a ntlakapamux and irish “canadian” theatre artist, i co-founded ARTICLE 11 with my most admired theatre artist and great love, andy moro.
i’m a playwright, actor, director, dramaturg, workshop facilitator and producer. former board member and remain a strong believer in FASworld Canada and a member of the advisory board for Canadian Theatre Review. formal and informal mentor to various emerging Indigenous writers.
i served as artistic director of Native Earth Performing Arts (NEPA) from feb ’11 to dec ’13. during my time, NEPA worked with traditional values for guidance, had an Elder in Residence, moved into and named the Aki Studio and began the partnership with Aluna Theatre for their Rutas Panamericanas Festival. previously at NEPA i served as a co-artistic associate (sept 2010 to jan 2011 when i became AD), playwright-in-residence (the 2009/2010 season, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts), mentor to the Animikiig writers (formerly Young Voices) for many season and community liaison (feb 2005 to dec 2005.)
as well as at NEPA, i’ve been playwright-in-residence at the National Arts Centre and Cahoots Theatre. i was one of four writers in residence at the Writer’s Trust of Canada’s prestigious Berton House for the 2014/15 season – river freeze up shift. for the 2020/21 season, i was in rez at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg.
work has brought me to Belfry, Theatre Northwest, UnSpun, Urban Curvz, Tarragon, Nightwood, Factory, Crate Productions, Caravan Farm, Theatre North West, Theatrefront, Theatre Centre, Theatre Passe-Muraille, KICK Theatre, the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Praxis Theatre, mysterious entity, Western Canada Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Saskatchewan Native Theatre, Persephone and more.
i’ve been the keynote speaker for the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas conference, the 2022 conference of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research, a guest reader/speaker for the Joy Kogawa writer-in-residence Susan Crean, and have appeared on panels for the IMPACT festival, Volcano Theatre, imagineNATIVE festival, Tawata Productions‘ Matariki Festival, Talking Stick Festival and more.
i’ve been nominated for dora mavor moore awards (with one win), the k.m. hunter award, the pauline mcgibbon award and a betty mitchell award. in 2020, i was awarded the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama for my play, Honour Beat. i’m also the 2020 Siminovitch Award Laureate for playwriting, with protégé Joelle Peters, who began as interim AD at Native Earth in 2022.
my family is my foundation and i work, in everything i do, to represent my ancestors and my family with love.
tara beagan 
Ms Beagan, My husband and I saw Honour Beat at the Grand in London last night, and enjoyed it very much. So much to deal with in a short play, and all handled so beautifully. We are so grateful to Dennis Garnhum for bringing your play to London, and very much look forward to seeing more of your work in the future. All the best.
forecast