An artist invites audiences to 'Come On In' to his psyche

As a child, multimedia artist Daniel Callahan had an incredible imagination. He was a pretty quiet kid and retreated into his mind as a way to create. He'd dream up different stories and build imaginary worlds, but he wished he could share what he made with others.

"I had always had a fantasy about bringing people into my mind," Callahan said.

Now, he has that chance. "Come On In - Live," playing at the Strand Theatre March 28-30, is an autobiographical one-man play that takes viewers beyond the stage and into Callahan's life. Directed by Iona Morris Jackson, the show follows Callahan as he navigates various topics that have irrevocably impacted him as a Black man, like mental health, religion and hip-hop.

This one-man show has the same name as a previous feature film Callahan released in 2022. While the film explores many of the same themes — depression, music and artistry — it is distinctly different from the play.

"The feature film ... had some grounding in my own life and circumstances, but was very much a fictional piece," Callahan said. "In that way, there was kind of a safety to it because it's all just fiction."

But with this new show, it's deeply personal. "Now I'm telling my story," he said. "It's not a character, it's not this fictional premise."

One-man plays are a unique form of theater. As the name suggests, there is just one person onstage. There may be props and a set but the presence of just one actor means there are no other characters to hide behind, no long breaks to catch one's breath behind the curtain. It is an inherently vulnerable art form.

Callahan thought he was being open and transparent with his previous work, but preparing for this play has pushed him to open up in new ways. It's forced him to lay his emotions bare on the stage. "I literally had to train and I'm still training to access those emotions," he said. "That definitely was difficult."

Callahan grew up in the Greater Boston area with a father who was an ordained Baptist minister. As a child, he was always at church, and while he credits Christianity as foundational to his understanding of morality, there were other things about church that he didn't connect with.

"One church in particular we went to was very orthodox in certain ways. Folks would kind of get excommunicated if they fell out of line," Callahan recalled. "Going through all the trauma or stress of me feeling like I'm going to hell, my family's going to hell cause we're not doing A, B and C ... it was really terrible."

Callahan explores his struggle with his faith in "Come On In - Live." There are many cases where Christianity "saved my life," he said. "But the play is a critique of certain aspects of the way that we construct and exercise religion in our community."

Eventually, music would be of great importance to Callahan. "I grew up in the golden age of hip-hop... Hip-hop really was where I wanted to be."

He found value, not just in the bravado of hip-hop, but also in the way the artists talked about their mental health. "You can listen to Tupac, you can listen to Scarface, they're pouring out their troubles, talking about feeling helpless and hopeless," he said. "Hip-hop was like our blues."

Music became another artistic outlet for Callahan after graduating from college and moving to California in 2008. While there, he became part of a hip-hop group and started to feel like he was finding himself again. But after three years, he hit a wall with his music and came back to Boston.

"I was in this sort of tailspin," he said. "MassQing was the only thing that really would just calm my brain down."

"MassQing" is an artistic process where Callahan paints his face and others' faces. The point isn't to obscure or hide the individual but instead use paint to reveal and expose what lies beneath the surface. The practice emerges again and again throughout Callahan's oeuvre, including "Come On In - Live."

This one-man show is a culmination of his different artforms. "The beauty of this piece is that I'm able to start integrating all those things together into one story of who I really am," he said.

"Come On In" is not just about the journey to self-discovery — the show itself is a part of that journey. Callahan hopes that other Black and brown boys and men struggling with depression or other mental illnesses can see themselves in his story. The show will also provide resources on-site for those seeking help or a therapist. Additionally, a special Saturday matinee for Black and brown boys and men will be followed up by a talk between Callahan and psychologist Dr. Martin Pierre.

At the end of the day, Callahan said that you don't have to be a man of color to relate to his show. "The themes that I'm talking about, whether it's isolation, just feeling lost, dealing with violence, dealing with the many voices you may hear in your head ... these are universal truths that we all can relate to."

"Come On In - Live" runs at the Strand Theatre March 28-30.