Dominique Morisseau Takes the Stage at Fordham: From Detroit Roots to Denzel Washington Chair
- Encore Staff Writer
- Oct 13
- 2 min read
Fordham University has announced that celebrated playwright and cultural force Dominique Morisseau will join its faculty this fall as the 2025 Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre — a role that will see her mentor students, lead workshops, and help shape new theatrical work. (Fordham Now)
Morisseau arrives at Fordham with a career already marked by bold ambition, artistic depth, and a steady devotion to Detroit. A 2018 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, she is best known for her trilogy The Detroit Project—Detroit ’67, Paradise Blue, and Skeleton Crew—which, in her hands, becomes an act of reclamation: a lyrical, uncompromising portrait of a city often misrepresented. (Fordham Now)
That Detroit connection runs deep. Morisseau was born and raised in the city, is a proud Cass Technical High School Alumn, and received her BFA from The University of Michigan. In her work, she blends the rhythms of jazz, Motown, hip-hop, and spoken word to evoke Detroit’s cultural pulse — arguing that the city is more than its decline. (MacArthur Foundation)
Her career has spanned theatre, television, and musical theatre. On Broadway, she earned a Tony nomination as the book writer for Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. (Fordham Now) She has also written for the Showtime series Shameless and continues to develop projects in film and television. (Fordham Now) Among her honors: Obie Awards, the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama (for Detroit ’67), multiple NAACP Image Awards, and a Spirit of Detroit Award. (Ford Foundation)
At Fordham, Morisseau will carry forward her commitment to elevating marginalized stories and deepening students’ engagement with the world. She is slated to give a talk on “Art as Righteous Indignation” and lead an intensive playwriting workshop open to the university community. (Fordham Now) In assuming this endowed chair, she follows in the footsteps of luminaries such as Regina Taylor, Mimi Lien, and Kenny Leon, and becomes the 13th artist to hold the Denzel Washington Chair. (Fordham Now)
