Oscar Winner Kevin Willmott Headlines “Opening Night” Tributes For KS Playwright Darren Canady Feb. 23rd

What: Topeka (KS) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated in partnership with Washburn University Theatre presents OPENING NIGHT ON THE RED CARPET: A Tribute to playwright DARREN CANADY featuring Academy Award Winning Screenwriter KEVIN WILLMOTT and Other Special Guests

Why: In honor of the Kansas premiere of Canady’s award winning play Brothers of the Dust, February 23rd – March 3rd

When: 6:00 P.M., February 23rd. Tickets are $10 - $40

Where: Morgan Hall Atrium, Washburn University, 17th & Boswell

Tickets: https://www.topekalinksinc.org/brothers-of-the-dust for advance tickets

The Topeka (KS) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and Washburn University Theatre, welcome Academy Award-Winning-BlacKkKlansman-screenwriter, filmmaker, and activist Kevin Willmott to headline Opening Night On The Red Carpet in honor of Kansas playwright Darren Canady. A Topeka High School alumnus, Canady’s Osborn Prize-winning drama, Brothers of the Dust has its Kansas premiere on February 23rd on Washburn University’s campus. This special opening night in Washburn’s Morgan Hall Atrium, includes two bookend celebrations before and after the performance.

Attire is Red Carpet Ready and here’s the line-up:

Opening Night
PRELUDE
6:00 P.M. – 7:15 P.M.
A pre-party for mingling, Red Carpet photos, interviews and cash bar
$10 Suggested Donation includes the Brothers of the Dust Performance
7:30 P.M. Performance

Opening Night
AFTERGLOW
Immediately following the performance
A Tribute to Playwright Darren Canady Featuring Award Winning Writer Kevin Willmott and Other Special Guests
$40 Advance Ticket Only Includes Prelude, Performance, Afterglow VIP Access, Appetizers, Two Drink Tickets & Cash Bar

Tickets are $10 - $40. For more information and advance ticketing: https://www.topekalinksinc.org/brothers-of-the-dust for advance tickets

“We are excited to offer our guests a chance to revel in history with the February 23rd Opening Night on the Red Carpet festivities,” said Monice Crawford, President of the Topeka (KS) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. “ It is the inaugural production of Mr. Canady’s play here in his home state that is being done as part of Black History Month. There is no one better than Kevin Willmott, another writer and cherished Kansan, to headline our congratulations and pay tribute to Darren’s journey.”

Other Afterglow tribute guests that will join Kevin Willmott include poet Annette Billings, playwright Marcia Cebulska, TopArt Awardee Jason Brock Jones, educator Scott Kickhaefer, and Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus Huascar Medina.

Brothers of the Dust, a drama with an all-Black cast takes place on an Arkansas family farm, circa 1958. The play digs deep into the soil of family relationships amid the background of post-World War II but pre-Civil Rights era when African Americans began to leave farms in the South to find long-denied fulfillment in northern cities. “No one wants to miss this play on Opening Night,” said co-producer Monique Pittman Lui. “The script and the performances are fiery and moving, showcasing the complexities of family dynamics, resentments, secrets, and love...... and a longing for personal peace.”

Members of the Brothers of the Dust cast are Khalani Britt, Jason Jones, Lareesa Kelpin, Nyalia James Lui, Joanna Marks, Elijah Reed, and Dané Shobe. Camelle Garcia is an understudy. The play is directed by Professor Emeritus Dr. Sharon Sullivan and co-produced by Dr, Julie Noonan, Washburn Theatre Chair.

Brothers of the Dust will run for the first time in Kansas at 7:30 P.M. on February 23, 24, 29, March 1 and 2, and at 2:00 P.M. on March 3rd at the Neese-Gray Theatre in the Garvey Fine Arts Center on Washburn University campus.

The March 2nd production includes a special YOUTH NIGHT pre-performance program open to students in grades 8-12; as always however, all ages are welcome for the performance. Please see https://www.topekalinksinc.org/brotherd-of-the-dust for tickets and more information. All ticketing revenue goes toward theatre student scholarships.

Darren Canady hails from Topeka, KS. His work has been produced at the Alliance Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Aurora Theater, Congo Square Theater, Horizon Theatre, London’s the Old Vic Theatre, M Ensemble, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, American Blues Theater, and others. His awards include the Alliance Theater’s Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Award, Chicago’s Black Excellence Award, the Black Theatre Alliance Award, and the American Theatre Critics Association’s Osborn Award. His work has been developed at numerous festivals including the O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwright’s Conference. His play You’re Invited appeared in The Best American Short Plays 2010-2011. His work has been seen or developed at the Quo Vadimus Arts’ ID America Festival, the Fremont Centre Theatre, Premiere Stages, the BE Company, Penumbra Theatre, and American Blues Theater. Darren is an alum of Carnegie Mellon University, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Juilliard School. He is a current member of the Core Writers Program at the Playwrights’ Center and Midwest Dramatists Center. He is an artistic associate with American Blues Theater and Congo Square Theatre. He currently teaches playwriting at the University of Kansas.