Signature Theatre is presenting the New York premiere of CONFEDERATES by MacArthur Genius Fellow and Residency 5 playwright Dominique Morisseau in the The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre, March 8-April 10. Helmed by Stori Ayers, the cast features Elijah Jones, Kristolyn Lloyd, Andrea Patterson, Kenzie Ross, and Michelle Wilson. Opening night is March 27.
Sara, an enslaved rebel turned Union spy, and Sandra, a tenured professor in a modern-day private university, are having parallel experiences of institutional racism, though they live over a century apart. CONFEDERATES leaps through time to trace the identities of these two Black American women and explore the reins that racial and gender bias still hold on American educational systems today.
The creative team includes Scenic Design by Rachel Hauck, Costume Design by Ari Fulton, Co-Lighting Design by Amith Chandrashaker and Emma Deane, Co-Sound Design by Curtis Craig and Jimmy Keys, Projection Design by Kate Freer, Intimacy Coordinator by Ann James, with Casting by Caparelliotis Casting. Jonathan Castanien is the Production Stage Manager.
Tickets are $35 tickets from March 8 – April 10, thanks to the Signature Ticket Initiative. signaturetheatre.org/confederates
Black Theatre Night – March 11, 2022 at 7:30pm
Student Night – March 18, 2022 at 7:30pm
Educators Night – April 6, 2022 at 7:30pm
CONTENT ADVISORY: This play features a brief moment of partial nudity and projected photographs with partial nudity.
COVID-19 ADVISORY: Proof of COVID-19 vaccination with a booster and masks are required for all visitors. Learn more about our COVID-19 protocol.
DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU (Playwright) is the author of The Detroit Project (A 3-Play Cycle): Skeleton Crew (Atlantic Theater Company and Manhattan Theatre Club), 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). She is also the TONY nominated book writer on the Broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations (Imperial Theatre). TV/Film projects: She most recently served as Co-Producer on the Showtime series “Shameless.” She’s currently developing projects with Netflix, HBO, and A24, and wrote the film adaptation of the documentary STEP for Fox Searchlight. 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 (2), and the Ford Foundation Art of Change Fellowship, named one of Variety’s Women of Impact for 2017-18 and a recipient of the 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant.
Lia Chang loves to tell stories that are diverse and inclusive – as an actor, a multi-media content producer, award-winning filmmaker, and a performing arts photographer and documentarian. Photo archives: Lia Chang Theater Portfolio collection,1989-2011, housed in the AAPI collection in the Library of Congress’ Asian Reading Room; Lia Chang Photography Collection in The Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library. Awards: 2000 OCA Chinese American Journalist Award, the 2001 AAJA National Award for New Media. Lia is an AAJA Executive Leadership Graduate (2000), a Western Knight Fellow at USC’s Annenberg College of Communications for Specialized Journalism on Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age (2000), a National Press Photographers Association Visual Edge/Visual Journalism Fellow at the Poynter Institute for New Media (2001), a Scripps Howard New Media Fellow at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism (2002), and a National Tropical Garden Environmental Journalism Fellow (2003). A co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, Lia makes films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. She stars in and is the Executive Producer for the indie films Hide and Seek (AA Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Best Actress Nomination), Rom-Com Gone Wrong, and When the World Was Young (2021 DisOrient Film Audience Choice Award for Best Short Narrative). Lia has also appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, and The Last Dragon. Along with an extensive career in Off-Broadway productions, favorite stage credits include her debut as Liat in a national tour of South Pacific with Barbara Eden and Robert Goulet and playing Joy in Signature Theatre’s revival of Sam Shepard’s Chicago. www.liachang.com, www.liachangphotography.com
Backstage Pass with Lia Chang 