Mirror Stage will close its Feed Your Mind season with the Northwest premiere of Detroit '67 by Dominique Morisseau this weekend, April 5 & 6, 2014 at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre in Seattle's University District. Detroit '67 was recently awarded the Edward M. Kennedy Prize, which honors a new play or musical that explores the nation's past and deals with "great issues of our day." According to the unanimous jury, Detroit '67 "explores an explosive and decisive moment in a great American city" and has "compelling characters struggle with racial tension and economic instability." Directed by Suzanne M. Cohen, Mirror Stage's Feed Your Mind presentation of Detroit '67 features Jonté Ausler (Sly), Treavor Boykin (Lank), Adria LaMorticella (Caroline), Takia Thompson (Bunny) and Shontina Vernon (Chelle), with sound design by Joseph Swartz.
The music of Motown gets the party started for Chelle and her brother Lank, who run an after-hours joint in the Motor City basement of their late parents' house. Tensions mount when a mysterious woman finds her way into their lives and the city around them erupts in violence. As the siblings clash over more much more than the family business, they find themselves caught in the middle of the '67 riots.
Writer and actress Dominique Morisseau is an alumna of the 2011 Public Theater Emerging Writers Group, the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, and the Lark Playwrights Workshop. Detroit '67 received its world premiere in 2013 at the Public Theater, presented in association with the Classical Theatre of Harlem. In September 2012, her play Sunset Baby had its world premiere at the Gate Theater in London, UK. Morisseau's inaugural play, Follow Me To Nellie's, was developed at the 2010 O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and produced at Premiere Stages in July 2011. Morisseau is a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award Honoree, a two-time NAACP Image Award recipient, a runner-up for the 2011 Princess Grace Award, a recipient of the Elizabeth George commission from South Coast Rep, a commendation from the Primus Prize by the American Theatre Critics Association, and the winner of the 2012 Barrie and Bernice Stavis Playrwright Award by National Theatre Conference. She was also the 2012 PoNY (Playwrights of New York) Fellow.Videos