Professor mentors as she shepherds 'Family Sideshow' through world premiere at KC Melting Pot Theatre

LAWRENCE — Nicole Hodges Persley has a sense of fulfillment on many levels as she works on her last play as artistic director of the Kansas City Melting Pot Theatre.

A courtesy professor in the University of Kansas Department of Theatre & Dance, where she served for 10 years, and now dually appointed as professor of American studies and of African & African American studies, Hodges Persley is directing a cast of four in the world premiere of Brysen Boyd’s tragicomic drama, “Family Sideshow,” May 1-10.

Thus KCMPT is fulfilling a promise to the playwright, winner of its 2020 Black Playwright Festival (created by the theatre's Director of New Play Development Lewis Morrow), to stage the show. The premiere was delayed five years by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown only after months of work by Boyd to expand “Family Sideshow” from one act to a full play by KCMPT. Hodges Persley also is mentoring the show’s young actors, plus an assistant director who is part of a cohort of emergent directors she has mentored over the years.

As she steps back from her yearslong creative responsibilities to explore new projects, Hodges Persley highlights the importance of apprenticeship as part of her creative leadership process.

“We started a director's program at KCMPT, and we've been able to develop a lot of opportunities for Black women directors who didn't otherwise have opportunities to work in the city,” Hodges Persley said. “Ebonee Grace W is apprenticing with me on this show, and she'll apprentice again, and then we hope to be able to help her direct by herself. So we kind of go back to a WPA model of learning by doing and apprenticing in the field that you want to work in.

“Those are some of the best engaged learning experiences we can offer for our community and also for our students — to have that hands-on opportunity,” she said. “I have brought lots of students down to KCMPT over the years. They've worked in set design. Assistant profs have worked in design. I've brought in costumers, assistant directors, stage managers, dramaturgs. So there has been a great pipeline to create those professional opportunities for our students.”

The efficacy of that pipeline has been evidenced by Boyd’s ascension since winning KCMPT’s contest. He was invited to join the creative team of the Emmy-winning HBO drama series about a family of vicious media moguls, “Succession,” as a writing fellow.

Hodges Persley reflected on the significance of the play’s world premiere, saying: “It's really lovely that we could be part of the whole seed process of encouraging playwrights to submit, and then to be able to nurture the play and give it its attention and put it on its feet. And then, hopefully, once you have a world premiere, you're forever attached to the play, and all the actors get to originate these roles, which are not very easy.

“So that's pretty exciting for many of them who are at the beginning of their careers. A lot of the talent in this show is starting their journey as a professional theatre artist. And so that's a joy for me to be able to teach a little bit while directing and help them develop a thick skin for this work, but also the resilience that you need to have a long career in the theatre. It's a joy to watch them navigate this. It's a pretty difficult text.”

Like some of KCMPT’s past work, “Family Sideshow” has an absurdist edge that Hodges Persley finds resonant.

“I am attracted to plays that defy traditional theatrical conventions and that allow me to push boundaries and think outside of norms and imagine new ways of being and dealing with life generally,” she said.

“As I understand it from Brysen Boyd, this is roughly based on some of his experiences. Processing family trauma is not something that we do openly in American society, and I think this is him putting it in a kind of family circus — for us to go through all these unbelievable experiences that are obviously amplified in the play. I think it's important to give people permission to deal with their pain and trauma. And I don't know if people feel that they can do that openly, without penalty, all the time.”