Signature Theatre's New York premiere of Dominique Morisseau’s Confederates begins previews March 8 prior to an official opening March 27. Directed by Stori Ayers, performances continue through April 10 in The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.
The play from Signature Residency 5 playwright Morisseau—also a Tony nominee and MacArthur Fellow—follows Signature’s staging of her Paradise Blue, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson.
Dominique Morisseau
Jenny GrahamThe cast includes Elijah Jones (Richard II, The Many Deaths of Nathan Stubblefield) as Abner/Malik, Kristolyn Lloyd (Dear Evan Hansen, Paradise Blue) as Sara, Andrea Patterson (cullud wattah, Paradise Blue) as LuAnne/Jade, Kenzie Ross (Blood at the Root, A Christmas Carol in Harlem) as Missy Sue/Candice, and Michelle Wilson (The House That Will Not Stand, Sweat) as Sandra.
In Confederates, two women have parallel experiences of institutional racism, though they live over a century apart. Sandra, a tenured Political Science professor in a modern-day private university, has been targeted with a hateful photoshopped image taped to her office door. Sara, an enslaved rebel, is brought into a plot to spy on her master for the Union, and begins to find her own control.
The production also has scenic design by Rachel Hauck, costume design by Ari Fulton, lighting design by Amith Chandrashaker and Emma Deane, sound design by Curtis Craig and Jimmy Keys, projection design by Katherine Freer, and intimacy coordination by Ann James.
The production stage manager is Jonathan Castanien with casting by Caparelliotis Casting.
Morisseau is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle): Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit ’67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT), as well as Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theater), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre), Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre), and Follow Me to Nellie’s (Premiere Stages). She was Tony-nominated for her libretto for Broadway's Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of the Temptations.
Check out photos from Signature's 2018 production of Paradise Blue below:
