African-American Shakespeare Company Presents PIPELINE By Dominque Morisseau

Pipeline by MacArthur Fellowship recipient Dominique Morisseau comes to San Francisco for the first time since its debut at Lincoln Center in 2017 to tell the story of a single mother who teaches in an inner city school but has chosen to enroll her son in a private one to save him from finding himself treading the well-worn path that can lead from school to jail.

Pipeline runs March 16 – 31 at the Taube Atrium Theater; ickets are $40.00 general admission and $15.00 for those under 21 with the Jazz Pass option at City Box Office  
San Francisco, CA, March 4, 2023 — The African-American Shakespeare Company presents Pipeline by MacArthur Fellowship recipient Dominique Morisseau (who is responsible for among other plays, the book for the Tony nominated Ain't Too Proud). Artistic Director L. Peter Callender directs for its San Francisco debut.

The play by MacArthur Fellowship recipient Dominique Morisseau is a powerful and emotionally charged drama that debuted at Lincoln Center in 2017. It tells the story of Nya, a recently divorced mother and inner-city schoolteacher raising her teenage son on her own, who is not dealing with the absence of his father well. His troubles in public school resulting in two suspensions prompts her to enroll him in a private school far from home. When behavioral issues there flare up, his father gets involved which prompts Nya to question her choices as a parent as she digs in to protect her son's future.

“To my mind, this is perhaps one of the most important contemporary plays out there right now,” says Callender. “I have directed it twice before for companies in Florida and feel more than ever the need to continue to shine a light on the need to resist the systemic, mental reprogramming inherent in the school-to-jail pipeline mentality currently plaguing Black and brown youth.” 

About the African-American Shakespeare Company

The award-winning African-American Shakespeare Company (AASC) was established in 1994 by professional theater artists from The American Conservatory Theatre as an alternative answer to the “Color Blind Casting” initiative that began in the early 90s. While this initiative temporarily changed the diversity on stage, African-American Shakespeare Company noticed color blind casting was ignoring these artists' rich cultural heritage and not making the most of the dynamic, cultural vibrancy that actors of color could bring to classical works. Moreover, since mainstream classical theaters often lack the ability to attract truly diverse audiences, The African-American Shakespeare Company aspires to highlight the dynamic cultural vibrancy that artists of color bring to classical productions. 

The African-American Shakespeare Company's received a Certificate of Honor from Mayor London Breed and former San Francisco Mayor and now California Governor Gavin Newsom; named “Best Live Theatre” by San Francisco Magazine in 2018; received a Jefferson Award for Public Service (Silver Recipient) in 2018; The Paine Knickerbocker Award in 2014 for Outstanding Achievement for a Theater Company by the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, along with a Community Partner Award from University of San Francisco's Leo T. McCarthy Center for outstanding collaboration in providing a quality Service-Learning program.

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