performing arts type theatre company founded 1982 headquarters toronto website www.nativeearth.ca native earth performing arts is a canadian theatre company located in toronto . contents 1 background 2 artistic directors 3 references 4 external links background edit founded in 1982 it is the oldest professional aboriginal performing arts company in canada . they have been central in the development of a community of native theatre artists and have contributed to the creation of several plays which have become canonical in canadian drama such as tomson highway s award winning the rez sisters and dry lips oughta move to kapuskasing daniel david moses s almighty voice and his wife and drew hayden taylor s someday . native earth hosts the annual weesageechak festival which is a showcase for emerging native theatre artists . 1 in 1986 native earth was able to secure government funding which brought stability to the organization . this funding allowed native earth the possibility to program a season and open its own office with full time staff . in the same year native earth presented its first scripted work tomson highway s the rez sisters which became a hit and attracted large audiences across canada . the play was so successful that it was also invited to the edinburgh festival and received the dora mavor moore award and the floyd s. chalmers canadian play award . in 1989 native earth created weesageechak begins to dance an annual play festival which developed plays that often turned into full production the following year . one of the plays which was developed through this process was john mcleod s diary of a crazy boy . in 2011 tara beagan took over the artistic director position from yvette nolan who was in that post since 2002 . in 2012 the organization was described as a formidable artistic hub for all things related to contemporary indigenous performing arts . 2 artistic directors edit ryan cunningham 2014 present tara beagan 2011 2013 yvette nolan 2003 2011 doris peltier glenn shea and marion de vries interim 2002 alanis king 2000 2002 artistic directorate alejandro ronceria sandra laronde and daniel david moses 1998 2000 pamela a. matthews interim 1997 1998 drew hayden taylor 1994 1997 floyd favel 1992 1994 tomson highway 3 1986 1992 monique mojica 1983 1986 dennis lacroix and bunny sicard 1982 1983 references edit cecily m. barrie . native earth performing arts . the canadian encyclopedia . retrieved 2012 11 29 . native earth performing arts donna michelle st. bernard steps down as general manager dec 2012 . broadway world.com toronto . 2012 11 17 . retrieved 2012 11 29 . tomson highway floating down yonge street . canada writes cbc books . 2012 06 21 . retrieved 2012 11 29 . native earth performing arts at the canadian encyclopedia external links edit native earth performing arts canadian theatre encyclopedia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title native earth performing arts & oldid 701274541 categories first nations theatretheatre companies in torontoarts organizations established in 19821982 establishments in ontario navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 23 january 2016 at 16 17 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view