Kevin Loring (born November 24, 1974) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright and actor. As a playwright, he won the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

, the

Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition The Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition is a biennial literary award, presented by Queen's University to plays by Canadian playwrights."Workshops focus on two winning plays". ''Kingston Whig-Standard'', August 16, 1997. The award was created in ...

and the

Jessie Richardson Award The Jessie Richardson Theatre Award (commonly known as the Jessie Awards) is given to recognize achievement in professional theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Jessies are presented by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award Society, at an annu ...

for Outstanding Original Script, and was nominated for the

Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play The Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in Toronto theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to prese ...

, for
Where the Blood Mixes
' in 2009. His 2019 play,
Thanks for Giving
', was short-listed for the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Drama. In June 2021 Kevin Loring received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Arts. As an actor, his credits include roles in the television series ''

Da Vinci's Inquest ''Da Vinci's Inquest'' is a Canadian dramatic television series which originally aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, the critically acclaimed show did attract a loyal following, and ultimately seven seaso ...

'', ''

Arctic Air ''Arctic Air'' is a Canadian drama television series that began airing on CBC Television on January 10, 2012. The series was canceled on March 17, 2014, due to government budgetary cuts. Synopsis ''Arctic Air'' is about a Yellowknife-based mav ...

'' and '' Health Nutz'', and the film ''

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder (w ...

'', as well as stage roles including

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

's
Saint Carmen of the Main
',

George Ryga George Ryga (27 July 1932 – 18 November 1987) was a Canadian playwright, actor and novelist. His writings explored the experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada, among other themes. His most famous work is ''The Ecstasy of Rita Joe''. E ...

's ''

The Ecstasy of Rita Joe ''The Ecstasy of Rita Joe'' is a drama by George Ryga. The play, in two acts, premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse, November 23, 1967. It was directed by George Bloomfield. The play has an important place in the history of modern Canadian theat ...

'' and Edmund in an all-

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

production of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

'' at the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

in 2012."A 'King Lear' in need of a king "
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', May 13, 2012. A

Nlaka'pamux The Nlaka'pamux or Nlakapamuk ( ; ), also previously known as the ''Thompson'', ''Thompson River Salish'', ''Thompson Salish'', ''Thompson River Indians'' or ''Thompson River people'', and historically as the ''Klackarpun'', ''Haukamaugh'', ''Kni ...

from the

Lytton First Nation The Lytton First Nation ( thp, ƛ̓q̓əmci̓n), a First Nations band government, has its headquarters at Lytton in the Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While it is the largest of all Nlaka'pamux bands, unlike al ...

in British Columbia,"Where the Blood Mixes draws on healing power of stories"
. ''

The Georgia Straight ''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...

'', May 28, 2008. he studied theatre at the prestigious

Studio 58 Studio 58 is the professional Drama school, theatre training school at Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia. The school offers a three-year diploma program for acting students and a three-year diploma program for production students. A ...

theatre program at

Langara College , mottoeng = Knowledge is Freedom , established = April 1, 1994 , type = Public , endowment = C$5.8 million , administrative_staff = , faculty = , president = Paula Burns , students = 22,000 , city = Vancouver, British Columbia , coun ...

. In June 2017, Loring was selected by the Hnatyshyn Foundation as a recipient of th
REVEAL Indigenous Arts Award
which honours Indigenous Canadian artists across disciplines. Kevin Loring created th
Songs of the Land Project
in collaboration with five separate organizations in his home community. This project aimed to bring traditional Nlakap’amux songs and stories, which were recorded on wax cylinders at the beginning of the 20th century by anthropologist

James Teit James Alexander Teit (15 April 1864 — 30 October 1922) was an anthropologist, photographer and guide who worked with Franz Boas to study Interior Salish First Nations peoples in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He led expeditions through ...

, to contemporary audiences. This work informed ''The Battle of the Birds'', a play which debuted at the Lytton River Festival in 2015, and which was restaged in Ottawa in 2019. It also spurred ''The Boy Who Was Abandoned'', a second production which debuted in Lytton in September 2016. On June 15, 2017, Loring was announced as the first artistic director fo
Indigenous Theatre at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (NAC)
In early 2019, the NAC was denied $3.5 million dollars of requested federal funding, a decision which would have a significant impact on the inaugural season. The first production, “

The Unnatural and Accidental Women ''The Unnatural and Accidental Women'' is a play by Metis playwright Marie Clements about the disappearance of multiple Indigenous women from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver whose deaths of extremely high blood-alcohol levels were all caused ...

” by

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

playwright

Marie Clements Marie Clements (born January 10, 1962) See p. 147. is a Canadian Métis playwright, performer, director, producer and screenwriter. Marie was founding artistic director of urban ink productions, and is currently co-artistic director of red diva pr ...

opened on September 11, 2019.

Works

* ''Where the Blood Mixes'' (

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

, 2009) * ''Native Americans: A Visual Exploration'' ntroduction only(

Annick Press Annick Press is a Canadian book publishing company that was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1975 by Anne Millyard and Rick Wilks. Rick Wilks became the sole owner in 2000. A second editorial office was opened in Vancouver by Colleen MacMillan in 1 ...

, 2013), by Shaker Paleja * ''Thanks for Giving'' (

, 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loring, Kevin 1974 births Living people Canadian male television actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian male stage actors 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Male actors from British Columbia Writers from British Columbia Governor General's Award-winning dramatists First Nations male actors First Nations dramatists and playwrights Nlaka'pamux people People from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century First Nations writers Langara College people