Confederates
by Dominique Morisseau

Name: Confederates
Brand: Dominique Morisseau
SKU: 9780573710018
Rating: 4.06 (17 reviews)

Off-Broadway

Confederates Book Cover — Confederates Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

90 mins Present Day Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes

Synopsis

Sara, an enslaved rebel turned Union spy, and Sandra, a tenured professor in a modern-day private university, are having parallel experiences of institutional racism, though they live over a century apart.

Confederates leaps through time to trace the identities of these two Black American women and explore the reins that racial and gender bias still hold on American educational systems today.

Press Reviews

"A master at weaving together personal, historical, and social narratives, Morisseau here delivers her most ambitious, possibly most galvanizing, work yet."
— Theatrely

"Morisseau’s voice gets fiercer and richer the farther she gets from naturalism. Her sharp humor and flensing rhetoric, familiar from her public letters and program notes, finally get to exert their full power onstage."
— Vulture

"From sequence to sequence through the 1860s and the currently ambivalent early 21st-century, Morisseau deals with blatantly racist issues, not missing many."
— New York Stage Review

"[Morisseau's] thought-provoking play is sometimes deadly earnest and sometimes surprisingly (but intentionally) hilarious."
— Theater Life

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
SANDRA Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Scholar, Professor of Political Science, practical, sturdy, compassionate with students, protected with her own emotions, and a striving spirit in the face of institutional racism.	female	30	Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Scholar, Professor of Political Science, practical, sturdy, compassionate with students, protected with her own emotions, and a striving spirit in the face of institutional racism.
SARA Black woman, early 20’s. Tenacious, spunky, tough and resilient. A slave woman with a fighting spirit, unwilling to be broken by her circumstances. Crafty and a sharp, witty tongue. Slowly becoming a Union Spy.	female	20	Black woman, early 20’s. Tenacious, spunky, tough and resilient. A slave woman with a fighting spirit, unwilling to be broken by her circumstances. Crafty and a sharp, witty tongue. Slowly becoming a Union Spy.
ABNER/MALIK (Doubled Role)	—	—	(Doubled Role)
(1) ABNER Black man, early 20’s. Energetic and driven. A bit stubborn but strong-willed. A runaway slave and soldier for the Union. Brother of SARA. Loves his sister fiercely.	female	20	Black man, early 20’s. Energetic and driven. A bit stubborn but strong-willed. A runaway slave and soldier for the Union. Brother of SARA. Loves his sister fiercely.
(2) MALIK Black man, early 20’s. Studious and focused on his education. Driven and intellectually stimulating. A student of SANDRA’s who tries to carefully navigate her status over his.	female	20	Black man, early 20’s. Studious and focused on his education. Driven and intellectually stimulating. A student of SANDRA’s who tries to carefully navigate her status over his.
MISSY SUE/CANDICE (Doubled Role)	—	—	(Doubled Role)
(1) MISSY SUE White woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Spirited, driven, a strong sense of duty and mission. Somewhat oblivious. Emotionally free and open. Daughter of SARA’s Master. SARA’s former childhood friend.	female	30	White woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Spirited, driven, a strong sense of duty and mission. Somewhat oblivious. Emotionally free and open. Daughter of SARA’s Master. SARA’s former childhood friend.
(2) CANDICE White woman, mid 20’s. Loquacious, intellectually curious, and uncensored in her ideas. Can be misinterpreted as insensitive but is likely unaware. Emotionally free and open. Student and Assistant to SANDRA.	female	20	White woman, mid 20’s. Loquacious, intellectually curious, and uncensored in her ideas. Can be misinterpreted as insensitive but is likely unaware. Emotionally free and open. Student and Assistant to SANDRA.
LUANNE/JADE (Doubled Role)	—	—	(Doubled Role)
(1) LUANNE Black woman, early 20’s. Curious, eager, and inquisitive. A fellow slave with SARA who has been afforded privileges Sara has not. In an affair with the Master. Pushing for kinship with SARA.	female	20	Black woman, early 20’s. Curious, eager, and inquisitive. A fellow slave with SARA who has been afforded privileges Sara has not. In an affair with the Master. Pushing for kinship with SARA.
(2) JADE Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Straight shooter, unafraid of confrontation, down-to-earth. Fellow professor and colleague to SANDRA. Navigates institutional racism more directly than SANDRA.	female	30	Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Straight shooter, unafraid of confrontation, down-to-earth. Fellow professor and colleague to SANDRA. Navigates institutional racism more directly than SANDRA.