Indigenous Artist

Yolanda Bonnell (They/She) is a Bi/Queer 2 Spirit Anishinaabe-Ojibwe, South Asian mixed performer, playwright and multidisciplinary creator/educator. Hailing from Fort William First Nation, Ontario their arts practice is now based in Tkarón:to. They are Co-artistic leader of manidoons collective, that they run with Michif (Métis) artist, Cole Alvis. In February 2020, Yolanda’s four-time Dora nominated solo piece bug was remounted at Theatre Passe Muraille while play (Scirocco Publishing 2020) was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award. In 2022, their recently published play White Girls in Moccasins, was produced at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as well as at the frank theatre on Coast Salish Territory. Yolanda was the first Indigenous artist recipient of the Jayu Arts for Human Rights Award for their work and won the PGC Tom Hendry Drama Award for their play, My Sister’s Rage which was produced by Tarragon Theatre in 2022. Yolanda, who has just completed her first full length young adult novel has also taught/facilitated classes and workshops at schools like York University, Sheridan College and with Studio 180 Theatre. She proudly bases her practice in land-based creation, drawing on energy and inspiration from the earth and her ancestors.

Select theatre performance credits include: Edith/IFN1 in Kamloopa (Soulpepper/Native Earth - Dora nominated), Narrator/Bear son in Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/ Gállábártnit (Signal Theatre/Soundstreams – Dora nominated), Valerie in The Unnatural and Accidental Women (National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre), Ipruq/Atugauq in The Breathing Hole (Stratford Festival), Fanny/Roberta in Treasure Island (Stratford Festival), Theresa in The Crackwalker (Factory Theatre)

INDIGENOUS ANCESTRY

First Nations

SELF-IDENTIFICATION

Anishinaabe - Ojibwe