New play-within-a-play examines storytelling ethics of theatrical community

LAWRENCE — Storytelling is key to the dramatic arts. But “who” actually gets to tell that story is equally important.

That’s the impetus behind a new play titled “for…girls” by Darren Canady, professor of English at the University of Kansas. In his play-within-a-play, a misguided director decides to put on an all-white production of Ntozake Shange’s 1976 play “for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.”

It debuts May 15 and is produced by Kansas City Public Theatre at the Charlotte Street Foundation, 3333 Wyoming St.

“I believe that culture-makers matter,” Canady said. “They’re creating rules and guidelines, and that means the values of our society are both informed by but also affecting those art forms. For race and gender and sexuality — I think we understand those in a really specific and interesting way when we apply them to the arts.”

Shange’s original play combines poetic monologues accompanied by dance movements and music to tell the stories of seven women who have suffered from a racist and sexist society. The playwright coined the word “choreopoem” to describe her artistic approach.

In Canady’s riff on this seminal work, avant-garde director Ty Derricks (fresh off his controversial reimagining of “Dreamgirls” with puppets) gets hired to mount a production of “for colored girls.” However, Ty decides to cast only three white women instead of the seven Black women the play calls for. A protest is organized to coincide with opening night, resulting in arrests. Meanwhile, his former confidante, Sheryl, fights to save both the brilliance of the original play and what its landmark representations have meant to generations of Black women.

What’s the trickiest thing about doing a play-within-a-play?

“How to find that balance,” said Canady, who’s been working on the script since 2019. 

“What’s the stuff someone needs to know but who has no experience with ‘for colored girls?’ How can we make this something where they can still see a compelling story? And I think the actors and director are brilliant at figuring out how much of a punching bag to make of theater. You get that this is satire. But to make your statements and points, you don’t want to have the characters come across as stupid.”

Canady said he shares certain characteristics with Ty, his fictional director.

“There’s the obvious connection in that we are both Black and gay,” he said.

“So much of the play is about destructive behavior. So I ended up using a difficult experience from my own childhood to inform Ty’s ‘why’ for theater. He has a bit of what happened to me as an adolescent within his story.”

Ultimately, what spiritually binds the playwright with his leading character is a desire to be exceptional.

He said, “There’s still this question — and I’m leaving this open to audiences — is Ty a mad genius? Is he gaming everyone, or is he a true believer in this production?”

The cast of the Kansas City Public Theatre production includes Terraye Watson as Ty and Haley Johnson as Sheryl. It is directed by Teisha Bankston.

As with any new play on the cusp of its premiere, the writer has plenty of fears about how his material might come across.

“I’m always curious what my family will think,” Canady said. “But this piece is really for me. So now there is that fear of, ‘Oh my gosh, is it too navel-gazey?’ This play critiques the erasure of Black women, and, purposefully, Sheryl doesn’t exist for the most part in Act 2. So I also wonder, ‘Is this play doing the very thing it critiques?’”

A KU faculty member since 2010, Canady focuses on creating “stories of the Black Midwest.” The Topeka native’s plays include “False Creeds,” “The Percy Meacham Dance Experience,” “TRANSit” and “Brothers of the Dust.”

“I would love any audience member to have an engaged, even maybe pitched conversation about what’s responsible play-making and responsible culture-making,” Canady said. “Who gets to tell the story? That is not an easy question.”