– Greyeyes to direct five episodes of the all-new original comedy starring series co-creator and Executive Producer Paul Rabliauskas –
– Award-winning filmmaker Darlene Naponse (Falls Around Her) and series co-showrunners Amber-Sekowan Daniels and Eric Toth also set to direct –
– From Kistikan Pictures, Inc., production is currently underway in Winnipeg and surrounding areas –
– Co-showrunner Pat Thornton and series producer Tina Keeper confirmed to appear in recurring roles on the series –
– Rabliauskas’ half-hour Just For Laughs stand-up special PAUL RABLIAUSKAS: UNCLE currently streaming on Crave –
TORONTO (April 27, 2022) – CTV Comedy Channel announced today that award-winning actor, director, and choreographer Michael Greyeyes is tapped to direct five episodes of the brand-new original series, ACTING GOOD. Loosely based on the life of Anishinaabe stand-up comedian and series co-creator, Paul Rabliauskas, production on the half-hour scripted comedy is currently underway in Winnipeg and surrounding areas, and is set to premiere later this year.
Joining Greyeyes as directors for the debut season of ACTING GOOD are writer, director, and video artist Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe), as well as series co-showrunners Amber-Sekowan Daniels (Anishininew) and Eric Toth.
L to R – Gabriel Daniels as Dean, Avery Sutherland as Chickadee, Roseanne Supernault as Jo, Tina Keeper as Agnes, Paul Rabliauskas as Paul, Cheyenna Sapp as Rose, director Michael Greyeyes, Jason Mason as Lips.ACTING GOOD stars Rabliauskas as Paul, a witty but sensitive comic who returns home to the fictional Grouse Lake First Nation after a botched attempt to move to the big city. Also joining the cast is actor, comedian, and series co-showrunner Pat Thornton, who stars as Brady, the “only white guy on the rez.” The homegrown lineup of cast and crew also features Billy Merasty (Elijah) as voice of the rez and radio DJ, Roger Laughingstick, Roseanne Supernault (THE DRIVE) as reformed bad girl and band councillor, Jo. Gabriel Daniels (The Ice Road) joins the cast as big-hearted Dean, along with series producer Tina Keeper (NORTH OF 60) as the family matriarch Agnes. And in their debut acting roles, Avery Claudia Sutherland stars as Jo’s rebellious daughter Chickadee, comedian Cheyenna Sapp as Paul’s, on-again-off-again girlfriend, Rose, Jason Mason as overzealous band constable Lips, and writer, poet, and radio host Rosanna Deerchild as First Nation Grouse Lake chief, Deedee.
About Michael Greyeyes:
Michael Greyeyes is a multi-hyphenate talent – an actor, director, choreographer, and scholar whose diverse career from stage to screen spans over 25 years.
Greyeyes recently starred in the thriller Wild Indian, directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr, which premiered in competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. He garnered a Film Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award nomination for his leading performance. On television, Greyeyes returns for Season 2 of RUTHERFORD FALLS. He also received a Film Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award for his role in the series, marking a historical moment as he becomes the first Native Actor with two nominations in the same year for the awards.
His film work includes the role of Traylor in Blood Quantum and Sitting Bull in Woman Walks Ahead, co-starring Jessica Chastain. He has appeared in numerous other feature films such as The New World, directed by Terence Malick, Skipped Parts, Sunshine State, directed by John Sayles, Passchendaele, directed by Paul Gross, and Dance Me Outside, a cult-classic directed by Bruce McDonald.
As a director, he has created numerous theatre works including Bearing, a searing dance opera that premiered at the 2017 Luminato Festival in Toronto, A Soldier’s Tale, from thine eyes, and wrote Nôhkom. Greyeyes was nominated for a Dora Award for his direction on Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit, a full-length evening of Indigenous opera featuring two librettos in Cree and Sami.
He is Nêhiyaw (Plains Cree) from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. He graduated from Kent State University with a Master’s Degree in the Fine Arts at the School of Theatre and Dance and is also a graduate of The National Ballet School where he went on to join The National Ballet of Canada company. In 2010, Greyeyes founded a Canadian non-profit theatre organization, Signal Theatre, a company that explores intercultural and transdisciplinary live performance. He serves as the Artistic Director for the theatre.
To read Greyeyes’ full bio, click here.
Darlene Naponse
Darlene Naponse is an Anishinaabe writer, director, and video artist from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, ON. Her films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, TIFF, and imagineNATIVE Film Festival. Her film Falls Around Her opened imagineNATIVE Film Festival in 2018, and took home the Audience Choice Award. Naponse’s fourth feature film, Stellar, in which she wrote, directed, and produced, just wrapped production.
ACTING GOOD is set in the fictional remote fly-in Grouse Lake First Nation, a world that lives by its own set of rules. The series location is inspired by Rabliauskas’ own isolated community of Poplar River First Nation.
ACTING GOOD is produced by CTV Comedy Channel, in association with Kistikan Pictures Inc., with the participation of Canada Media Fund and Bell Fund. Producers are Tina Keeper (Kistikan Pictures) and Jennifer Beasley (Buffalo Gal Pictures) with Phyllis Laing (Buffalo Gal Pictures) as Executive Producer and Paula J. Smith as Supervising Producer. Paul Rabliauskas is Executive Producer and writer, with Amber-Sekowan Daniels, Pat Thornton, and Eric Toth as writers and co-showrunners. For Bell Media, Rachel Goldstein-Couto is Head of Development, Original Programming; Sarah Fowlie is Head of Production, Original Programming; Chris Kelley is Senior Production Executive, Original Programming; Carlyn Klebuc is General Manager, Original Programming; Sarah Weaver is Director of Programming; Pat DiVittorio is Vice-President, CTV and Specialty Programming. Justin Stockman is Vice-President, Content Development & Programming, Bell Media. Karine Moses is Senior Vice-President, Content Development & News, Bell Media.
About Kistikan Pictures Inc. Formed through a partnership between Keeper Productions and Buffalo Gal Pictures in June of 2010, Kistikan Pictures develops and produces Indigenous stories for film and television for Canadian and international markets.
Projects include feature films Through Black Spruce (2018) and Road of Iniquity (2016) as well as seasons 3 and 4 of the APTN television series Cashing In, and the short documentary, The REDress REdress Project, a production for MTS TV completed in late 2011.
Keeper Productions Inc. Prior to forming Kistikan Pictures, Tina Keeper was the proprietor of Keeper Productions, a communications company specializing in communications and media production for First Nations and Indigenous organizations. Her diverse career has included co-producing the ballet “Going Home Star” with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in partnership with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a lead acting role in CBC’s North of 60 from 1992-97(for which she earned a Gemini) and one term serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons in 2008.
Keeper is the recipient of a Canadian Screen Awards Lifetime Achievement Award 2020, a Governor General Meritorious Service Award 2017, an ACTRA Women of the Year 2017, and is an Honourary Witness for the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Buffalo Gal Pictures Inc. Founded in 1994, Buffalo Gal Pictures has become one of Canada’s leading independent production companies, developing and producing a multitude of challenging and diverse projects by creating collaborative relationships with creative talent and building successful co-production partnerships. The company has continued to establish itself as a significant content developer for film (The Stone Angel, Hyena Road) and television (Less Than Kind, Sunnyside, The Pinkertons) and as a service partner (Heaven is For Real, Siberia, JT Leroy and the recently released Sean Penn-directed Flag Day.)
Altogether, Buffalo Gal Pictures and its subsidiaries are responsible for over half the feature film and television production in Manitoba, and generated over $50 million CAD in production in 2019. www.buffalogalpictures.com
About Bell Media Original Programming Bell Media has commissioned some of Canada’s most-watched and most-acclaimed original programming, working with the best Canadian independent producers in the country. Hit series commissioned by CTV include #1 Canadian drama TRANSPLANT; record-breaking Canadian format THE AMAZING RACE CANADA; comedy series CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING from the producers of LETTERKENNY, and JANN. Among the original series on Bell Media specialty and streaming platforms are CTV Life Channel’s culinary series MARY MAKES IT EASY with Mary Berg; CTV Comedy Channel’s ROAST BATTLE CANADA, and the upcoming comedy series ACTING GOOD; as well as CTV Drama Channel’s upcoming scripted series SULLIVAN’S CROSSING. Crave Originals include hit series LETTERKENNY and its upcoming official spinoff series SHORESY, CANADA’S DRAG RACE, and WAY OVER ME (SORTEZ-MOI DE MOI); docuseries DARK SIDE OF THE RING; and acclaimed documentaries FANNY: THE RIGHT TO ROCK and A.RTIFICIAL I.MMORTALITY. Discovery is home to Bell Media’s hit factual series and franchises HIGHWAY THRU HELL, HEAVY RESCUE: 401, and MUD MOUNTAIN HAULERS, in addition to MAKE IT TO THE MOON, and others. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. Learn more at www.BellMedia.ca.
About CTV Comedy Channel The #1 Canadian Entertainment Specialty channel among Adults 18-49 and 25-54, CTV Comedy Channel delivers every flavour of funny with A-list stand-up, hilarious late-night talk shows, favourite sitcoms, and hit movies. The home of original comedies like ROAST BATTLE CANADA, the upcoming scripted series ACTING GOOD, and fresh stand-up captured every year at Montréal’s Just For Laughs Festival, CTV Comedy Channel also boasts some of the best late-night talk series from THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH to DOING THE MOST WITH PHOEBE ROBINSON, and FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTHA BEE. In addition to sitcoms like TACOMA FD and MIRACLE WORKERS, CTV Comedy hosts the innovative stop-motion animation comedy CROSSING SWORDS, the revival of WIPEOUT, and more. From CTV, Canada’s most-watched network, CTV Comedy Channel is part of a powerful suite of specialty channels that also includes CTV Drama Channel, CTV Life Channel, and CTV Sci-Fi Channel, streaming on demand from CTV.ca and the CTV app.
