Park anything resembling shame at the door, and don’t feel awkward about laughing, even though the subject is alcoholism.

Sean Daniels recounts his road from a Mormon upbringing with a rebellious mother to the toast of regional theater, then losing it all and finding his way back in “The White Chip,” a world premiere at City Theatre.

Patrons of the South Side theater will be familiar with the playwright and artistic director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Mass., through his work as director of Benjamin Sheuer’s “The Lion,” a 2016 City presentation.

For “The White Chip” — the title comes from tokens given by Alcoholics Anonymous for day one of sobriety — Mr. Daniels is working with Tony-nominated director Sheryl Kaller and veteran Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy on his own life story.

Sharon Eberson

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Putting personal details onstage doesn’t daunt Mr. Daniels, who saw members of the theater community “come out of the woodwork” when he revealed his own struggles.

He wishes someone had reached out to him when his drinking spiraled out of control.

“The thing I am really not interested in is shame,” he said. “I feel like shame kills thousands of people every year, no matter what it is.”

As he lost relationships, his job, his friends, Mr. Daniels sought to find a solution that he wasn’t seeing in places such as AA and traditional rehabilitation.

“My big thing was, when I was trying to get sober, I couldn’t find anything that I felt spoke to me — that had a sense of humor, that felt like it was now. If you try to find great movies about alcoholism, at some point you’ve watched all of them. And it’s all like ‘The Lost Weekend’ — award-winning performances but nothing funny, and everything I had known to that point was really joyful and humorous.”

He gravitated naturally toward writing a theater piece as he chronicled his search, and one monologue “about my first crazy day in rehab” that he wrote that same day remains in the play.

That was more than six years ago, before he found what he was looking for — an unexpected twist that added science to the equation.

Mr. Kirdahy gave Ms. Kaller the script in 2014, when the producer and director were working together on Broadway’s “Mothers and Sons,” starring Tyne Daly.

“I just felt completely connected to this story because I also feel that humor is our best friend in crisis,” the director said. “I had seen Sean’s production of ‘The Lion,’ and it blew my mind. And I am at a point in my life where I want to work only with artists that inspire me.”

Ms. Kaller, a 2010 Tony nominee for “Next Fall,” also directed the off-Broadway premiere of Billy Porter’s autobiographical play, “While I Yet Live,” about growing up in Pittsburgh.

She had taken some time off for family in recent years but was compelled to help Mr. Daniels tell this particular story.

“Even though I am not a recovering addict, I do know about living one day at a time and a life lived with humility — I try to live my life that way,” Ms. Kaller said. “So when I saw ‘The Lion,’ I thought, ‘I want to work with this guy, whoever did this.’”

The script is unusual in that it is illustrated, with cartoon drawings by Mr. Daniels’ friend, Julie Felise Dubiner, a dramaturg by trade who sat in on early readings of the play. Her drawings are incorporated into the set design by Hank Bullington.

The cast of three comprises New York-based actor Kyle Cameron as Sean and Daniel Krell and Daina Michelle Griffith in dozens of other roles.

Ms. Kaller knew she wanted the Pittsburgh couple after they performed “The White Chip” reading at City’s Momentum Festival.

“One of the great things about City Theatre is, they have given us the tools to take this true story, based on Sean’s life, and use some Pittsburgh artists and some we are bringing in, and we have been able to turn it into a highly theatrical play,” she said. “If we weren’t at a theater like this, I don’t know if we could tell the story like this.”

The story includes Mr. Daniels’ flamboyant mother, who is prone to some colorful language and whose own journey to sobriety ties in with her son’s.

She has wholly embraced how she is depicted in the play, although some of the facts are necessarily theatricalized.

“There’s a great quote by Oscar Wilde: ‘Everything I write is true. Even the stuff I make up.’ I feel like that is about right for this,” Mr. Daniels said. “Everything is true in it, but of course it didn’t happen in 90 minutes and in a straight line.”

The play’s journey started with readings among Mr. Daniels’ friends and an early production at Merrimack Rep two years ago before it was further developed in Pittsburgh. An MRT patron recently asked him for the script, for a “son who is struggling, and I want to send it to him.”

“If anyone wants to talk about it, I’m willing,” Mr. Daniels said. “And I always pass the script on. Getting rid of shame is one of the things I strive to do.”

Seated at a round table alongside City’s rehearsal space, Ms. Kaller turned to the playwright and said, “I think that’s what connected you, Tom and I. It became this triumvirate of people who just laid it out in a rigorous and honest way.”

Looking at Mr. Daniels, she is reminded of what it was like after taking a long hiatus from her own work.

“When I came back, I didn’t have any shame about being 41 and starting over, particularly as a woman in this business,” she recalled. “I had to say, ‘Here I am, here’s what I do. Take me or leave me.’”

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.

First Published: April 5, 2018, 12:00 p.m.