Source: School of Music, Theatre and Dance
2018 MacArthur Fellow, U-M Alumna, and native Detroiter Dominque Morriseau. Photo by Jenny Graham.
2018 MacArthur Fellow, U-M Alumna, and native Detroiter Dominique Morriseau. Photo by Jenny Graham.
Playwright Dominique Morisseau (BFA ’00, theatre) was one of 25 distinguished individuals selected to receive a 2018 MacArthur Fellowship. Also known as the MacArthur “Genius Grant,” the $625,000, no-strings-attached award is presented to “extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential.”
A native Detroiter, Morisseau began writing plays as a student at SMTD, studying with Prof. OyamO (Charles Gordon). Her three-play cycle, The Detroit Project, includes Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, and Detroit ’67.
In announcing her award on Oct. 4, the MacArthur Foundation said Morisseau “uses lyrical dialogue to construct emotionally complex characters who exhibit humor, vulnerability, and fortitude as they cope with sometimes desperate circumstances. Her plays juxtapose beauty with destruction, hope with despair, and bring to light the complicated realities of urban African American communities.”
Read more on Arts & Culture.
