Chloe Kay’s ‘Daddyland’ invites audiences to the world between fathers and daughters 

Few relationships are as special or as complicated as the one between a girl and her dad. Sometimes, those relationships are so complex as to inspire two acts worth of dramatic interrogation, as playwright and actor Chloe Kay has done. In Kay’s one-woman show, Daddyland, which will have a staged reading July 17 and July 18 at Windmill Arts Center, she examines the intricacies of her relationship with her father, how it has impacted her relationship to her femininity and the difficult journey we all go through in accepting our parents as human.

Daddyland is a two-character, one-person show in which Kay will play both her younger self and her father. She describes the piece as “very much a memory play,” in which she bounces around to various formative moments between herself and her father (who is still alive), ranging from ages 4 to 30. Kay also cites the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home as one of multiple inspirations. “In my family, my father was the sun in our solar system,” says Kay. “Big energy, a lot of prowess, and so he’s a big character. He’s kind of a larger-than-life guy. He was and still is a very affectionate father but a very, very flawed human being.”

Among the show’s thematic exploration of memory and relationships, Kay also delves into the messaging young girls often receive from their fathers: “There was a lot that I experienced and internalized as a girl, taking in a lot of different messages from him as well as the world around me about what it means to be a woman and what it means to be in relationship to myself, in relationship to men.”

To that end, the play explores misogyny, girlhood, body image, early sexual experiences and the ways in which the world views handed down by parents informs all of that. “You really derive a lot of your sense of reality from them,” says Kay. “I think that’s the role that fathers play a lot of the time: laying out the world and telling you how things are. He knows. He’s God.”

Kay began working on Daddyland roughly six years ago, though it started as little more than a therapy project, something to help her make sense of certain events in her life. It was not until considerably later that she decided to present the work.

“Performing is actually an important part of the creative process for me. There is something kind of magical and important for me about not only creating the work but having it witnessed and having that relationship with an audience. There is something that kind of closes the circle for me about sharing it and having it witnessed.”

This decision is also concurrent with Kay finishing up a master’s program in counseling and arts therapy, allowing this staged reading to support her larger goal of championing healing and self-expression through the arts.

On the tone of the show, Kay had this to say: “I am sharing painful parts of my childhood, definitely, but I also think the tone of it is comedic in moments. I definitely have a sense of humor about a lot of it.” Speaking to the multifaceted relationship between parent and child, she also credits part of the humor to the man that inspired the play: “My dad is funny! I gotta hand it to him, the guy is funny.” 

The play will also incorporate several songs written by Kay. “I’m a very confessional songwriter, so maybe around the second or third draft, I thought ‘Wait a minute. Any time I’m really expressing myself, I’m usually singing. So maybe I should sing.’” While some of these songs were written in parallel with Daddyland, several predate the show. “I didn’t alter my songwriting style to fit a theatrical performance. It’s more like Once in terms of a grounded, kind of folk style. But also I am a theater kid, so I think my sensibility is already naturally theatrical.”

While this reading represents just the first step in the piece’s development — Kay emphasizes that the show is still in process — she is hopeful her story will be impactful for others. 

“I think there’s potential for other people to see this and recognize a part of themselves in it in a way that could make the whole thing worth it, but, really, the main person I’m performing this for is my younger self. This is my experience. This is what it meant to me, and I’m ready to share that with the world.”

Where & When

A staged reading of Daddyland takes place at Windmill Arts on July 17 and July 18 at 7 p.m.
Tickets, $10 in advance and $15 at door.
2823 Church St., East Point

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Luke Evans is an Atlanta-based writer, critic and dramaturg. He covers theater for ArtsATL and Broadway World Atlanta and has worked with theaters such as the Alliance, Actor’s Express, Out Front Theatre and Woodstock Arts. He’s a graduate of Oglethorpe University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, and the University of Houston, where he earned his master’s.