Secrets We Wish To Keep
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Kenndall
SYNOPSIS
After a forgotten memory resurfaces, Lucky and Sam struggle to stay in their American Dream.
PLAYWRIGHT’S BIO
Kenndall Wallace loves to write. A Detroit-based playwright and screenwriter, Kenndall uses their culture and upbringing to both entertain audiences and create living, moving art pieces through words. She was an inaugural winner of the Farmers’ Alley Theatre Lumen Playwriting Competition, a Broadcast Education Association winner for her debut feature-length screenplay, and has been honored three times by the Region III KCACTF, being awarded at the national level in 2024 and 2025 with plays To Cry Into Sand and Reckless Black Dropouts.
A BIT ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
When did you start writing plays? If you had a moment where you realized you wanted to write, what was it?
I started writing plays in my sophomore year of undergraduate studies and haven’t stopped since. However, I realized that I wanted to write much earlier! My interest in writing began with the media I was exposed to as a kid. Casablanca, An American in Paris, and TV shows of the 2010s all helped me realize that storytelling was what I was meant to do.
How did you come to write your OOB play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? How has it developed?
Around November of last year, I grew interested in how easily willful ignorance manifests itself in domestic spaces– powered by the false idea that the world’s events cannot enter your household as long as you keep the doors closed. That, along with classic sitcoms of the 1960s, ended up directly inspiring the piece. As it developed, it became a simultaneous exploration of willful ignorance and a critical look at what it really means to be an “American Dreamer.”
What are five words that describe who you are as a playwright?
Always writing forward, never stagnant.
What/who are some of the major influences on your writing?
My city, my family, and my cultural background all greatly influence my writing. I love writing about family dynamics, Black & American heritage, and of course my home city of Detroit– because all of the aforementioned things have had a profoundly positive impact on me as a person and my outlook on life.
What’s one fact someone would never guess about you?
I’m ridiculously afraid of heights!
What are some of your favorite plays?
Some of my favorite plays right now are Day of Absence by Douglas Turner Ward, The Bronx is Next by Sonia Sanchez, Suddenly, Last Summer by Tennessee Williams– and of course, Fences by August Wilson.
Any new projects you’re working on or shameless plugs?
So right now, I’m working on three full-lengths: Parasocials (a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar from the perspective of 5 fangirls), Special People (a new comedy that centers neurodivergence), and American Cameos (a vignette-style play). Check them all out on NPX… eventually!
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