Kevin Loring is a member of the Nlaka’pamux (Thompson) First Nation in Lytton, British Columbia. As an actor he has performed in numerous plays across Canada, including Marie Clements’s Burning Vision and Copper Thunderbird, and in the National Arts Centre’s fortieth-anniversary production of George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe. He also starred in the 2007 feature film Pathfinder and co-produced and co-hosted the documentary Canyon War: The Untold Story about the 1858 Fraser Canyon War. He was the recipient of the 2005 City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Theatre Artist, Artist-in-Residence at The Playhouse Theatre Company in 2006, and Playwright-in-Residence at the National Arts Centre in 2010. His first play, Where the Blood Mixes, won the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Script; the Sydney J. Risk Prize for Outstanding Original Script by an Emerging Playwright; and the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.
Loring is also the founder and Artistic Director of Savage Society, a non-profit production company dedicated to telling Indigenous stories sourcing myths, traditions, and the contemporary Indigenous experience.
Kevin Loring is a member of the Nlaka’pamux First Nation in Lytton, BC. As an actor, he has performed in numerous plays across Canada, including Marie Clements’s Burning Vision and Copper Thunderbird, and in the NAC’s 40th anniversary production of George Ryga’s The Ecstasy of Rita Joe.
His play, Thanks for Giving, was a finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.
His first play, Where the Blood Mixes, won the Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Original Script; the Sydney J. Risk Prize for Outstanding Original Script by an Emerging Playwright; and the 2009 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. Where the Blood Mixes premiered at the 2008 Luminato Festival in Toronto. Presented at the 2008 Magnetic North Festival in Vancouver, it opened on the day of the House of Commons apology for the legacy of suffering generations of aboriginal people continue to endure as a result of their experiences at residential schools. A remount of this production, in association with the playwright’s own company, The Savage Society, is scheduled for a national tour as part of the 2010 Cultural Olympiad.
He also starred in the 2007 feature film Pathfinder, and co-produced and co-hosted the documentary Canyon War: The Untold Story about the 1858 Fraser Canyon War.
He was the recipient of the 2005 City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for Emerging Theatre Artist, Artist in Residence at The Playhouse Theatre Company in 2006, and iPlaywright in Residence at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, in 2010. He also participated in the closing ceremonies of the Aboriginal Pavilion at the 2010 Winter Olympics.
