Director's Note

How do we prepare young black students to rise above a system that is rigged against them? It is an urgent conversation for our present time. The title “pipeline” refers to the school to prison link, and the disproportionate tendency of young adults from disadvantaged

backgrounds to become incarcerated because of increasingly harsh school policies. But this play is about people and, as such, works to humanize the people behind the issue. Nya has given her life to her career as a schoolteacher, but now struggles as the system she has given so much to threatens her son, Omari. Omari navigates challenges both inside and outside the school system. It shows the tragic path that leads young black men either to prison or the grave.

I am honored to have worked with this team of artists, designers, and actors.

A Zoom performance is no small feat and together we have navigated the unique challenges it presents. I think it's important to acknowledge or even grieve that this will not take place inside a theatre, (that’s the only way we will move through it) but that

this story should continue to be told. I hope we can view this as a wonderful opportunity to come together to facilitate conversation, celebrate artistry, and empathize with the characters in this story.

Dominique Morisseau has written a beautiful, poetic play about parental duty and racial inequity. How can we carve enough space for these young individuals, rather than compartmentalize them?

Thank you for joining us this evening for ISU’s production of Pipeline.

I invite you to join the zoom-room, listen, and lean in.

                                                                                                                                                —Britannia Howe