Dominique Morisseau

Dominique Morisseau (born March 13, 1978) is an American playwright and actress from Detroit, Michigan. She has authored over nine plays, three of which are part of a cycle titled ''The Detroit Project.'' She was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the 'Genius Grant') for 2018.

Early life

Morisseau grew up in Detroit, Michigan, with her mother and father. Her mother's family is from Mississippi and her father's family is from Haiti. Later, she attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she received her BFA in Acting in 2000. There she met her husband, J. Keys, who is also from Michigan. Keys was born in Detroit but grew up in Southfield on the outskirts of the city. He is a music industry promoter, emcee and hip hop musician. The couple married in 2013.

Career

Acting

Morisseau's performance career began as a live poetry speaker, primarily in her hometown community of Harmonie Park in Detroit. After graduating from college, she continued acting and worked with several organizations. At the Lark Play Development Center she worked as an actor in a developmental production of ''The Mountaintop'' by Katori Hall, workshopping the role of Camae. In 2013, in a production at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, she reprised the role of Camae. She continues acting now, but has stated that she would not act in any of her plays' premieres.

Writing

Morisseau began writing plays in college. She has stated that the lack of roles for her at the University of Michigan 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. After college, in 2012 and 2013, she received a Playwrights of New York (PoNY) fellowship at the Lark Play Development Center. She has also worked as a Teaching Artist with City University of New York's Creative Arts Team. Morisseau has said that music plays a huge part in her work and often informs the work that she is writing. "It's a resource and clue to my work, and music plays a unifier among cultural barriers."

Morisseau was on the list of Top 20 Most Produced Playwrights in America in 2015–16, with 10 productions of her plays nationwide.

Morisseau is a story editor for the television series ''Shameless'' on Showtime and is also credited as a co-producer.

She wrote the book for the jukebox musical '' Ain't Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations'', which is directed by Des McAnuff. The musical opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in March 2019. It played pre-Broadway engagements at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2017), the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles (August to September 2018), and the Kennedy Center (July 2018). This marked Morisseau's Broadway debut, and she received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination, the third Black woman to do so.

Work

''The Detroit Project''

Morisseau has written a three-play cycle, titled ''The Detroit Project.'' The three plays (in order) are:

''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." It began its development at The Public Theater in New York where it was workshopped. ''Detroit '67'' eventually went on to be featured at the Classical Theatre of Harlem with the National Black Theatre. It was nominated for eight 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. Morisseau developed this play first at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where it would eventually go on to have its world premiere in July 2015. ''Paradise Blue'' continued its development at the McCarter Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, and the Signature Theatre Company. For this play, Morisseau received the L. Arnold Weissberger Award in 2012.

''Skeleton Crew''

The final play in the cycle revolves around a group of auto-plant workers grappling with the likely possibility of foreclosure and impending unemployment. ''Skeleton Crew'' received a developmental production at the Lark Play Development Center. Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this play had its world premiere at the Off-Broadway Linda Gross Theater with the Atlantic Theater Company in May 2016. ''Skeleton Crew'' also won Morisseau the 2016 Obie Award Special Citation for Collaboration along with director Santiago-Hudson and the Atlantic Theater Company. The play won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award in 2015. ''Skeleton Crew'' opened on Broadway in January 2022. She received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Play.

Works

Awards

Morisseau is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the 'Genius Grant') for 2018, which includes a stipend of $625,000. She is one of 25 fellows in the 2018 Class.

Morisseau 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.

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.

*Primus Prize by the American Theatre Critics Association (honoree) for ''Follow Me to Nellie's'' in 2012
*Stavis Playwriting Award
*University of Michigan: Emerging Leader Award
*City of Detroit: Spirit of Detroit Award
*Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, 2014, for her play ''Detroit '67''Columbia University Awards the Kennedy Prize for Drama to Dominque Morisseau
" '' Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (Online)''. jbhe.com. 2014-02-28. Retrieved via ''ProQuest'' database, 2017-07-12.
*Steinberg Playwright Award, 2015
*OBIE Award for "Special Citation: Collaboration" for her and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (director) for ''Skeleton Crew'' at Atlantic Theater Company, 2016

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morisseau, Dominique
1978 births
Living people
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American women writers
African-American dramatists and playwrights
African-American women writers
American stage actresses
American women dramatists and playwrights
MacArthur Fellows
People from Southfield, Michigan
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American writers
20th-century African-American people
20th-century African-American women