''Da Kink in My Hair'' is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. The play's central character is Novelette, the

Caribbean Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. Novelette is forced to confront her goals and ideals in life when she receives news that her onetime boyfriend Cedric, who loaned her the money to open the salon, has died and his daughter Verena is demanding repayment of the loan. The play subsequently expanded to Theatre Passe-Muraille in 2003, and was nominated for four Dora Awards. Mirvish Productions then underwrote a larger production at the Princess of Wales Theatre in 2005. The show has also been produced at the San Diego Repertory Theatre in San Diego, and at the Hackney Empire in London. In 2022, TO Live and the

Bluma Appel Theatre The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a performing arts theatre complex located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated on Front Street one block east of Yonge Street, it was the City of Toronto's official centennial project, commemorat ...

are slated to stage a 20th anniversary production of the play, to be directed by Weyni Mengesha.

Television adaptations

A one-hour television pilot based on the play was produced in 2004 by VisionTV's Cultural Diversity Drama Competition. The pilot starred Sheryl Lee Ralph as Novelette,

Shakira Harper Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

as her daughter Michelle, Kim Roberts as Verena, Mimi Kuzyk as Novelette's friend and client Iris, Trey Anthony as Novelette's sister Joy, and Ngozi Paul, Jim Codrington and

Richard Chevolleau Richard Chevolleau is a Jamaican–Canadian actor, best known for playing Augur on '' Earth: Final Conflict'' from 1997 to 2002.Chris Krejlgaard, "Black actor hoping to play a superhero". ''Times and Transcript'', May 14, 1999. Early life Chevo ...

as stylists working at Letty's. A half-hour weekly series adaptation, '' Da Kink in My Hair'', aired for two seasons on

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...

, beginning in the 2007–08 television season. A total of 26 episodes were produced. The series cast includes Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Trey Anthony, Ngozi Paul,

Richard Fagon Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

, and Conroy Stewart.

References

{{reflist 2001 plays Canadian plays Black Canadian literature Plays set in Canada Plays about race and ethnicity