Monique Mojica (Guna and Rappahannock nations) Actor/playwright Monique Mojica is passionately dedicated to a theatrical practice as an act of healing, of reclaiming historical/cultural memory and of resistance. Spun directly from the family-web of New York’s Spiderwoman Theater, her theatrical practice embraces not only her artistic lineage through mining stories embedded in the body, but also the connection to stories coming through land and place.
Monique’s first play Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots was produced in 1990 and is widely taught in curricula internationally. She was a co-founder of Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble with whom she created The Scrubbing Project, the Dora nominated The Triple Truth and The Only Good Indian. In 2007, she founded Chocolate Woman Collective to develop the play Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way, a performance created by devising a dramaturgy specific to Guna cultural aesthetics, story narrative and literary structure.
Monique has taught Indigenous Theatre in theory, process and practice at the University of Illinois, the Institute of American Indian Arts, McMaster University and is a former co- director of the Centre for Indigenous Theatre. She has lectured on embodied research and taught embodied performance workshops throughout Canada, the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
She was most recently seen onstage in Kaha:wii Dance Theatre’s world premiere of Re-Quickening choreographed by Santee Smith and with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in I lost my Talk as part of the Life Reflected series.
Upcoming projects include Side Show Freaks & Circus Injuns co-written with Choctaw playwright, LeAnne Howe and directed by Jorge Luis Morejón with an illustrious collaborative team of Indigenous artists from diverse disciplines.
Download Monique Mojica Performance Resume
Download Monique Mojica teaching resume
Download Monique Mojica Writers Resume
Michel Charbonneau — sound and lighting designer/core member Michel (Mohawk and Anishnaabe) is one of the rare Aboriginal artists in design and technical theatre. As the TD for the original production and national tour of The Rez Sisters, he has a previous creative relationship with Monique Mojica and Gloria Miguel. Along with his many years of experience, he brings his skills of visual perception passed through an Aboriginal lens. He has designed well over 100 productions and has been nominated for six Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Toronto), one Sterling Award (Edmonton) and one Leon Rabin Award (Dallas).
His work has been seen or heard throughout the United States, most notably at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Lajolla Playhouse, Yale Repertory Theater, the Dallas Theater Center, the American Repertory Theater, the Pittsburgh Public Theater and off-Broadway at the Astor Place Theater and across Canada at the Waterfront Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Theatre Network, Canstage, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe-Muraille, the Great Canadian Theatre and the National Arts Centre. He was the lighting and sound designer for three productions of Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way and continues this collaboration as a core member of the collective for Side Show Freaks and Circus Injuns.
Ruth Dworin — bookkeeper Ruth Dworin is a freelance bookkeeper for her business, Creative Consulting. She was the founder of Womanly Way productions in Toronto and brings with her many years of experience as an arts administrator, artistic producer and tour organizer.
