The Detroit Project - by Dominique Morisseau (Paperback)

About the Book

A searing new trilogy depicting black lives through three defining periods in Detroit history.

Book Synopsis

Three provocative dramas, Paradise Blue, Detroit '67 and Skeleton Crew, make up Dominique Morisseau's The Detroit Project, a play cycle examining the sociopolitical history of Detroit. Each play sits at a cross-section--of race and policing, of labor and recession, of property ownership and gentrification--and comes alive in the characters and relationships that look toward complex, hopeful futures. With empathetic storytelling and an ear for the voices of her home community, Morisseau brings to life the soul of Detroit, past and present.

Review Quotes

"Detroit '67 is Morisseau's aching paean to her natal city... A deft playwright, Morisseau plays expertly with social mores and expectations. She also reframes commonplace things so that we see them in new light."-- "StarTribune"

"Skeleton Crew is a deeply moral and deeply American play, with loving compassion for those trapped in a system that makes sins, spiritual or societal, and self-betrayal almost inevitable."-- "Ben Brantley, New York Times"

"Bold new work...Detroit '67 captures a community coming to grips with its history and its future...Must-see theater."-- "John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press"

"Morisseau is trying to tell a fuller, deeper story about Detroit than the one that is told by headlines about municipal bankruptcy, abandoned buildings, and population decline...never allowing us to forget the larger social forces at work in Paradise Blue, the kind that erode the heart of a city."-- "Dan Aucoin, Boston Globe"

About the Author

Dominique Morisseau is the author of The Detroit Project, which includes the plays Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, and Detroit '67. Additional plays include Pipeline, Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, Follow Me To Nellie's, Confederates, and Bad Kreyòl. She is also the Tony-nominated book writer of the Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations. Morisseau is an alumna of The Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, Women's Project Lab, and Lark Playwrights Workshop and has developed work at Sundance Lab, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. She also served as co-producer on the Showtime series Shameless (3 seasons). She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Steinberg Playwright Award, the NBTF August Wilson Playwriting Award, and the MacArthur Genius Grant.