Detroit Theatre Fights for Freedom This Friday
Three Detroit Arts Orgs Unite with Companies from Across the Country
jessica Care moore joins cast of Dominique Morisseau Collaborative Work
Detroit, MI - Three premiere Detroit arts organizations come together for this October’s Fall of Freedom activation in Detroit. Detroit Public Theatre, The Obsidian Theatre Festival and The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The three organizations will present Undersiege, a monumental collective work centering the voices and experiences of Black women and femmes, on Friday, October 2, 2026. The Detroit presentation and partnership joins staged readings at participating theatres across the country. The evening is part of Fall of Freedom, a nationwide movement bringing artists, cultural institutions, and communities together through acts of creative expression.
The one-night only event will take place at Detroit Public Theatre on Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7pm EST. The performance is Free with RSVP. Detroit Public Theatre is located at 3960 3rd Avenue.
Visit www.detroitpublictheatre.org to RSVP for the evening or RSVP using this link: https://bit.ly/fof-detroit-rsvp-oct26. The event is free, and each RSVP is valid for one person only.
Curated by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Tony Award-nominated playwright, MacArthur Fellow and Detroit Public Theatre Executive Artistic Producer, Dominique Morisseau, Undersiege was conceived in response to the continued silencing, displacement, and forced departure of Black women and femme leaders across American institutions in partnership with Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre (NBT). NBT has led the activation of national readings.
Venerated actor/director Casaundra Freeman leads the production. Freeman's work was most recently showcased at the Detroit Repertory Theatre, as she directed their recent production of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The company includes famed Detroit Poet Laureate Jessica Care Moore, actor/writer/choreographer Carollette Phillips, and University of Detroit Mercy Professor Kelli Crump alongside actresses Whitney Johnson, Breon LaDawn, and Sydni Jackson.
Underseige also brings together three premiere Detroit arts organizations in collaboration. Detroit Public Theatre, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and GhostLight/The Obsidian Theatre Festival are working collaboratively to produce this performance.
"Theatre is one of the best tools we have to communicate and speak truth to power," says John Sloan III, Producing Artistic Director of The Obsidian Theatre Festival. "The country is at a crossroads, and pieces like Undersiege are vital to making sure that all voices are heard and uplifted. I'm so honored to be a part of this event and Dominique's vision."
The project emerged from a conversation between Nottage and Morisseau following the resignation of Hana Sharif from Arena Stage and amid a broader erosion of Black femme leadership across sectors. From the dismissal of Black women working in the federal government to the silencing and forced resignations of university presidents, politicians, civil servants, educators and artistic directors, the playwrights felt compelled to respond through a collective act of creative resistance.
After reaching out to more than 30 Black women and femme playwrights, many among the most widely produced and celebrated dramatists in the country, Nottage and Morisseau found that the urgency and concern behind the project were deeply shared. Undersiege brings those voices together in a collaborative work that speaks to the complexity, strength and humanity of Black women and femmes while challenging the forces seeking to diminish or erase them.
With National Black Theatre leading the national activation, and support from Nottage and Morisseau, Undersiege will launch at the Studio Museum in Harlem and continue with presentations by 13 participating cultural institutions across the country. Each organization will bring the work into its community, creating a growing national chorus against the erasure of Black women and femmes.
Fall of Freedom is a nationwide invitation for artists, creators and communities to unite through exhibitions, performances and public cultural events. Taking place October 2 through 4, 2026, the initiative calls upon cultural organizations across the country to create work that responds to the urgency of the present moment and affirms the essential role of artistic expression.
