Actor/playwright Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s former career as a teacher in an urban public school system provides the colorful, thought-provoking foundation for his aptly titled one-person show, Mr. Parent.

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Co-written by Melinda Lopez and conceived with and directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian, the play is based on Parent’s enlightening experiences juggling teaching duties while attempting to make ends meet as a struggling actor. Through comedy and poignancy, the piece addresses the startling inequities within today’s education system and the ultimate courage it took to pursue his true path.

“The reason I was incessantly telling my story to Melinda and Megan while crafting the play was that I was processing my grief at having left the school,” said Parent. “I had a mix of emotions. I felt free but I also felt exceedingly guilty. I still feel guilty. I am forever changed by my six years in the public schools. I know people who have been there for 30, and I couldn’t make it past six. A part of me still feels like I abandoned the students. But I had to in order to survive and be myself.”

The genesis of Mr. Parent can be traced back to 2018 when Parent portrayed foreman Reggie in Dominique Morisseau’s workplace dramedy Skeleton Crew at Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company. Sandberg-Zakian directed the production and recalls being fascinated by Parent’s stories.

“He was really funny,” Sandberg-Zakian said. “On every rehearsal break he was like holding court with the other actors. There would be hilarity coming from that corner [of the room], and I would go over and hear him tell a story about kids. The stories were entertaining, engaging and funny. As I started listening to them, I realized he had something to work out. His experience was unmetabolized. It was both funny and painful.”

Parent, whose diverse acting credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Angels in America, Man of La Mancha and King Lear, was initially unsure about telling his story. However, the collaborative appeal of working with Lopez and Sandberg- Zakian proved difficult to resist.

“I told Megan I wasn’t a one-man show kind of actor, and I also wasn’t a writer,” Parent said. “But I felt that if these two smart women I know so well thought there was a play in [my stories], well, maybe there was. Megan was really instrumental in the structure of the play to make sure points were made.”

After a few developmental readings, Mr. Parent had its world premiere in 2022 courtesy of Lyric Theatre Company of Boston. Don Aucoin of The Boston Globe praised the “deep-from-the-heart” show for its perspectives on two worlds colliding — teacher by day, actor by night — and the strength of Parent’s emotional portrayal.

Boston Playwright's Theatre Production of Mr. Parent. Photos by Scornavacca Photography.

“Maurice is a brilliant performer,” Sandberg-Zakian said. “He has such an amazing warmth about him as a person and an onstage presence. From a directing standpoint, the only thing I really had to do was just to encourage him to be himself. To be as much of himself as he could. As an actor, it’s not always a straightforward thing because they’re constantly being other people, other characters. The Maurice that is vulnerable, conflicted and angry is just as compelling onstage as the Maurice that’s funny and charming.”

Sandberg-Zakian said there are logistical challenges to staging a one-person show, but she feels her duties guiding Mr. Parent are bolstered by building trust and maintaining self-care.

“Often if you’re directing a play with multiple characters or is technically complex, a [production] can kind of run itself in which the actors are working off of each other,” she explained. “But with a one-person show, the director is the first audience and the first and only scene partner, which, for me, was a beautiful and intimate part of the experience. It can also be a tiring part of the experience, so when working on a one-person show, I always try to take care of myself so I can be that engaged audience coming with fresh eyes and ears.”

She also hopes audiences view Mr. Parent as a launching pad for discussion that will inspire fundamental change within public education.

“I hope people come out of the play really deeply respecting the passion, dedication and brilliance of public school teachers, and feeling committed to the project of public education, the idea that it is worth investing in and worth trying to fix and trying to save,” Sandberg-Zakian said. “When you look at the numbers, the inequity in public schooling, you feel such despair. But at the end of the day, our job is not to despair but to think about how we can improve something and make it a thing that serves all parents, teachers and communities. There is no option to give up on public education.”