DA KINK IN MY HAIR by Trey Anthony, directed by Anthony and Weyni Mengesha, with Debbie Young, Diane Daniel, Miranda Edwards, Charlene Edwards, Rachael-Lea Rickards, Ngozi Paul and Anthony. Presented by Plaitform Entertainment at the Tarragon Mainspace. July 5 and 14 at 7:30 pm, July 7 at noon, July 8 at 5 pm, July 9 at 6:30 pm, July 12 at 4:30 pm, July 15 at 3 pm.

When Trey Anthony ended a seven-year relationship, she changed her hairstyle and saw The Vagina Monologues in New York. Little did she know that these experiences would kick-start her play Da Kink In My Hair."Suddenly, I wanted to reinvent myself," she says. "I realized that black women have lots of drama going on. I wanted to tell their stories. Our stories."

Her first attempts at writing were dark. "At the time, I was bitter, so the play was bitter, too." But soon her comedy background -- she's cracked up audiences at Yuk Yuk's and Second City -- emerged and the play clicked.

Anthony plays Novelette, a gossipy West Indian hairdresser who's a lot like her comedic alter ego, Carleen the Dance Hall Queen.

As the play progresses, various black women drop by the salon and tell their stories. They include a high-powered stockbroker who's working in an otherwise all-white office, a mother grieving the death of her shot-by-police teenage son, a girl who's an incest victim and a lesbian who talks about discrimination in the black community.

As a producer at the Women's Television Network and a part-time counsellor at a shelter for battered and homeless women, Anthony has heard lots of stories, good and bad.

But would these make interesting theatre for a diverse audience?

"A couple of months ago we held readings from the play, and women and men of all races and ages came up to me and told me how much they could relate," says Anthony.

"There's a section about being treated differently because you're dark- or light-skinned. Lots of people responded to that, including a white woman who said she was treated differently because she was brunette and her sisters were blond.

"Colour lines get erased. It brings everyone together."GS