From Salina to Broadway

Lamer’s Market. Buddy’s Bar. The Carver Center.                              All of these establishments were staples of Tyrees Allen’s childhood in north Salina.
“It was my home, my cultural reference. It was everything an old neighborhood represents,” said Allen, a Salina native and accomplished stage and screen actor.
“At that time, the vast majority of black people lived on that end of town. We had grocery stores, restaurants, a barber shop, bars, The Carver Center. It was lovely growing up there. I knew most everyone. Of course, it was a simpler time.”
Multiple generations of the Allen family were born and raised in north Salina. The family was connected to its neighborhood and the community at large.
“There was a lot of interesting characters and people,” Allen said, tilting his head back. “I remember Mrs. Geraldine Briscoe who was a community activist. Then you had guys like Gene Stanley. You could go drink in his place on a Sunday — back when it was illegal to drink on a Sunday.
“We had music, we had gatherings and dances. It wasn’t any different than any other black community in the country.”
But, in the early 1970s, urban renewal projects swept in.
In the June 19, 1974 edition of the Salina Journal, John Marshall wrote that a fifth of the occupied homes in the north Salina neighborhood did not meet the minimum housing code, according to city officials.
A study commissioned as part of the renewal reads: “It is obvious that residential blight occurs in Neighborhood 4 at more than twice the rate for the city-at-large.”
The same study noted that 140 homes were deemed “clearance projects.” More than half of those were nestled in Allen’s neighborhood. The study also noted only a third of those living in the neighborhood earned more than $100 per week.
During 1974, “The Black Word Is” newsletter extensively covered the housing issue. The January 1974 issue explained the Salina Housing Authority owned many homes in disrepair, but lacked structured channels for tenant complaints or ways to report necessary repairs.

Riding around north Salina in early December, Allen reminisced about the results of the renewal efforts.
“Urban renewal is about displacing people, and that’s what happened to my community,” Allen said. “They dismantled the cultural life of my community. They delivered on nothing, as far as I can see. You drive through now, and it’s just decimated.
“We had a place called the Carver Center. It was the cultural life of that community. That’s gone, and it’s replaced with some brick monstrosity.”
The new building is also dubbed “The Carver Center,” but Allen described the original Carver Center as a “grand building” with a swimming pool before it was torn down.
“I’m not disparaging the people that live there, but when you drive through now, it’s a shadow of what it was,” he said
Traveling on East North Street, near 2nd Street, Allen added, “These were all buildings, houses, bars, restaurants.”
The lot contains no houses; only chain link fences and a power sub-station for a utility company.
“The hope was they would do something, but there’s nothing that benefited our community. They were successful in dividing and dispersing that community,” Allen said.
One poignant memory was when his grandmother’s house was razed.  
“I remember sitting across the street from my grandmother’s house and watching them tear down her house,” he said. “My Aunt Dessa lived on that street. All of those houses are torn down now.
“I don’t care what anybody says, it’s terrible to have your home, your neighborhood torn down.”
He continued to reminisce.
“Mrs. Cruse lived here. It was the nicest house on the north end of town,” he said. “I used to set in the yard with her — she was an old woman. I would sit and she would tell me stories and give me a quarter to take out her trash.”
Allen said the displacement and dismemberment of black communities wasn’t unique to Salina.
“I feel that it’s always the black parts of town, the poor parts of town that are cleared out for freeways and warehouses,” Allen said. “They didn’t go out south. They weren’t up on the hill tearing down houses. They went to the north end of town.”

As his community changed, his experiences broadened. As a freshman at Salina Central High School (at the time, it was simply known as Salina High), he had an

English teacher named Marilyn Chlebak.
“She said, ‘You read very well, have you thought about being an actor?’” Allen said. “I wasn’t sure what she meant. I didn’t think of acting as a profession. Nobody in my neighborhood was an actor.
“I didn’t know what a play was. I’d never been to a play. I was ignorant of what she was talking about. It wasn’t part of my experience.”
The next evening, she took him to the campus of Kansas Wesleyan University, where Salina Community Theatre produced its plays until the current building was constructed in 1973.
“I met Charles Kephart, who became my mentor and dear friend,” Allen said. “My life showed up on that day in terms of what I would be doing.”
At age 14 or 15, Allen was cast in his first play, “Raisin in the Sun.”
“I always tell people that walking into that theatre was like walking on Mars. It seemed impossible — another world,” he said. “I was around people I didn’t know existed, an ethic I didn’t know existed, an artistic expression I certainly didn’t know existed. It was life-changing.”
Experiencing art for art’s sake was an awakening.
“To do a thing for the thing itself, and to learn that there is value in it, that it means something was remarkable,” Allen said.
A diverse group of directors and artists in the Salina community fostered and encouraged the young Allen, including Kephart, co-founder of the Salina Community Theatre, high school English teacher Chlebak, high school drama teacher Linda Salmans and Marymount professor Dr. Dennis Denning.
During high school, Allen participated in the school’s productions. He also spent time at the SCT, under the tutelage of Kephart, and was in shows, including “The Gazebo,” “My Three Angels,” “Gypsy,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Little Foxes.”
“Charles especially always had expectations of me and kept me on the path and encouraged me and gave me opportunities,” Allen said. “He was just that solid rock for me. He remained that way from my first play to Broadway to my television shows. He was always there. He was very pivotal in my artistic life, and life in general.”
The co-founder of the SCT showed Allen the value of hard work.
“At one time, he was the director, janitor, the box office person,” Allen said. “He really was dedicated to the notion of community theatre. To me, he was the epitome of what theatre is — not just community theatre.
“Theatre is a communal experience and Charles was the epitome of it. There was no ego to him. It was all about the work, the play.”
Camille (Wilkins) Delaughter grew up in North Salina with Allen.
“During those times, people were unsure why Tyrees wanted to do plays,” she said. “The neighborhood guys were into baseball or shooting pool.
“A lot of people thought, ‘Why are you doing that? You can’t go anywhere with it because it’s just unheard of in Salina.’”

While he graduated from Salina High Central in 1972, the next act in Allen’s career coincided with his decision to not pursue a college education upon graduation.
One day, Allen received a phone call from someone at Marymount College.
“She said Dr. Denning heard I was in town and interested in me coming to Marymount. I didn’t know Dr. Denning

at the time,” Allen said. “I was intimidated by him. He was a forceful personality.”
Their first meeting was memorable. Dr. Denning was sitting in his office, doodling on a Styrofoam cup.
“He looked over his glasses at me and said, ‘I hear we won’t get along,’” Allen said. “I was appalled, shocked and amused all at the same time.”
The opposite, however, happened. Dr. Denning arranged scholarships and Allen enrolled in the college.
“That put me on another level,” Allen said of attending Marymount. “His department was a lot like a theatre company. I was around a bunch of talented kids. You did play after play after play.
“He had demands. You were taught respect and discipline. You didn’t dare come to his rehearsals late. You had your lines learned when you were supposed to have your lines learned. You had reverence and respect for what you did.”
During his four years at Marymount, Allen estimated he performed in 30 plays.
“I had a ton of practical experience,” he said. “I knew how to be on the stage. I had confidence, and maybe misplaced ego. That was OK — that’s what got me through. It was a fantastic education.”
Allen graduated from the college in 1978.
“It was four years of really being steeped in the theatre,” he said. “You formed a bond with that group of people. It was invaluable. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Transitioning from the theatre experience at Marymount College to a national stage was a significant shift.
“When I got into the real world, I was educated — had done a lot of plays — but that all happened in Salina,” Allen said. “By the time I got to the real world, I didn’t know about agents and managers and PR people. I [felt] naked and terrified.
“All of that good stuff had happened here. It wasn’t California. It wasn’t New York.
“What I did have was a great sense of self. I had discipline. I wasn’t going to be told I couldn’t do something, because I knew I could.
“I think what growing up in Salina did was gave me a strong sense of self. I might have been deluded about how talented I was, but I had a profound belief in myself because I had been in all these plays.”
The reality of entering the acting world in the late 1970s for a black man was in some ways an uphill climb.
“Back then, it was a little more challenging,” Allen said. “Being told you couldn’t read for certain things because you weren’t the person they were looking for was frustrating.

His professional career began in 1980 when he was in the movie “Up the Academy,” which was filmed at the now-closed St. John’s Military School in Salina. From there, Allen moved to Dallas, where he worked with the Dallas Theater Center, Theatre Three, Stage West Theatre and Shakespeare Festival of Dallas.  
In 1984, he moved to L.A. and embarked upon his television and film career. He had recurring roles on “Women’s Murder Club” and “Dark Blue” and appeared in more than 50 other television shows.
For Delaughter, seeing a familiar face on television was always a delight.
“I would see him in parts like on “Law and Order” and thought, ‘Hold on, I know him!’” she said. “It’s great to see someone come out of the north end of Salina and do good. It is an inspiration to see what he has done with his life and his career.”
Allen also appeared in several movies, including “RoboCop.”
He later returned to his stage roots, and was in the 2000 Broadway production of “Aida” and the 2003 revival of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.”

David Greiser, who attended Kansas Wesleyan University during Allen’s time at Marymount, had several friends in common with Allen. The two worked on several projects together at the Salina Community Theatre, and Greiser said he wasn’t surprised by Allen’s professional career.
“He displayed a level of talent while he was at Marymount and had the desire and fearlessness to do what needed to be done to make this work,” Greiser said.
As Allen now enters his late 60s, he is shifting from performing to directing.
“I enjoy teaching and working with young people and directing. I thought I would try to do a little more of that,” Allen said. “I come back every few years to do something because it’s my way of giving back.”
He returned to Salina in 2016 to direct “The Glass Menagerie” at the SCT, and also returned this winter to direct “Bus Stop,” which ran through Jan. 23. Allen’s return was made possible via a grant from the Greater Salina Community Foundation.
Participating in “Bus Stop” holds special meaning for Allen.
“Bus Stop is the first play the community theatre ever did,” he said. “Sixty years later, here we are. It’s miraculous that [the community theatre] is thriving 60 years later.
“I come back because it fills me up. It keeps me humble. It reminds me of a different time.”
Greiser, who has lived in Salina for more than five decades, both performed and directed at the SCT, said it was a delight for Allen to direct the show.
“He has worked with some of the finest directors in the country over the years. You learn from experience,” Greiser said. “He has picked up technique, approaches, ideas on how to communicate with cast members and pull a show together from front to back. He has brought that wealth of knowledge into the rehearsal room for this show. It’s a learning experience and it’s very rewarding for the cast.”
Allen said returning home to Salina was difficult for him as a younger man. Yet, he continued to make remaining connected to his hometown important.
“It looks so small to me now. You get older, and you get bigger and things look smaller,” he said. “Everything I am is here — my sense of humor, my lack of tolerance for bullshit. I was raised by some very tough, funny people who survived a lot of crap.”