Dominique Morisseau

Dominique Morisseau is an American actor and playwright. She has produced six one act plays,^[1] three of which are part of a cycle she is currently working on called "The Detroit Projects."^[2]

Childhood

Morisseau grew up in Detroit, Michigan. Her mother's family is from Mississippi. Her father's family is from Haiti.^[3]

Career

Acting

Morisseau's performance career began as a live poetry speaker, primarily performing for her home town community: Harmonie Park in Detroit. She began her career in the theatre as an actor. She attended the University of Michigan where she received her BFA in acting.^[2] After college, she continued acting. At the Lark Play Development Center she worked as an actor in a developmental production of The Mountaintop by Katori Hall. In 2013, she performed the role of Camae, which she workshopped, in a production at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville.^[3] She continues acting now, but has stated that she would not act in any of her plays' premieres.^[3]

Playwriting

Morisseau began writing plays in college and has continued to write, earning her numerous awards and honors. She has stated that there was a lack of roles for her at the University of Michigan, which is what drove her to start writing plays. She wrote The Blackness Blues: Time to Change the Tune, A Sister’s Story at this time.^[3] After college, she received a playwright of New York fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center.^[3] She has also worked as a Teaching Artist with City University of New York's Creative Arts Team.^[3]

Morisseau is on the list of Top 20 Most Produced Playwrights in America 2015–16, with 10 productions of her plays being produced.^[3][4]

Work

The Detroit Projects

Morisseau is currently working on a 3 play cycle, entitled "The Detroit Projects." The three plays (in order) are:^[2]

Detroit '67

This play "explores an explosive and decisive moment in a great American city. The play's compelling characters struggle with racial tension and economic instability."^[5] It began it's development at the Public Theater in New York where it was workshopped. Detroit '67 eventually went on to be featured the Classical Theatre of Harlem with the National Black Theatre. It was nominated for 8 AUDELCO Theatre Awards, and received the 2014 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History.

Paradise Blue

Former musician, Blue, decides to sell his beloved jazz club in order to live out his dreams. He is left with the moral dilemma of leaving his partner, Pumpkin, and his loyal jazz band behind. Morriseau developed this play first at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where it would eventually go on to have it's world premiere in July 2015. Paradise Blue continued it's development at the McCarter Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Public Theater. For this play, Morisseau received the L. Arnold Weissberger Award (2012), and the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

Skeleton Crew

The final play in Morisseau's cycle revolves around a group of auto-plant workers, grappling with the likely possibility of for closure and impending unemployment. Skeleton Crew received a developmental production at the Lark Play Development Center.^[2] Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this production held it's world premiere at the Linda Gross Theater with the Atlantic Theatre Company in May 2016.

Other plays she has written that are not included in the cycle include:

• Follow Me To Nellie's
• Sunset Baby
• Blood At The Root^[2]

She is currently a writer for the television series Shameless on Showtime.

Awards

Morriseau was named an Honoree for the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, which recognizes plays and performance texts created by women that present a feminist perspective and contain significant opportunities for female performers.^[6]

She is a two time award winner of the NAACP Image Award, which celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.^[7]

• Primus Prize by the American Theatre Critics Association (honoree)

• Stavis Playwriting Award

• University of Michigan: Emerging Leader Award

• City of Detroit: Spirit of Detroit Award

• Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama^[2]

References