Bannock Republic

Kenneth T. Williams is a Cree playwright, filmmaker and journalist from the George Gordon First Nation. His plays Café Daughter, Thunderstick (Scirocco 2010), Bannock Republic (Scirocco 2011), Suicide Notes and Three Little Birds have been professionally produced across Canada. Gordon Winter had its world premiere in Saskatoon in 2010 as the opening play for Persephone Theatre’s Deep End series. It then went on to further acclaim in May, 2012 when it was presented again at Ottawa’s Arts Court Theatre as part of the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene festival. Thunderstick has recently been optioned as feature film project. In 2011, Gordon Winter was nominated for a Saskatoon and Area Theatre Award for outstanding playwriting and Café Daughter won Bob Couchman Theatre Awards for outstanding production, direction and female performance in Whitehorse. He’s working on a new play, Deserters, which was presented at the 2011 Weesageechak Begins to Dance festival. He blogs about his playwriting adventures on his website feralplaywright.ca. He also teaches playwriting at the University of Saskatchewan. As well as writing plays, Kenneth has edited three series for television. He is the first Aboriginal writer to earn an M.F.A. in playwriting from the University of Alberta. He resides in Saskatoon.