Mississauga #8 actor featured in Santa Monica theater’s Solo Stories, Six Women, Six Lives, Six Stories series

By Rick Garrick

LOS ANGELES — Mississauga #8 actor Jennifer Bobiwash enjoyed presenting her There is no “I” in NDN solo show at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, California, on Apr. 17. Her show is part of the theatre’s Solo Stories, Six Women, Six Lives, Six Stories series that features one show a month from February to July.

“I filmed that at the end of the month and then it streamed live a couple of weeks ago,” says Bobiwash, who moved to Los Angeles about 20 years ago with her husband. “I started writing the show quite a while ago just from having conversations here in Los Angeles about being Native and the evolution of the word — there were more politically correct words to use.”

Bobiwash also enjoyed performing on Episode 2 of the Rutherford Falls sitcom series, which features Michael Greyeyes and Jana Schmieding, on the Peacock streaming service and Showcase network.

“That was just a really fun day because after working in Los Angeles and auditioning, then a show comes along where it is run and written by [Indigenous people],” Bobiwash says. “It was just an amazing feeling to have other [Indigenous people] on set with you — there was nothing that you had to explain.”

Bobiwash says one example is when she was asked to point with her lips during a scene.

“She said: ‘I need that look from you,’” Bobiwash says. “And I was okay — it was like a shorthand — you already knew what they meant and there were no explanations that were needed.”

Bobiwash says she has done a variety of jobs in the entertainment industry since moving to Los Angeles.

“It’s a lot of waiting around for auditions to happen,” Bobiwash says. “I’ve had the opportunity to work in production and kind of work every other job as well in the entertainment industry. It was just opportunities that presented [themselves] and at the same time, you are networking with other people who make movies, who write movies and work with a theatre company, costume people, because ultimately, it’s connections and people who trust you and know you, that you’ll get hired and you will get work.”

Bobiwash says she lived just down the street from central casting when she moved to Los Angeles.

“So I was like, ‘Well, I don’t have a job, let’s walk in there and see what this movie stuff is about because it’s something I’d always wanted to do,’” Bobiwash recalls.

Bobiwash says she is currently working as the production manager at Perseverance Theatre in Juneau, Alaska, after doing a few plays there previously.

“During COVID-19 times, all of their theatre operations were working remotely and because I have experience, they called,” Bobiwash says. “I’ve done three or four shows now remotely, so I’m still in Los Angeles and the majority of the actors are spread out around Alaska and our stage manager was in Minneapolis and one of our directors was in New York.”

Bobiwash also served as artist-in-residence at the Thurgood Marshall College at UC San Diego for the 2014-2015 season.

“I presented my solo show and I wrote a companion piece to it as well,” Bobiwash says. “That’s where my writing started and so from there I’ve just continued writing. And during COVID-19 times I’ve just been taking classes and submitting my short plays — I enjoy short plays right now.”