The Indigenous Body of Work is a living document that highlights the incredible breadth of work –  published play scripts and live productions of dance, music, and theatre – created by First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists across Turtle Island.

Read the Indigenous Body of Work in Plain Text.

ABOUT the Indigenous Body of Work

The National Arts Centre (NAC), along with many partners and collaborators, embarked on a two-year project referred to as The First Cycle: Indigenous Theatre. The Cycle took place through a series of three major events: The Summit, The Study, and the Repast. 

The Summit took place in the Spring of 2014 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and was facilitated by Sarah Garton Stanley and Yvette Nolan. The gathering hosted twelve Indigenous Leaders and ten institutional ‘Listeners’ over three days to meditate on the breadth and scope of Indigenous work, translating notions of a “Canon” to a “Body” of Indigenous works in Canada.

Learn more

Read The Summit Report

Read POWER SHIFT: The Story (Summit/Study/Repast)

Submissions

This compilation is incomplete. This is a living document and we need the community’s help keeping it up to date. Titles of work can be added and retracted from this document. 

Disclaimer

Anyone can submit titles of work, you are not required to own the intellectual rights of the work because we do not publish scripts or archivals. This allows the Indigenous artistic community to contribute to keeping the list updated and growing. That said, the person owning the intellectual rights may request their titles be redacted from the list; requests can be made to info@ipaa.ca. 

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A

Adams, Evan

• Snapshot

Adams, Evan & Clements, Marie

• Dirty Dog River

Annis, Heather-Marie

• The Longest Way Around

Arcan, Warren Ralph

• The Dark Virgin

Arluk, Reneltta

• TUMIT

B

Baker, Marie

• Albeit Aboriginal

Barker, Keith

• From Nothing
• The Hours That Remain
• This Is How We Got Here

Barnes, Herbie

• Bent Boy

Beagan, Tara

• Anatomy of an Indian
• Bad As I Am
• Bluebeard’s Wi7e
• Dear Louis Riel
• Dreary and Izzy
• Foundlings
• The Fort at York (lead writer, collective creation)
• free as injuns
• Here, Boy!
• In Spirit
• It’s Always You
• Jesus Chrysler
• Miss Julie: Sheh’mah
• The Ministry of Grace
• RECONCILIATION (with Andy Moro)
• The Red Room: My Pleasure
• A Soldier’s Tale
• They Know Not What They Do
• Thy Neighbour’s Wife
• Trans Canada
• The Woods

Belanger, Mariel

• A Little While

Bell, Kim John

• In the Land of Spirits

Bige, Tawahum

• Mr. Beck’s New Evidence // Bars of Pipe (Flaming Balloon. Jun 30, 2018.)
• Poets+ featuring Tin Lorica, Justin Percival, Tawahum & Jillian Christmas (FifthChord Studios & Arts Council New Westminster. Jan 15, 2022.)
• Rehearsal Hall Sessions: Cypher with Kimmortal, Tawahum, Shemedlyne, & Ivy (Evergreen Cultural Centre, Kimmortal. Nov 29, 2021.)

Bobb, Columpa

• Creation – My Mother’s Story
• Dinky

Bobb, Columpa & DeVries, Marion

• Jumping Mouse

Borst, Murielle

• More than Feathers and Beads

Braverock, Carl

• Indian Daze

Buck, Sadie & Ronceria, Alejandro

• Bones

Burning, Jack

• Dog Soldier

C

Campbell, Maria

• The Alley

Campbell, Maria & Daniels, Henry

• One More Time

Campbell, Maria & Griffiths, Linda

• Jessica

Cardinal, Ben

• Bones
• Generic Warrior & No-Name Indians

Cardinal, Cliff

• Huff
• Maria Gets a New Life
• Stitch

Charlette, Kennetch

• The Sweat

Charlette, Kennetch & Cheechoo, Shirley & King, Alanis

• Nanabush of the 80’s

Cheechoo, Shirley

• Moose River Crossing
• Path With No Moccasins
• The River Of Life
• Shadow People

Cheechoo, Shirley & Greta

• Your Dream Was Mine

Cheechoo, Shirley & King, Alanis

• Nothing Personal
• Respect the Voice of the Child

Chiang, George & Fisher, Jonathan

• Dances With Gold Dust

Chinook Winds

• Aboriginal Dance Project

Clements, Marie

• Burning Vision
• Copper Thunderbird
• The Edward Curtis Project
• The Road Forward
• Tombs of the Vanishing Indian
• Unnatural and Accidental Women
• Urban Tattoo

Cloutier, Sylvia & Williamson Bathory, Laakkuluk

• Tulugak

Collin, Marco

• Tu é Moi

Command, Janice

• Manabouzhou and the Wolves

Connolly, Jacinthe & Hébert,Véronique & Jenniss, Dave

• Écorce de nos silences

D

Dalton, Jack

• Assimilation

Dancers of Damelahamid

• Dancing our Stories
• Flicker
• In Abundance
• Luu Hlotitxw: Spirit Transforming
• Spirit and Tradition

Dandurand, A. Joseph

• Chili and His Day of Glory
• No Totem For My Story
• Please Do Not Touch The Indians
• Sell Fish
• Shake
• Th’owxiya the Hungry Feast Dish

Daniels, Greg

• Four Horses
• Percy’s Edge

Davies, Olivia C.

• Conversation
• Open Fire
• The Falling Stars

Dauenhauer, Norma Marks

• The Raven Plays

Debajehmujig Theatre Group

• The Best Medicine Show
• Dear Daphne
• Elders Gone A.W.O.L
• Ever That Nanabush (based on the stories of Daphne Odjig)
• From Sinew to Sequins
• The Gift
• The Global Savages
• The Gulch
• An Honour Story
• The Indian Affairs
• The Jerry Jessie Jones Show
• Jiis Giizhigat (Turnip Day)
• New World Brave
• Norval-A Born Artist
• Our Relations
• The Peace Tree
• The Seven Grandfather Teachings
• SKY, An Aboriginal Dance Drama
• Thunderers and Water Monsters

Debajehmujig Theatre Group & Naokwegijig, Bruce

• The Four Axes
• The Meeting

Debassige, Diane

• First Love
• Judgments Too Severe

Dennis, Darrell

• Tales of an Urban Indian
• The Trickster of Third Avenue East

Denomme-Welch, Spy

• Exit Eagle Eye

Denomme-Welch, Spy & Catherine Magowan

• Giiwedin

D’Hondt, Jeff

• Everything I Couldn’t Tell You (May 3-11, 2018)
• Mesingw (Sept 2013)

Dieter, Connie

• Yvonne’s Playground

Dieter, Mark

• Love Songs From a War Drum
• The Pursuit of Indian Hollywood
• RRAP
• Where Spirits Walk

Dietz, Steven

• The Remembering

Dudoward, Val

• Teach Me the Ways of the Sacred Circle

Dumont, Dawn

• Crystal Clear
• Fancy Dancer
• Four Directions
• Hamlet
• Nicimos
• Spirit Song
• Spirited Angels
• Stalker

Dunn, Carolyn

• Ghost Dance (Double Sided)

Durand, Yves

• Un Monde qui s’achève-Lola

Durand, Yves & Joncas, Catherine

• Ukuamaq

E

Elliot, Cathy

• Aluasa’sit
• The Talking Stick (Charlottetown Festival)

Elter, Sheldon

• Metis Mutt

Eshkibok, Gloria May

• Cyclops Beauty

F

Favel, Floyd

• Attawapiskat
• Governor of the Dew
• Lady of Silences
• The Learning

Fisher, Leonard

• School of Hardknocks

Fleming, Neil

• Red n White

Fobister, Wawaate

• Agokwe
• Medicine Boy

Francis, Marvin

• The Bush Painter

Frazier A. & M. Kelleher

• Iron Mountain

Friday, Christine

• Passage
• Resurgence 1

G

Garcia, Maura

• Ahwisgvsvo’i
• Ancestor Dances (Mark Gabriel Little, James Pakootas)
• People

Gin, Steven

• A Trick of Truth / Les Fourberies de la Verité

Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre

• Shadows among the Prairies (Jennifer Dawn Bishop. Production: Sept 9-18, 2021. Digital Streaming Jan 24-Feb 6, 2022)

Gould, Glen

• Eagleheart

Greyeyes, Michael

• Nohkom

Greyeyes, Michael & Favel, Floyd

• Buffalo Jump

Gummerson, Penny

• Is There Bingo in Heaven
• Wawatay

Guno, Larry

• Bunk #7

H

Highway, Rene

• New Song, New Dance

Highway, Tomson

• Annie and the Old One
• Aria
• Caribou Song
• Dry Lips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing
• Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout
• I Have Seen the Giant
• The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito
• The Large Tit
• Pimooteewin
• The (Post)Mistress
• The Rez Sisters
• A Ridiculous Spectacle in One Act
• Rose
• The Sage, The Dancer & The Fool
• A Trickster Tale

I

Innuinuuit Theatre Company/Nalujuk Players

• Braindead

Isaac, M.

• I Know Where the North Is

Ivins, Terry

• Time Stands Still

J

Jacko, Esther

• The Thunderbird Children
• Lupi, The Great White Wolf

James, Andrea

• Yanagai! Yanagai!

Jenniss, Dave

• Wulustek

Jensen, Lorre

• The Shaman of Waz

Joe, J.B.

• Edge of the Circle
• Ravens

Johnson, Falen

• Salt Baby
• Two Indians

K

Kahawi Dance Theatre

• The Honouring
• TransMigration
• Requickening

Kam Lab Theatre/NEPA

• Native Images in Transition

Kane, Margo

• Confessions of an Indian Cowboy
• Moonlodge
• Reflections in the Medicine Wheel
• The River Home

Kasokeo, Deanne

• Truth Hurts

Keeptwo, Suzanne

• All My Relations

Keeshig-Tobias, Lenore

• Quest for Fire
• Word Magic

King, Alanis

• The Art Show – The Daphne Odijig Story
• Born Buffalo
• Bye Bye Beneshe
• If Jesus Met Nanabush
• Lovechild
• The Manitoulin Incident
• The Tommy Prince Story

King, Bruce

• Evening At the Warbonnet
• Wolfe in Camp

King, Thomas

• Coyote Solstice

Kotowich, Jeanette

• Steppin’

Kramer, Lara

• The Indian Problem
• NGS (”Native Girl Syndrome”)

L

Lakevold, D. & Racine D.

• Stretching Hide

LaRiviere, Wayne

• Pewase-nakwun

Laronde, Sandra

• Tono
• Underworlds

Lauzon, Jani

• I Call Myself Princess
• On the Road to Freedom
• A Side of Dreams

Lauzon, Jani, Merasty Billy, Mojica Monique, & Perez F.

• A Savage Equilibrium

Lawrenchuk, Michael

• Big Bear

Lemay, Harding

• Return Upriver

Lewis, Larry

• New Voices Woman

Linklater, Leonard

• Justice

Linklater, Leonard & Patti Flather

• 60 Below

Loring, Kevin

• Where the Blood Mixes

Loyie, Larry

• Ora Pro Nobis (Pray For Us)

Luna, James

• In My Dreams

M

Mahoney, M.

• Overnight

Mahto, Jamison

• Blues for Franklin Avenue

Manitowabi, Darrel

• Lost Warrior

Many Fingers, Justin

• 509
• Okatoks

Many Fingers, Justin & Brian Solomon

• What’s Left Of Us

Mason, Tina

• Diva Ojibway

Matthews, Pamela

• Juliet igwa Romeo The Chief’s Son
• The Tempest (adaptation)

McIntyre, D.

• Circle Games

Mcleod, John

• Diary of a Crazy Boy

McMahon, Ryan

• Cousins

Medicine, S.

• Big Shot

Melody, Bridget

• Spirit Dance
• Written on the Wind

Menard, Andrea

• The Velvet Devil

Merasty, William

• Fireweed
• Godly’s Divinia
• Going Through Deja Vu

Messier, Jean-Frédéric & Yves Sioui Durand

• Hamlet le Malécite

Miguel, Gloria

• Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Miguel, Muriel

• Red Mother
• Trail of the Otter

Milliken, Barry

• Storm Child

Misquadis, R

• A Living Legend

Mojica, Monique

• Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots

Mojica, Monique & Chocolate Woman Collective

• Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way

Morris, Jim

• Son of Ayash

Morrisseau, M.

• Indians For Sale

Morrisseau, Renae

• Tuwitames

Moses, Daniel David

• Almighty Voice and His Wife
• Big Buck City
• Brebeuf’s Ghost
• Coyote City
• de Winter’s Tale
• The Dreaming Beauty
• Kyotopolis
• The Moon and Dead Indians
• Songs of Love and Medicine

Moses, Daniel David & Jim Millan

• Red River

Mosioner, Beatrice

• A Little Black Cat and a Little White Rat
• Night of the Trickster

Murray, J. Melanie

• A Very Polite Genocide

N

Neal, Justin

• SO DAMN PROUD (Holy Crow Arts, Olivia C. Davies, Jay Havens, Michelle Bardach, Aaron M. Wells. Sept 10-24, 2021)

Native Earth Performing Arts

• Clown Trickster’s Workshop
• Death of a Chief
• Double Take/A Second Look
• Give them a Carrot for as long as the Sun Is Green
• Native Images in Transition
• Who am I?

Nepinak, Doug

• BBQ
• Coo-Coosh
• The Crisis in Oka, Manitoba

Nolan, Yvette

• BLADE
• Child
• A Marginal Man
• Savage
• Skin Deep
• from thine eyes
• The Unplugging

Nowra, Louis

• Crow

O

Olson, Michelle & Lisa Ravensbergen

• The Place Between

Omnika, Amie Lynn

• Broken Snowshoe Moon

Ondinnok

• Iwouskea et Tawiskaron
• Opitowap, Sakipitcikan et Mantokasowin
• Le Porter des peines du monde

Osawabine, Joe

• How Will You Remember Me?

Osawabine, Joe & Elisha Sidlar & Paula Wing

• The Gift

P

Payette, Corey

• Children of God
• Starwalker
• Les Filles du Roi (Julie McIssac)
• Sedna (Reneltta Arluk, Marshal McMahen)

Pechawis, Archer

• Talking to My Horse, Whistling the Garry Owen

Peeteetuce, Curtis

• In the Midst of Memory
• Mekiwin : The Gift
• Popcorn Elder

Peltier, Doris

• A Red Shoe Tale

Peltier, K.

• Stuck Between 2 Women

Pepin, Genevieve & Laurentio Q. Arnatsiaq

• Uqquaq, The Shelter

Petit, Marcel

• Reclaim

Pheasant, Karen

• The Promise

Prudat, PJ

• Reunir

R

Ramirez, Vickie

• Smoke

Raven Spirit Dance

• Ashes on the Water
• Earth Song
• Evening in Paris
• Frost Exploding Trees Moon
• Gathering Light
• Luk T’äga Näche
• Northern Journey
• Salmon Girl
• Songs of Shär Cho
• Ta’wan

Red Sky Performance

• Backbone
• Dancing Americas
• The Great Mountain by Tracey Power
• Mistatim
• Raven
• Raven Stole The Sun by Drew Hayden Taylor (based on a traditional Tlingit story as recounted by Sháa Tláa Maria Williams)
• Shimmer
• Underworlds

Reid, Stephen & M. Poushinsky

• Clarence Almost Home

Riggs, Lynn Rollie

• The Cherokee Night
• Green Grow the Lilacs

Ronceria, Alejandro

• The Jaguar Project

Rosie Simas Danse

• Darkness
• Skins

Ross, Ian

• FareWel

Ruffo, Armand

• Ghost Woman
• Grey Owl The Mystery of Archie Belaney
• The Visit
• A Windigo Tale

S

Scurvey, Sweeney

• River Bank

Seabrook, M.

• 20th Century Indian Boy

Seawell, Annamarie

• Rezolutions

Sergel, Christopher

• Black Elk Speaks

Simpson, Brock

• Skyland

Sinclair, Bruce & Waweyekisik Theatre

• Sad But True

Sinclair, Bruce

• Murdo’s Story

Smith, Santee & Michael Greyeyes

• The Threshing Floor

Smith, Santee

• A Constellation of Bones
• Electric Inter-tribal
• Here on Earth
• The Honouring
• Kaha:wi
• I Lost My Talk (NAC Orchestra)
• Maadaadizi/Summer Journeys (Jason Baerg)
• Medicine Bear
• MidWinter Dreaming
• NeoIndigenA
• Re-Quickening
• Sacred Spring
• A Soldier’s Tale (Theatre Aquarius, directed by Max Reimer)
• Star Dreamer
• A Story Before Time
• Susuriwaka – willow bridge
• Tkaronto Bounce
• TransMigration
• Tripped up Blues

Smyth Z.

• The Tale of the Four Directions

Solomon, Brian & Justin Many Finger

• What’s Left Of Us

Spiderwoman Theater

• Sun, Moon and Feather

St. Bernard, Donna-Michelle

• The House You Build

Stella, Rose

• White Buffalo Calf Woman

T

Tangen, Rulan

• Walking at the edge of Water

Tanguay, Nicole

• Hand to Hand

Tarbescu Edith

• Molly’s Boots

Taylor, Drew Hayden

• alterNATIVE
• The Baby Blues
• The Berlin Blues
• The Bootlegger Blues
• Dead White Writer on the Floor
• Education is Our Right
• Four Hundred Kilometers
• Girl Who Loved Her Horses
• GOD AND THE INDIAN
• Heat Lightning
• In a World Created by a Drunken God
• Indian Time
• Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth
• Pictures On the Wall
• Raven Stole The Sun (based on a traditional Tlingit story as recounted by Sháa Tláa Maria Williams (Red Sky Performance)
• The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
• Someday
• Three Tricksters
• Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock

Tisiga, Joseph

• Late Night with Grey Owl

Tonto’s Nephews

• Ever Sick!

Trujillo, Raoul

• Forbidden GODeSses

Tunooniq Theatre

• Changes

Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble

• The Only Good Indian
• The Scrubbing Project
• The Triple Truth

Twigg, Troy Emery

• Assimilating Richard
• Iitahpoyii

Two-Rivers / Broessel, E. Donald

• Old Indian Trick

V

Vermette, Sarah

• Hunger Strike

Villeneuve, Alain

• Mind’s Own Will

W

Wallace, Yvonne

• Smothered Sweetly

Welsh, Joe

• Sacred Places.

Williams, Angeline

• Biidaasigekwe, Sunlight Woman

Williams, Kenneth

• A.W.O.L.
• Bannock Republic
• Café Daughter
• DESERTERS
• Gordon Winter
• In Care
• Project 7
• Suicide Notes
• Three Little Birds
• Thunderstick

Williamson Bathory, Laakkuluk & Sylvia Cloutier

• Tulugak

Wiseman J.

• Full Circle

Worn Staff, Sadie

• Shadow Warrior
• The Tribes of Dawn
• Winter Moon Magic

Y

Yellow Robe Jr., William S.

• The Independence of Eddie Rose
• A Stray Dog

Young Ing Greg

• Full Circle

Z