The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God

The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God
Written by	Djanet Sears
Date premiered	2002
Place premiered	Toronto
Setting	Modern Canada

The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God is a drama written and produced by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears. The production ran from October 2003-March 2004, co-produced by Obsidian Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, and was reprised in 2015 at the National Arts Centre and Centaur Theatre. A print version of this play was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2003.

The play is set in modern day Canada, telling the story of the fictional Doctor Rainey Baldwin-Johnson within the factual Black community, Negro Creek, of Holland Township, Ontario. This community dates back to the War of 1812 when it was granted to Black settlers for their contributions to the British forces. This is touched upon many times within The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God; Rainey and the other characters of the play, being the descendants of Black loyalists who were granted the Ojibwe land that would become Negro Creek, are constantly confronted by the attempted erasure of their history.

Additionally, this play is thought to be "a re-visioning of a George Bernard Shaw short story," of a very similar title, using Sears' own style drawn from West-African conventions of storytelling to articulate Rainey's negotiation of the loss of faith she feels after the death of her daughter. Sears includes a singing chorus who become the living set for the play. The chorus becomes the image of Negro Creek, the fields and trees of the rural setting, but most importantly they form the souls of those who came before Rainey and her Father's generation; thus acknowledging the extensive Black history in Negro Creek, and Canada.

Starting with Rainey alone, running down the street with a stiff child in her arms, the prologue begins and the voices of the chorus become the sound of splashing rain and a congregation gathered at mass. Here the timelines converge, learning that Rainey is holding her dying child as she rushes to find help, while the daughter's future funeral is performed simultaneously. The prologue comes to a conclusion with Rainey running out of the church and separating from her husband.

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