Inuit actress wins ‘Outstanding Performance’ prize

Thursday, June 27th, 2019 1:52pm

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Tiffany Ayalik, as seen in Café Daughter.

Summary

The Betty Mitchell Awards recognize, celebrate and promote professional theatre artists and organizations of all sizes in Calgary.

Tiffany

Tiffany Ayalik, an Inuit actress from Yellowknife, has won The Betty for Outstanding Performance By An Actress In A Drama for her role in Café Daughter, presented by Alberta Theatre Projects & One Yellow Rabbit, originally produced by Workshop West Playwrights' Theatre from Edmonton.

A Betty is actually a Betty Mitchell Award, bestowed annually by the Calgary Professional Theatre Awards Society in a number of categories, this year on June 24. The award recognizes, celebrates and promotes professional theatre artists and organizations of all sizes in the city.

Ayalik studied at Red Deer College, where she received her Diploma in Acting. Then she continued her education at the University of Alberta, graduating 'With Distinction' from the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting program.

Her credits include a number of productions and roles, such as Zhaboonigan in The Rez Sisters, Sedna in The Legend of Sedna and Elrond in The Hobbit for Manitoba Theatre for Young People.

Café Daughter, written by Kenneth T. Williams—a Cree playwright, filmmaker and journalist from the George Gordon First Nation—is based on the life of Chinese-Canadian and Cree Senator Lillian Eva Quan Dyck. In 1950s-small-town Saskatchewan, the nine-year-old half-Chinese, half-Cree Yvette Wong struggles to find her in place in a small-minded community until an unexpected ally helps set her on a path destined for greatness.