Dominique Morisseau

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

Early life Morisseau was born and 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. Morisseau attended Bates Academy (a selective pre-K through 8 public school in Detroit) and Cass Technical High School. She attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she received her BFA in Acting in 2000. Keys was born in Detroit but grew up in Southfield, Michigan, a nearby suburb of the city. He works as a music industry promoter, emcee and hip hop musician.

Career

Acting Morisseau began her performance career as a live poetry speaker, primarily in her hometown community of Harmonie Park in Detroit. 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 was a story editor and co-producer for the television series Shameless on Showtime for seasons 1-7.

She wrote the book for the jukebox musical Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations, which was originally directed by Des McAnuff. The musical opened on Broadway, marking her Broadway debut as a writer, 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). She received a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, 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: It was developed and workshopped at The Public Theater in New York. Detroit '67 eventually was 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. For this play, Morisseau received the L. Arnold Weissberger Award The play won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award in 2015. Skeleton Crew opened on Broadway in January 2022. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.

Works

Awards Morisseau received a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as the 'Genius Grant') fin 2018, which included 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 Steinberg Playwright Award, 2015 Windham Campbell Literature Prize for drama, 2023.