Yolanda Bonnell

Yolanda Bonnell is a Canadian actress and playwright. She is most noted for her play Bug, which was a Governor General's Award nominee for English-language drama at the 2020 Governor General's Awards.[1]

Yolanda Bonnell
NationalityFort William First Nation
CitizenshipCanada
Alma materHumber College
Occupation(s)Actor, playwright
Notable workBug (2018 play)

Early life and education

An Anishinaabe member of the Fort William First Nation near Thunder Bay, Ontario and a graduate of Humber College's theatre school, she had her first significant acting role in a 2016 production of Judith Thompson's play The Crackwalker.[2]

Career

Her subsequent roles included a 2018 production of Kim Senklip Harvey's Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story,[3] and a 2019 production of Marie Clements's The Unnatural and Accidental Women.[4]

Her play bug was staged at various theatre festivals, including the annual Rhubarb Festival at Buddies in Bad Times, beginning in 2015, and was a Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding New Play in 2019. It received its most widespread attention in early 2020, when a production by Theatre Passe Muraille saw Bonnell make a public request that the play be reviewed only by BIPOC theatre critics.[5] Bonnell explained her request by noting that she had previously received racist reviews for her work, including from a critic who asserted that it was fit only to be seen on Indian reserves, and stated that "In Toronto, critics are mostly white and male. They come at Indigenous art with a different lens – that often comes back to 'If I don't understand it, that means it's not good or it's not a valid form of theatre'. I don't mind being critiqued. But at least let it come from a place of knowledge, of understanding what you're talking about."[6]

Personal life

Bonnell identifies as queer and two-spirit.[7]

References
  1. Adina Bresge, "Anne Carson, Thomas King among nominees for Governor General's Literary Awards" Archived 2021-05-15 at the Wayback Machine. Victoria Times-Colonist, May 4, 2021.
  2. "Thunder Bay actor praised for role in The Crackwalker". CBC News Thunder Bay, April 5, 2016.
  3. Matt Olson, "Preview: Indigenous scriptwriter's debut show aims to empower, represent women". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 11, 2018.
  4. Martin Morrow, "The Unnatural and Accidental Women strikes the right celebratory note for beginning of new era at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre". The Globe and Mail, September 15, 2019.
  5. Karyn Recollet and J. Kelly Nestruck, "A Cree professor and a white critic went to Yolanda Bonnell’s bug. Then, they discussed". The Globe and Mail, February 16, 2020.
  6. Poppy Noor, "A playwright wants only critics of color to review her. Here's what our own critics think". The Guardian, February 21, 2020.
  7. David Caviglioli, "Une dramaturge canadienne demande aux critiques blancs de ne pas écrire sur sa pièce". L'Obs, February 19, 2020.
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