Firecracker Productions Opens Season With PIPELINE

Firecracker Productions opens its season October 8 with the compassion and lyricism of Dominique Morisseau's Pipeline at Houston Warehouse Studios. Pipeline will run Fridays and Saturdays, October 8-23 at 8pm.

Pipeline gets its name from the "jailhouse track," otherwise known as the results of overly harsh disciplinary actions in schools that disproportionately affect Black and Brown students, leading them to higher chances of incarceration. The play follows inner-city educator NYA as she actively chooses to send her only son OMARI to the opposite type of institution she teaches at: a private school upstate. OMARI has an altercation with one of his teachers that forces NYA to confront her attempt to remove him from situations - both macro and abstract as well as micro and tangible - that could result in OMARI falling victim to the school-to-prison pipeline. Set in modern day, Pipeline asks audiences what they choose - or give up - to better their child's future.

Firecracker Productions is excited to have Destyne Miller make her professional directorial debut. She is the award winning theatre director of Fort Bend ISD Bush High School. Under her direction, Bush Theatrical Ensemble has seen state-level UIL competitions thrice in recent years. Miller is no stranger to hard-hitting content, having produced with her students raw and emotional dramas such as Quiara Alegría Hudes's "Water by the Spoonful", and "The Bluest Eye" adapted from the Toni Morrison novel; "The Bluest Eye" even had a weekend run at Stages following its UIL run. Pipeline showcases actors Christian Adana, Kendrick Brown, Justin Walker, Mykal Sanders, and Barbara Brandt.

When asked about what Directing Pipeline meant to her, Miller responded, "As an educator of Black and brown kids Dominique Morriseau's words landed deep with my heart. I want to remove the label of 'problem' from our children and see them for what they are: human beings that have been born into circumstances that those before them never found a way to solve.

"I want my own son to have space to speak up when he feels any kind of emotion," says Miller, "Black children do not always get that space, that freedom. Their anger is perceived as threatening. Their anxiety is seen as disrespect. Their sadness is equated to laziness. In 'Pipeline,' Dominique Morrisseau gives a full and unapologetic voice to our children." There's no doubt that Miller will bring the nuance of heart and heartbreak to "Pipeline" so that audiences won't soon forget it.

Pipeline will run Friday and Saturday nights at 8PM October 8-23 at Houston Warehouse Studios (1506 Lorraine St, Houston, TX 77009). Pipeline is produced in arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Tickets will go on sale October 1 at FirecrackerProductions.org.

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