was featured at the National Arts Centre’s Northern Scene (Ottawa, 2013). In 2019 he participated in the Caravan Farm Theatre National Playwrights Retreat, and in 2025 adapted Sixty Below with the Yukon Digital Theatre Collective. Leonard is a father and grandfather, and an avid soccer player.

Indigenous Opera with opera singer Camryn Dewar - IPAA Youth Ambassador

Fulbright Scholar, opera singer, and Red River Métis Nation citizen Camryn Dewar will sing a collection of classical music by Indigenous composers. Through performance of arias and art songs by Indigenous composers, including from Ian Cusson’s “5 Songs on Poems of Marilyn Dumont” (2016), Shanawdithit (2019) by Yvette Nolan and Dean Burry, Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North (2023) by Suzanne Steele, Alex Kusturok, and Neil Weisensel, and Indians on Vacation (2021) by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek, Camryn will allow audiences to hear incredible new Indigenous classical music that is seldom performed or heard.

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Camryn Dewar is an accomplished vocalist of opera, contemporary classical, musical theatre, jazz, and rock. From Stony Mountain, Manitoba, she champions the works of Indigenous and living composers across North America, and takes great pride in her Red River Métis heritage. As a Fulbright Scholar, she is advancing research in Indigenous opera and equal representation, and is touring a lecture-recital series about Indigenous Women in Opera across Canada from 2025-2027. Camryn received her Master of Music degree from Montclair State University in New Jersey USA, and her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Manitoba. She has performed roles in operas at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Image by Kevin McIntyre

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The Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance is a member-driven organization serving Indigenous artists and arts organizations across Turtle Island. We provide opportunities for arts and culture workers to connect with one another, gain skills and knowledge, and advertise their work and events among the network.

Jenelle Duval is a Mi’kmaw multidisciplinary artist and curator originally from St. George’s, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). A celebrated singer and songwriter, Jenelle is a founding member of the award-winning drum group Eastern Owl and is widely recognized for her solo and collaborative performances.

With 15 years of experience rooted in community advocacy and artistic leadership, Jenelle currently serves as the Community Producer for the Prismatic Arts Festival. Her career is defined by a deep commitment  in supporting and elevating Indigenous artists and the power of multidisciplinary storytelling.

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The Prismatic Arts Festival is a national, multidisciplinary arts festival that showcases and celebrates innovative work by Indigenous artists and artists of colour from across Canada. Based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia), Prismatic has been bringing audiences vibrant, boundary-pushing new works in theatre, dance, music, film, visual arts, media arts, and spoken word since 2008.

Sara Kae, is an Ojibwe and Cree artist, got her start touring northern Ontario with her father, singing in communities from the age of 12. Sara’s early career accomplishments include a residency with CBC x SOCAN foundation, her recent single #6 on the CBC Top 20, and opening for Juno award winning, Aysanabee.

Image by Sarah McPherson

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The Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance is a member-driven organization serving Indigenous artists and arts organizations across Turtle Island. We provide opportunities for arts and culture workers to connect with one another, gain skills and knowledge, and advertise their work and events among the network.

Weaving a Path Forward - Keynote Presentation

By Michelle Olson

This keynote will address how engaging in traditional and contemporary practices is an act of resilience and how it is important to weave in the multiplicity of stories, perspectives and experiences to building a strong path forward.

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Michelle Olson is a member of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation and Co- Artistic Director of Raven Spirit Dance. She studied dance and performance at the University of New Mexico, the Banff Centre, with Full Circle and completed her MFA in Directing at UBC. Michelle works in areas of dance, theatre and opera as a choreographer, performer and movement coach and her work has been seen on national and international stages.

Image by Emily Solstice

On the wings of the north wind, Bria Rose disrupts stillness with soulful warmth. Poetic and biting lyrics cascade from the heart of a Tahltan/Cree woman raised in the rural North. Her uplifting yet gritty sound, anchored by rich alto depth, bridges emotion and power with unflinching authenticity. Bria Rose released her single Seasons in 2022. Since then she has formed the group Bria Rose N' Thorns and in 2024 released their 6 song EP titled Sprout. Her very first full-length album, Bloom, is set to release in 2026 with the first single, Rainbow, releasing April 18th. 

Join Erica Wilson - the first recipient of the National Indigenous Artist Development and Showcase Program - as she shares about her experience developing a brand new work and presenting it at two Indigenous Theatre Festivals so far this year, with one more to go! A Winnipeg-born Indigenous theatre artist evolving from a background in realism theatre toward a dynamic fusion of dance, puppetry, and the theatre of the absurd, Erica explores moving beyond the constraints of traditional "Main Stage" storytelling, channelling her creativity through her persona, Miss Carcass Caresse.

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Erica Wilson is an Indigenous Artist and community connector located in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Treaty 1. All aspects of their art is rooted in Authenticity, Curiosity, Humor and Wisdom. Their work is currently focused on as an individual artist exploring solo projects for the first time. Where they normally thrive is within community spaces promoting education, communication and the arts. 

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The National Indigenous Artist Development and Showcase Program was developed in partnership with Kiyanaan Indigenous Theatre Festival, Native Earth Performing Arts and Gwaandak Theatre.

Colin Wolf is a Métis performer, theatre maker, and activist from Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary), AB on Treaty 7 Territory. He graduated with a BFA in Dramatic Arts from the University of Lethbridge in 2014, and then spent five years making theatre all over the prairies. Colin co-founded Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre Collective with his sister Caleigh Crow in 2013. Colin felt the call of the North and moved to Whitehorse in October 2019 to serve as Artistic Director at Gwaandak Theatre. He wrote and produced CoyWolf, a story about loss and grief backdropped by a story of land displacement. Colin produced it as Thumbs Up in partnership with the Guild Hall Theatre in Whitehorse, and toured it to four rural communities in 2023. CoyWolf was published by Playwrights Canada Press and presented by Gordon Tootoosis Nīkānīwin Theatre in October 2025.