July 24, 2015
Playwright Dominique Morisseau On Detroit and ‘Paradise Blue,’ Starring Blair Underwood
As you know, Black Enterprise believes in African American personal and professional empowerment. What advice do you have for creatives looking to enter the entertainment industry, along those lines?
I definitely think artists of color need to think about how to tell our own stories and make space for ourselves in our respective industries— be that theatre, film, or television. We need to think about not just participating in the telling of other people’s stories, but how to bring the stories from our experiences into the spotlight. It takes more and more storytellers to push their stories forward to create balance in our industry. I think in order for us to be able to tell our stories and tell them the way that we want to, we really have to tap into our entrepreneurial side and figure out how we’re going to be the leader of our narrative, how we’re going to run our own shows or create our own films, find capital to make our films, and create distribution companies for ourselves.
Invest in the opportunities in your community. Build a community around you of like-minded artists that you can create a support system for. The reason why I was able to transition into television writing is not because I just woke up one day and got lucky, it’s because I built myself–ten years in New York City– a strong community of supporters who, eventually, became my biggest audience and my biggest fans.
A few years ago, I had a premiere of one of my plays in London. I started an Indiegogo campaign to be able to afford housing in London so I could be around to help give shape to my work. We really have to lean on each other and think about where we’re circulating our investments and our support, so that we’re getting it back. Where you put your energy is where you’re going to get it back. Build a foundation–that starts with relationships and community.
There was a New York Times article, Last Stop on the L Train: Detroit, about the growing number of artists leaving New York for other, more artist-friendly, cities. Detroit is one of those cities.  How do you think this new influx of, largely non-minority artists, will impact the cultural landscape there?
I was actually just talking about this with some friends last night; some of the actors in my cast. All cities need new blood, mixed with old blood, to keep the city reviving itself. However, what happens with this exodus of people leaving their cities and going to Detroit is that they’re not integrating with the culture that exists in Detroit. I’m not saying all of these [people] are doing this. Alot of times they just see an abandoned building and they just go and they buy it. But are [they] talking to the people in that community to see what the relationship between that building and the community that surrounds that building is? How can you come in and offer something to that community? You can’t offer something to a community, that it needs, if you haven’t figured out what it needs. Therefore, you’re not actually building with people, you’re building on top of them or you’re displacing them.
Detroit has a gifted artist community that already lives there. There are legendary poets, legendary writers living in Detroit, that are from Detroit, that have been building there and can’t get grants from the state of Michigan for the art they’re doing because of these new people coming in. The state is more interested in the new than the old, and that’s the problem across the board.
The people that are coming in have to learn how to bring an idea and offer something to the community that the community needs. You can’t do that if you’re not talking to the community and getting to know them. Many of the artists moving there–not all of them–but many of them are well-intentioned. They’re energized by the idea of the city. They’re interested in trying to shift something. But we, collectively, have to figure out a way for that to happen without making the people who are already there feel like they’re unwanted in their own city.
Has your work writing for the theater been helpful to you as a television writer on Shameless?
Yes and no. Television writing is a whole new animal. There are playwrights who transitioned into television writing who are on that show. That’s been very helpful to me. On Shameless I’m in the room with some really master television writers. I’m sort of a ‘fish out of water’ again and learning a whole new craft of writing. Writing for television is very different than writing for the theater and, of course, the pay is starkly different.
To learn more about Williamstown Theatre Festival visit wtfestival.org.
 This article was written by Rebecca Nichloson.