Justin Neal

Justin Neal writes offbeat stories that weave comedy with high-stakes drama, creating tales that aspire to uplift and transform. While in San Francisco then New York City (in the late 90s into the 2010s), Justin juggled addiction and subsequent sobriety with day jobs and amateur theatre at night. He moved to his family’s traditional Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw territory to earn a Joint MFA in Creative Writing and Theatre from UBC in 2015. He is a 2022 alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre’s Norman Jewison Film Program Writers’ Lab.

Justin founded Holy Crow Arts, a theatre company grounded on Coast Salish lands. With Holy Crow, Justin premiered his play So Damn Proud in 2021 and will premiere his latest work, Keepers of the Salish Sea, directed by Reneltta Arluk, in November 2024.

As a Shadbolt Fellow, Justin will share space for academic and practicum exploration during the premiere of Keepers of the Salish Sea, a play that celebrates self-discovery whilst honouring a phenomenal cultural practice. He’ll continue developing other projects, including Aunties, based on rarely told stories of families, like his own, descended from Coast Salish women who migrated to Washington State and married Filipino farm managers, many of whom took care of the farms of interred Japanese families during WWII.

Neal's term as a Shadbolt Fellow runs from September 2024 to August 2025.

Photo credit: Olivia Vanderwal