Emerging Minneapolis-based playwright Junie Edwards isn’t shying away from tough topics. His upcoming choreopoem, “A Pick for the Hair of Black Kids Who Don’t Wanna Be Gangstaz” at Pillsbury House and Theatre is a candid exploration of Black teenagers coming-of-age in the United States, blending theater, poetry, and movement to navigate identity and intergenerational challenges.
“There was a time in my life where I faced a lot of turmoil, and I realized that my voice, not only as a teenager, but also a teenager that is African American, was not being heard,” Edwards said.
“A Pick” serves as a symbolic baton for Black youth facing similar challenges. “It is a symbol of our connectedness, of our revolution, of our freedom,” he said.
The play unfolds as six poets prepare for a slam poetry competition. A confessional game during rehearsals sends each character on a personal journey, confronting issues of familial trauma, sexual identity, and police brutality. Characters like Zeus (played by Calvin Zimmerman), Keira (Daija Scott), Brian (Jeremiah Tulay), Malcolm (Edric Duffy), Daija (Moyo Deen), and Syreeta (Destiny Kromah) aim to break generational curses through their stories.
“All of the characters are a piece of me,” he said. “Whether they are the person that I would end up being, the person that I was, or the person that I had to be in order to be strong.”
Edwards’ journey from actor to playwright started early in childhood with performances at Twin Cities venues like Children’s Theatre Company, History Theatre, and Full Circle Theatre.
Edwards, who is 18, wrote the first draft of “A Pick for the Hair of Black Kids Who Don’t Wanna Be Gangstaz” during his sophomore year at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists. While volunteering with the Million Artists Movement for an event at Pillsbury House and Theatre in 2022, he approached teaching artist and actor Aimee K. Bryant with a straightforward question: “how do you get a show on your stage?”
That question led to a collaboration between Bryant, Edwards, and director Lester Mayers, who collectively brought Edwards’ script to the stage.
“It’s important for plays like this to exist because we don’t get a chance to see what a coming-of-age story is for young Black children, teenagers, young adults,” Mayers said. “We’re always coming of age. Every decade is a new learning.”
The three of them refined the script through virtual workshops, with rehearsals starting earlier this month at Pillsbury House and Theatre.
“No director knows exactly what they’re doing,” Mayers said. “We threw stuff to the wall. It didn’t stick. Some stuff landed. We found new things. Junie allowed us to flip words and to find nuances that we didn’t see in the workshop, but we see in production.”
The title draws inspiration from Ntozake Shange’s 1976 work “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf.” Shange’s choreopoem format inspired Edwards to blend poetry, theater, and movement.
“There’s choreography to everything,” Edwards said. “Every single phrase has a look to the left, has an eye roll, has the sucking of teeth, the waving of arms. We’re telling the story, not only through heightened text, but through our bodies.”
The production features an all-Black youth cast, supported by participants from the theater’s Step Up youth program contributing to lighting, sound, props, set, and costume design.
Bryant says that Pillsbury House and Theatre will continue to seek out stories from young theater makers, but she hasn’t encountered anyone quite like Edwards.
“He’s the only young person, and I’m sure they’re more like him out there, who was assertive enough to come and say ‘I want to do this here,’” Bryant said. “I was just impressed by his courage and his professionalism and his willingness to make his artistry, to put it out in the world, and not to wait for somebody else to do that for him.”
“A Pick for the Hair of Black Kids Who Don’t Wanna Be Gangstaz” is the first of Edwards’ three-part poetry series centering Black teen narratives. He’s currently working on “Back in the Hood,” a piece that explores a queer love story among Black teens in Detroit, navigating friendships and relationships.
“I am revolutionary in the fact that I’m unapologetic,” Edwards said. “I think every teenager should be, especially from 15 to 19. There should be no reason that you shouldn't be able to voice your opinion, voice how you feel, voice what’s affecting you. And the silence of young adults is what leads to continuous generational pain because when we are silenced, we start suppressing.”
When: Thursday, July 18 through Sunday, July 21st with shows starting at 7 p.m.
Where: Pillsbury House and Theatre, 3501 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis
Cost: Tickets start at $5. Buy tickets here.
For more information: Visit pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org.
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