Podcast Episode 186 – Playwright Dominique Morisseau

Dominique Morisseau is having a moment.

You might not have heard her name before this year when she got the call to Broadway with her book for Ain’t Too Proudbut she has been sloggin’ it out in this city for twenty years and has been a writer for her entire life.

And that practice is paying off big time. It’s no wonder she has received one of the famed MacArthur Foundation Genius Grants.

Dominique and I have been trying to have this podcast convo for a while now, and boy was it worth the wait.  In a quick thirty minutes, we talked about:

  • How getting a great quantity of her work out in the world as she was coming up helped her improve her skills and get noticed.
  • Why not understanding the word “No” was an essential part of her becoming a writer in the first place.
  • Why she’s cautiously optimistic about where we are right now and where we’re headed with diversity in the arts. . . and what still makes her nervous.
  • She doesn’t read reviews.  Ever.  Listen why.
  • How long she had to be an “emerging artist” and whether or not emerging = young.  (See, I told you in last week’s blog that this was a subject people were talking a lot about lately!)
Listen in and prepare to be educated and inspired by how she took her life and career into her own hands and is designing it to be exactly what she wants.

Click here for my podcast with Dominique!

Listen to it on iTunes here. (And if you like the podcast, give it a great review while you’re there!)

Download it here.


This episode of The Producer’s Perspective Podcast is sponsored by Magnolia Bakery. Visit Magnolia Bakery for freshly-baked, classic American desserts, including cupcakes, banana pudding, cakes, cheesecakes, icebox bars, and cookies. For more information, visit magnoliabakery.com or follow them @magnoliabakery.

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Ken created one of the first Broadway podcasts, recording over 250 episodes over 7 years. It features interviews with A-listers in the theater about how they “made it”, including 2 Pulitzer Prize Winners, 7 Academy Award Winners and 76 Tony Award winners. Notable guests include Pasek & Paul, Kenny Leon, Lynn Ahrens and more.

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