SKELETON CREW By Dominique Morisseau Comes to Artists Rep

Artists Repertory Theatre kicks off its 2018/19 season with Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau, directed by William (Bill) Earl Ray. Skeleton Crew is the third play in Morisseau's The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle) following Detroit '67 and Paradise Blue. For Skeleton Crew, Morisseau received a 2016 Obie Award and the play was selected for the 2014 Kilroy List. Skeleton Crew runs from September 2 through September 30 on the Morrison Stage.

It's 2008, and one of the last auto plants in Detroit is dying on the vine. The factory workers that remain are living paycheck-to-paycheck but amidst the backbreaking work and brutally long shifts, they have somehow shaped themselves into a makeshift family. Faye, a factory lifer, is the glue that holds everything together. But with less than six months before she can retire with a full pension, Faye learns that management has a plan that could threaten her whole existence, leaving her torn between loyalty to her coworkers or her own survival. Heartbreakingly tense with moments of ethereal beauty, Skeleton Crew reveals the struggle to stay relevant in a society that constantly changes.

"What's most relevant in Skeleton Crew is the play's four characters, it's not just about Detroit," said play Director William (Bill) Earl Ray, during the play's first rehearsal. "This group of people is a family, they struggle together, spend most of their lives together, and together they try to figure out what's next. What will happen? How will they survive? What happened to these characters in Skeleton Crew, set in 2008 Detroit, is a sad occasion-but it is still going on. It is my hope that audiences will identify with these characters and find their own connections to these four people who represent the working-class peoples of America."

"It's a privilege for Artists Rep to introduce the work of the extraordinary Dominique Morisseau to Portland theatre audiences," said Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez at the first rehearsal of Skeleton Crew. "Morisseau's rapidly growing body of work includes a string of finely crafted plays that are being seen by audiences across the country. In Skeleton Crew, I expect audiences will make an immediate connection with her intricately drawn characters and find themselves transported by this timely, powerful play."

Skeleton Crew is co-sponsored by Trish & Bennett Garner and Kris Olson & Les Swanson.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT

Dominique Morisseau is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle), which includes the following plays: Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company), Paradise Blue (Signature Theatre), and Detroit '67 (Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem and NBT). Additional plays include: Pipeline (Lincoln Center Theatre), Sunset Baby (LAByrinth Theatre), Blood at the Root (National Black Theatre), and Follow Me To Nellie's (Premiere Stages). Dominique is an alumna of The Public Theater Emerging Writer's Group, Women's Project Lab, and The Lark's Rita Goldberg Playwrights' Workshop; has developed work at Sundance Lab, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Eugene O'Neil Playwrights Conference. Her work has been commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre, Women's Project, South Coast Rep, People's Light and Theatre, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival/Penumbra Theatre. She most recently served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series Shameless. Following its record-breaking run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre last summer, her new musical Ain't Too Proud -The Life and Times of The Temptations opened at The Kennedy Center (Washington DC) and The Ahmanson (Los Angeles) this season, and is set to open at The Princess of Whales Theater (Toronto) in October. Awards include: Spirit of Detroit Award, PoNY Fellowship, Sky-Cooper Prize, TEER Trailblazer Award, Steinberg Playwright Award, Audelco Awards, NBFT August Wilson Playwriting Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, Obie Award, Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, and being named one of Variety's Women of Impact for 2017-18.

· American Theatre Magazine (2016) feature article about Dominique Morisseau.

· Dominique Morisseau: An American Classic by Luan Schooler, Artists Rep Director of New Play Development and Dramaturgy.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

William (Bill) Earl Ray is a director and actor with 40 years of experience in the business. William is pleased to be back at Artists Rep after such a long absence. His last direction at Artists Rep was Ain't Misbehavin' and he acted in Artists Rep's A Raisin in the Sun as Walter Lee Younger. Some of William's other directing credits include A Raisin in the Sun and Having Our Say, starring Ms. Irma P. Hall (Big Mama of Soul Food movie fame, and A Family Thing), Beehive, The 60's Musical, The Gin Game, The Gospel at Colonus, Fires in the Mirror, A Song for Coretta, The Gifts of the Magi, Seven Guitars, A Soldier's Play, The Glass Menagerie, A Lovesong for Miss Lydia, Annie Get Your Gun, Jerry's Girls, Two Trains Running, Agnes of God, The Heiress, Sea Marks, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, Lilies of the Field, and many more. Some of William's acting credits include The Whipping Man, Master Harold and the Boys, The Meeting, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Driving Miss Daisy, Misery, God's Favorite, Two Trains Running, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Dirty Work, Cobb, Miss Evers' Boys, The Sunset Limited, The Piano Lesson, Audience, Of Mice and Men, A Streetcar Named Desire, Simply Heavenly, Bank Job, Amen Corner, and many more. TV and film credits include The Tuskegee Airmen, The Gas Café, Cadillac Ranch, The Temp, Dr. Giggles, Terror in the Towers, Better Off Dead, Walker Texas Ranger, and more. William is a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild and is a graduate of Evergreen State College with a Bachelor of Arts in the performing arts.

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