Waawaate Fobister is a member of the Grassy Narrows First Nation reserve, north of Kenora, Ontario, Canada. When Fobister was eighteen, they came out as two-spirited, which is a term used in Indigenous cultures to describe someone who holds both masculine and feminine spirits within them. Fobister experienced homophobia and abuse while living on the reservation, which they recount in their artwork. Growing up on the reservation, Fobister was introduced to the Indigenous tradition of oral storytelling by their father and grandfather, which has become a large part of Fobister’s work. As they began to further explore their Native spirituality, they were given the spirit name Waawaate, which means Northern Lights.
Fobister attended Humber College and earned a degree in Theater Arts Performance in 2005, where they also were presented with a Distinguished Performance Award. Fobister also studied theater and dance at the Banff Centre for the Arts, School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, and Kahawi Dance Theatre. Fobister frequently writes and performs semi-autobiographical stories that center around Indigenous culture. Some of his most notable works include Agokwe (2008), which received several Dora Mavor Moore Awards; Medicine Boy (2012); and Omaagomaan (2019). Waawaate Fobister has been the playwright in residence during the 2019/2020 season of Native Earth Performing Arts in Toronto, and at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay. In addition to his work as a playwright, Fobister has appeared in films, worked as a panelist at several dance festivals, and was named the coordinator of the new council for LBGTQ2S Indigenous people in the Grand Council of Treaty 3 territory.
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