Playwright Dominique Morisseau's PIPELINE is a Powerful Play Worthy of a Pulitzer Prize

Dominique Morisseau (The Detroit Project) has written an unforgettable play about a mother's undying love for her teenage son whose inner rage is pushed to its violent breaking point.  Morisseau's searing play harkens to the poignant struggles resonating in works by August Wilson, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison and many other literary giants.  PIPELINE is a contemporary play dealing with the oppressive, systemic racism young people of color are forced to contend with daily.   Violence & injustice has erupted in our city streets & schools and has become a fight for survival in the jungle of society's making.  Omari (Namir Smallwood) is a high school student enrolled in a posh private school with few students of color.  Omari's mother, Nya (Karen Pittman (Broadway: Good People) is a high school English teacher in a public school.  Nya & her ex-husband have tried to provide Omari better opportunities with an elite education.  They want to insulate him from the inherent violence of the local neighborhood & schools. The play is stirring, provocative, engaging & relentless in its potency.  It explodes with the struggle to contain an animalistic rage ready to combust.  Omari's class is discussing "Native Son."  The teacher prods Omari to explain the justification for  Bigger Thomas' murderous act. The teacher's implied racist insinuations released Omari's boiling hostility. When his teacher blocked him from leaving Omari shoved his teacher against a wall; all caught on video.  There's a shared universal theme of the omnipotence of a mother's love for her child.  Unfortunately this relentless force fails to provide a protective shield in the world.  Nya tried everything to reach her son.  She pleaded to understand how to help & was willing to accept all the blame, punishment & even a bullet for her son.  The inner fury & indignation that leads to brutality in PIPELINE is understandable & perhaps inevitable with our perpetual systemic racism.  Other significant issues Morisseau presented were: the 3 strike rule a major factor in mass incarceration, breakdown of the family, disparities in the quality of education & opportunities, social media mania, over medication, & the abhorrent fighting in our schools between students & between students & teachers.  Metal detectors & security staff are standard issues in public high schools.  Morisseau tackles these grave hurdles plaguing our times.  She writes with poetic eloquence, earnestness & humor of utter despondency.  The ensemble cast were all exceptional & the sparse stagings & videos were remarkable. Her visionary writing will win her a Pulitzer & places her on par with Wilson, Wright, Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks.  "Art hugs. Art urges voyages."  "We are each other's magnitude & bond."  (G. Brooks)  Get in line to see this astonishing play.