Mixed Blood Theatre's CHARM Opens 4/22

Philip Dawkins' CHARM is the story of Mama Darleena, an African American trans woman in her 60s teaching an etiquette class to trans youth experiencing precarious housing in a LGBTQI Chicago community center. Her students range in sexuality, race, and gender identity from a Latina trans woman, to a cisgender couple, to a member of a local gang, to a gay suburban teen. They fight each other and their instructor in equal measure, struggle through their daily battles with poverty, prejudice, and personal identity, seek solace in each other, succeed and fail separately and together.

CHARM, both the concept and the play, is about inclusion. Inspired by the true story of Mama Gloria Allen and her volunteer work at the Center on Halsted, Chicago, playwright Philip Dawkins has crafted a beautiful homage to the life and work of a powerful and inspirational figure who set out to transform lives through etiquette. To Mama Gloria, and to CHARM's Mama Darleena, etiquette is about inclusion, about making sure everyone- including yourself- feels comfortable. It is about listening to the needs and desires of your neighbors, and then comporting yourself accordingly. Emily Post's and Mama Gloria's approach to charm shares an insistence on its mutability: rules are continually variable, compassion and empathy are not, a central principle of this play. CHARM is an invitation to behave better, toward others as well as toward ourselves, and to make sure absolutely everyone is invited to the party.

CHARM is the first of three plays by Philip Dawkins to grace Minneapolis stages this year, followed by Le Switch at The Jungle and his adaptation of Dr. Seuss' THE SNEETCHES.

Playwright Philip Dawkins: "A 2012 Chicago Tribune Article by Dawn Turner Trice about Mama Gloria Allen's volunteer work at the Center on Halsted caught the attention of Northlight Theatre Artistic Director B.J. Jones, who was immediately inspired by her. He approached me, and I was admittedly reluctant at first, not because I wasn't also inspired by Gloria's story, but because it felt a little too far away from my experiences, a little too removed from my own voice. But I got her phone number through a mutual friend, and she graciously took the time to chat with me over the phone. The minute she picked up, I knew I wanted to work with her, in whatever capacity. She invited me to meet with her and conduct interviews. Later on, she invited me to join her Charm Classes. I made sure everyone in the room always knew that I was a writer and I was observing for the purpose of creating a play. I asked Mama once how she felt about me writing her voice. She told me: "I don't care. Just make me sound FABULOUS." I went home and looked up "Fabulous" in my dictionary and remembered its root word: fable. Story. To tell. "Just make me sound FABULOUS" is a tall order. I hope I've succeeded. I know that having Mama's support, both for this play and for me as an artist, goes a long way toward helping me feel fabulous."

Mama Gloria Allen (inspiration for the character of 'Mama Darleena'): "The play CHARM is a play that everybody should see and everybody should want to see. It's about adding ?charm-ness to themselves. It's to inspire people to do better with their lives and CHARM is an exciting play and I'm happy that people are responding to it and want to see it."

Director Addie Gorlin: "Mama Darleena is that first teacher or mentor in your life who stops the world from spinning- if just for a moment- to let you know that they see you, that you are welcome, that they care about you. Having spent three years as an English and Drama teacher in a turn around middle school, I was an immediate sucker for this story- the first year teacher classroom chaos, the desire to reach every student, and the love that blossoms inside a teacher's heart and somehow grows in even the most trying of moments.

Mixed Blood's production will feature a cast of trans and cisgender actors including Nathan Barlow, Julienne "Mizz June" Brown, Rehema Mertinez, Ryan Colbert, Jay Eisenberg, Jennifer Waweru, Jay Simmons, and others. The creative team incudes set designer Joe Stanley, costume designer Trevor Bowen, props designer Abbee Warmboe, lighting designer Karin Olson, and sound designer Danika Ragnhild.

The production opens April 22 and performs Wednesdays-Sundays through May 8.

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