We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tami Canaday. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tami below.

Tami, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Many years of practice. My first writing group was Chameleon Stage where the playwrights brought in plays-in-progress to be read by invited actors to the group. After reading an individual piece, both the playwrights and actors would comment on the script – both what worked and what didn’t. Also, Chameleon Stage produced staged readings of plays that were ready to be presented in front of an audience. The group lasted for seventeen years; to me, it was like an extended MFA program.

To have speeded up the learning of my craft? Well, it would have been to pursue a MFA in playwriting.

The most essential skill to playwriting is the willingness to collaborate with other theater artists including directors, designers, stage managers, dramaturges, and the audience. The audience is an important collaborator because it’s the final arbitrator of your work. The obstacles that stood in my way of learning more? Work, family, the necessities of living.

Tami, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into playwriting because I read an article in the Christian Science Monitor about the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference, and I naively thought, “Hey, I can write plays.” Well, I can write plays, but it took me a long time to develop the craft.

My stage plays have been performed in the U.S., Canada, and Japan. Highlights include performances at the Left Theatre, the Changing Scene, the Luminous Group Theatre, Buckham Alley Theatre, Source Theatre, and the Producer’s Club. I was dramaturge and contributing writer for Bingo Boyz: Columbine, which received the Denver Post’s Ovation Award for best new work. Count Down to Zero Theatre in Denver and New York commissioned and produced my play, Uncle Rooster. Last year, my play Jeremiah was produced in Denver by Benchmark Theatre. Over the years, my plays have been selected for festivals like the Athena Project, the Western Playwright’s Showcase, the Boulder Acting Group, the New York International Fringe Festival, and the Colorado Women’s Playwright Festival. Finally, my literary work has been featured in The Best Stage Scenes, The Best Women’s Stage Monologues, The Good Ear Review, Young Women’s Monologues from Contemporary Plays, and the StoneCoast Review among others.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My reason for playwriting is to shed a luminous light on the complexities of human existence. Through my work, I’m drawn to explore the darkest corners of our collective experiences, from Abu Ghraib to toxic masculinity, from the impact of suicide to events like Columbine. For example, in my play Jeremiah, I show how two young teenage brothers are slowly and radically transformed into inadvertent gangsters when the oldest brother steals a gun. Also, in the play B Here, I reveal how the devastated Carter family confronts the suicide death of beloved son and brother, B. Above all, in my plays, my aim is to illuminate the inherent dignity that persists in the most challenging of circumstances by weaving in threads of humor and showcasing the human connections that bind us all.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

To interact and collaborate. with extremely talented theater artists and to see my work in front of audiences is the most rewarding part of being a playwright. But mostly, if I’m honest, I’ve met my tribe over the years through Denver’s theater community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tamicanaday.com

Image Credits

Jeremy Rill Photography (for my photo)