The word "cosplay" is a portmanteau of “costume play,” and the activity's participants—cosplayers—wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent specific characters.

For playwright Shavonne Coleman, cosplay is a way to open the doors of creativity to children and put them on the road to being superheroes.

Eastern Michigan University Theatre is presenting the world premiere production of Coleman’s Cause Play on April 3-6, with school matinee performances on April 7-8.

Last year a staged reading of Cause Play was presented in May at EMU in collaboration with Ann Arbor Spinning Dot Theatre as part of the TYA BIPOC Superhero Project. That collaboration continues with the premiere of the fully acted production.

Coleman is an alumna of EMU and an associate professor of theater at the University of Michigan's Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

Cause Play centers on three middle school students, Zuvi, Zipper and Aaron, who meet at an after-school cosplay club at the Southwest Academy Magnet Middle School in Detroit. They discover their talents in creating costumes and adopting identities with the goal of attending a Comic Con—as well as developing their secret powers along the way. Coleman said there were changes made following the staged reading in response to the audiences who wanted the students to go to the Comic Con.

“There were lots of changes,” she said. “The whole ending changed. We got lots of feedback from people involved including people in the audience who wanted to see them [the middle schoolers] go to Comic Con. They did not go at first, that was a big change. The development of the characters has changed quite a bit from last year to this year. I got a chance to explore with them more as they shifted and changed.”

Coleman sets her play in the 1990s.

“I picked the ‘90s because I was in middle school in the '90s and my brother and father were going to Comic Cons all the time,” she said.

Comics and superheroes are at the heart of Cause Play because acting, playing, creating gives children a new sense of their abilities.

“We live in a society where really early on you’re taught not to be playful,” Coleman said. “You go to school and you don’t play. You’re told to sit down, don’t get up, don’t run around. So for me, it was where did their superhero powers come from? And that was the initial question in my head before I wrote anything.”

For Coleman, the superhero was usually part of a team.

“The biggest part about the three of them [Zuvia, Zipper, and Aaron] was that it was about being superheroes," she said. "I liked [Marvel's] X-Men who work as teams, and in order to face the world you need a team. I didn’t like the idea of a hero and his sidekick, so we have three working together as a team."

Directing the EMU production is Randy Stewart, a graduate theater student at EMU.

“Like any play that you take from the page to the stage, it’s kind of exhilarating,” Stewart said. “I was involved in the staged reading way back when and worked on the dramaturgy. One of the characters I played was the dad. Now, becoming a director, I’ve become entrenched in it and knew the show and got to watch the evolution of it. There are elements of the show that really spoke to me as far as the message, the one message of being playful, the importance of keeping play even when we become older adults.”

Stewart has some concerns about the image of black people in theater, film, and television without some plays that don’t deal with the usual themes in what he calls “black plays.” Coleman, who is also black, grew up in Detroit. Stewart welcomes a wider frame of black theater.

“There are many popular, iconic black plays that tend to have black trauma attached to them, meaning that they may have slavery or the white man who has done something to them and they’re always reacting off that or stereotypical shows you see on television with drugs or something sexual,” he said. “Those tend to be in a lot of plays, so it’s nice that this play is about a young girl making friends, trying to keep a secret from dad, all in a playful way, and it takes place in Detroit, so it takes place in a predominantly black area. It’s nice to have a play that is simply that. It has elements of trauma in it, but it doesn’t guide the choices our main characters make.”

Stewart said he especially asked the set designers to use elements of black culture in the design and chose music that reflects '90s hip-hop.

The “middle schoolers”  and the adults in the play are performed by EMU theater students.

Haevin Holman plays the central character of Zuvie.

“I feel Zuvie is a more shy character, which is ironic because she’s the main character,” Holman said. “But she keeps to herself and her art. She likes to make a lot of things. She’s friendly, she likes to make friends. She’s a goody two-shoes student. Zipper plays music, is very loud and energetic, she’s like the muscle of the group, and Aaron is sentimental, emotional, and kind of like a mother of the group.”

Raegan Woodiwiss plays Tasha,  another cosplayer.

“She’s very misunderstood,” Woodiwiss said. “She is your average middle schooler who is just trying to fit in with everybody. She’s also going with the flow of what everyone else is doing, feeling her way to find her place with friends or people she thinks are her friends. Without any spoilers, she kind of has a breaking point, she gets bullied a lot in the show and it becomes a plot point at the end of the show.”

Myranda Wiggins has an adult role as a teacher who isn’t popular with students.

“I wouldn’t say she was the nicest teacher. A lot of students don’t like her, but I would say she brings fresh air to the piece,” Wiggins said. “I like to play a character who is kind of misunderstood. I get to try new stuff. Sometimes I underestimate myself and I think playing a character is challenging a bit.”

Theater itself is a version of cosplay as the EMU actors try to understand the characters they play. Shavonne Coleman sees the connection between theater and play.

“You can’t play all the time but I think [cosplay] is about finding ourselves and what we like to do and what brings us joy and see that in the characters in the play as they find themselves,” said Coleman. “They're finding what they love and what they love to do. So that connection was there, you dress up to become your character and for them to become superheroes. They have that in them.”

Stewart hopes the audience will understand the importance of play at any age.

“I definitely want them to remember that play is important and that all of us have that quality within us and we just need to find it,” he said. “Whether it’s that superhero quality of just play in general you have to keep that alive and keep that within you. Some people say it’s staying young but as we get older it’s about staying active and aware to do whatever it is you do.”

Hugh Gallagher has written theater and film reviews over a 40-year newspaper career and was most recently the managing editor of the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in suburban Detroit.

The Eastern Michigan University Theatre production of Shavonne Coleman’s "Cause Play" at the Judy Sturgis Hill building will be presented at 7 pm on April 3-5 and at 2 pm on April 5-6. There are also student matinee performances at 10 am on April 5 and 8. with the April 6 and 8 performances accessible for American Sign Language. For tickets, visit emich.ludus.com.