Theater Alliance Produces Dominique Morisseau's BLOOD AT THE ROOT

Theater Alliance continues Season 16 with Blood at the Root by MacArthur Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau. Inspired by the Jena Six case, which roiled tensions in Louisiana in 2006, the play probes the complexities of race, individual freedoms, and what justice means when biases have been normalized.
When a black student disrupts the status quo at her high school by occupying space typically reserved for white students, her community erupts in hate speech, violence, and chaos. Moving, lyrical, and bold, Blood at the Root scrutinizes the intrinsic links between justice, bias, and identity.

Directed by Theater Alliance's new Artistic Director Raymond O. Caldwell, Blood at the Root features: Choreography by Tiffany Quinn, Scenic Design by Jonathan Dahm Robertson, Lighting Design by Alberto Segarra, Costume Design by Amy MacDonald, Sound Design by Tony Starnes, and Props Design by Sarah Conte.

Dominique Morisseau (Playwright): Dominique Morisseau received a BFA (2000) from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She is currently a Residency Five Playwright at the Signature Theatre and a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. She has had work commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre, the Hip Hop Theater Festival, the South Coast Repertory, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and her work has been staged at The Public Theater, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Atlantic Theater Company.

Raymond O. Caldwell (Director): Raymond is a resident-director and lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts at Howard University. His directorial work at Howard includes Breath Boom, I Too Sing America, Fabulation, Anything Goes, Trojan Women, The Children's Hour, and most recently A Midsummer Night's Dream. He holds an MFA in acting with a focus in community outreach and developing new work from The Ohio State University and a BFA in acting from the University of Florida. In 2009 he was the recipient of the Arena Stage Allen Lee Hughes Fellowship, after which he joined Arena's staff for six consecutive seasons. A DC-based director, he most recently directed All the Way Live!, a co-production with B-Fly Entertainment and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Raymond has toured nationally and internationally as a performer and directed/developed work throughout the United States, India, Ukraine, Greece, Germany, and the UK. He currently serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Theater Alliance.