Ahead of the Toronto Tempo’s 2026 debut, a play about a young girl’s dream to join the WNBA is taking over a stage in the city.
FLEX is a fast-paced energetic show exploring vulnerability, sisterhood, girlhood, and perseverance while highlighting the power and potential of young Black women.
Produced by Crow’s Theatre and Canada’s leading Black theatre company Obsidian Theatre, and written by Candrice Jones, this marks the first time that FLEX is hitting a Canadian stage after it premiered at New York’s Lincoln Centre Theatre in the summer of 2023.
Set in 1997 Arkansas, the year after the founding of the Women’s National Basketball Association, FLEX follows an all-Black high school girls’ basketball team full of ambitious players looking to make the big leagues, while navigating being young, Black women in rural Arkansas.
The play sees the team vying to make it to the championship during their final year of high school, and toying with the idea of taking their career to the next level with the help of the newly developed professional women’s basketball league.
“That’s a new thing for the girls to discover, that also in their final year, that the option of going past high school and taking their careers further is also really relevant,” Sophia Walker, who plays character Coach Francine Pace, told Now Toronto. “I think also giving a voice to young Black girls is so important.”
A VOICE FOR YOUNG BLACK GIRLS
Walker explained that as a young Black girl growing up, she played a lot of sports. She also lived in predominately white neighbourhoods and was always very shy, attributing this partially to feeling like an outsider who couldn’t take up space.
“But when I played sports, I had a very different attitude, because I had coaches that were [like] ‘We need you to play hard, we need you on the team,’ and I found that through sports, I could take up space. I got louder, I got stronger,” she explained.
“Obviously, I’m an actor, but I find that what I learned from the sports was that my space, my voice is important,” Walker said. “And now it’s like you hear all the cliches about Black women are angry, you’re too loud. And the sports allow you to to find your space, find your voice,”
“It’s an asset in those spaces to be competitive and to be goal-oriented, and to find a space that is community driven, like especially with a team sport, it’s all about the team and it’s all about achieving a common goal together,” Thompson added, saying that basketball is a great way for young Black women to carve out their own space in the world, and see their ambition in a positive light.
“It’s an asset to have that drive and that intention and that desire to go far.”
Walker explained that ambition is also part of the show, with characters dreaming about leaving their small town. Despite there being limited opportunities in their rural community, sports gives them an opportunity to get out.
“Their determination to get out builds a family dynamic,” she explained. “So, you learn about community, that you can’t do this alone, that you can lean on each other.”
“We really get to see like the full range of a dynamic of young women like finding themselves and navigating their personal relationships, navigating their relationships with the adults in their life and and how those adults have influences on their perspectives,” actor Shauna Thompson, who plays Starra Jones, told Now Toronto.
“We can see some perspectives of how religion has a place in their lives and their communities and the choices and the decisions that they make.”
Fans of 90s culture will appreciate nods to the music of the era, with tunes from 90’s female hip-hop and pop groups, including TLC and SWV featured in the play.
The show also features a unique element: live basketball, on stage.
“All theatre is live, but adding the basketball element makes it live in a whole different way,” Thompson explained, adding that this keeps the cast on their toes because they never know what will happen when an actor makes a shot.
“So, we have to constantly, you know, be aware of our surroundings and be ready to improvise and make changes at the last minute.”
Directed by Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu, Obsidian Theatre’s artistic director, the stage show features a cast of endlessly talented Black actors, including Shauna Thompson, Sophia Walker, Jewell Bowry, Jasmine Case, Asha James, and Trinity Lloyd.
From April 15 – May 18, FLEX runs Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with matinée shows on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available here.
