Michael Greyeyes Artistic Director

Michael Greyeyes (Plains Cree) is a choreographer, director and educator. Selected directing credits include: A Soldier’s Tale, from thine eyes (Signal Theatre), Pimooteewin (Soundstreams), Almighty Voice and his Wife (Native Earth Performing Arts), & Seven Seconds (2010 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival). Most recently Greyeyes directed Yvette Nolan's adaptation of Aristophanes The Birds at York University, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre in the School of Arts, Performance, Media and Design.

Michael Greyeyes' career is diverse with a stage and screen resumé spanning over 25 years. From his beginnings with The National Ballet of Canada and the company of Eliot Feld in New York City to Nanabush in Tomson Highway's seminal work The Rez Sisters to his role as legendary Hunkpapa Chief Sitting Bull in the feature film Woman Walks Ahead, directed by Susanna White and co-starring Jessica Chastain, Greyeyes has built an extensive body of work.

Nancy Greyeyes Artistic Associate

Nancy danced with Feld Ballets/NY, The Cleveland/San Jose Ballet, the Alberta Ballet and the Wilkes­Barre Ballet Theatre and is an award winner at the prestigious New York International Ballet Competition (1987). Nancy has performed principal roles in Eliot Feld’s A Footstep of Air, The Jig Is Up, and Bloom’s Wake, Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo, The Moor’s Pavane by Jose Limón, Roland Petit’s Carmen, and Serenade, Four Temperaments, and Donizetti Variations by George Balanchine. She danced the Sugar Plum Fairy and Maria in The Nutcracker, and the title role in Birgit Cullberg’s Miss Julie, among many others. Nancy holds a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from York University (2012).

Nancy began to choreograph in 2009, creating four short dance works entitled Collected Short Stories. She has created pieces for Ballet Jörgen’s "Solos and Duets" and choreographed the film Seven Seconds, that premiered at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in 2010. In 2011, she created Carriage, a solo work, which was programmed as part of the "Older & Reckless" performance series, at the Dancemakers Centre for Creation in Toronto in the spring of 2013, in addition to Valley of Coal, which was recently programmed at The Banff Centre, as part of Signal Theatre’s performing arts residency in 2013.

Brittany RyanGeneral Manager

Brittany Ryan is a Chinese-Métis Toronto-based arts manager, producer, designer, and production manager. Born in Vancouver, Brittany moved to Toronto in 2011 to purse a career in the performing arts and to study Theatre Production at Ryerson University. While studying, she began her work with Signal in 2013 as the Production & Administrative Intern during the early development of Nôhkom and the company’s full-length dance theatre piece titled A Soldier’s Tale. Throughout the rapid growth of Signal as an emerging company and Brittany’s early career, Brittany also worked as an administrator, fundraiser, production manager, stage manager, and designer for other Indigenous companies to upskill and support the development of her journey as an imminent leader in the Indigenous performing arts sector. Such companies include Article 11, Native Earth Performing Arts, the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Urban Ink, and the Indigenous Performing Arts Alliance (IPAA). Upon graduating with a B.F.A. from Ryerson University, Brittany continued to accomplish her career goals by engaging deeply in events like the National Arts Centre’s investigation into the Indigenous Body of Work at the Study / Repast on Manitoulin Island. With Brittany and Michael’s shared vision for Signal, Brittany joined the company as the General Manager in 2015—now handling all producing, administrative, and financial operations for the company.

Yvette NolanArtistic Associate

Yvette Nolan is a playwright, director and dramaturg. Plays include BLADE, Annie Mae’s Movement, The Birds, The Unplugging. Directing credits include Thicker Than Water by Heather Morrison, Nôhkom by Michael Greyeyes (Signal), Salt Baby by Falen Johnson (Globe Theatre), Café Daughter by Kenneth T Williams, Justice by Leonard Linklater (Gwaandak Theatre), Marie Clements’ Tombs of the Vanishing Indian (Native Earth), The Ecstasy of Rita Joe (Western Canada Theatre/National Arts Centre), The Only Good Indian... (Turtle Gals). As a dramaturg, she works across Turtle Island on projects including Little Badger and the Fire Spirit by Maria Campbell, Confluence by Raven Spirit Dance in Vancouver, In Care by Kenneth T Williams, A Soldier’s Tale by Tara Beagan, Ultrasound by Adam Pottle, A History of Breathing by Daniel Macdonald, The Glooskape Chronicles by Donna Loring. From 2003-2011, she served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts. Her book Medicine Shows about Native theatre in Canada was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2015. She is an Artistic Associate of Signal Theatre.