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Skeleton Crew
At the start of the Great Recession, one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. Each of the workers have to make choices on how to move forward if their plant goes under. Shanita has to decide how she'll support herself and her unborn child, Faye has to decide how and where she'll live, and Dez has to figure out how to make his ambitious dreams a reality. Power dynamics shift as their manager Reggie is torn between doing right by his work family, and by the re
90 pages, Paperback
Published May 18, 2017
About the author
Dominique Morisseau
17 books57 followersDominique Morisseau is an American playwright and actress from Detroit, Michigan. She has authored over nine plays, three of which are part of a cycle titled The Detroit Projects. She is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship for 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
January 7, 2024
3.5, rounded down.
I wasn't too impressed with the playwright's earlier play, Pipeline, and this play suffers from some of the same issues - most egregiously, that much of the dialogue reads as just that - not as anything that would come out of a person except on a stage. That said, the dramaturgy and the rich characterizations overcame much of my resilience, and I can see why this won acclaim and Tony nominations when it was done on Broadway last year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/th...
https://variety.com/2022/legit/review...
I wasn't too impressed with the playwright's earlier play, Pipeline, and this play suffers from some of the same issues - most egregiously, that much of the dialogue reads as just that - not as anything that would come out of a person except on a stage. That said, the dramaturgy and the rich characterizations overcame much of my resilience, and I can see why this won acclaim and Tony nominations when it was done on Broadway last year.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/26/th...
https://variety.com/2022/legit/review...
August 26, 2020
“better not burn my titties”
actual rating: 4.5/5
had no idea what this show was about or what was going to happen in it but damn it was really good! she be giving me a lot of sweat vibes which i love. really amazing writing and storytelling and the ending....... absolutely beautiful!!!! act 2 was soooo strong like oof powerful. such a good message and very relevant to this day without being super in your face and soapboxy. definitely recommend.
actual rating: 4.5/5
had no idea what this show was about or what was going to happen in it but damn it was really good! she be giving me a lot of sweat vibes which i love. really amazing writing and storytelling and the ending....... absolutely beautiful!!!! act 2 was soooo strong like oof powerful. such a good message and very relevant to this day without being super in your face and soapboxy. definitely recommend.
October 30, 2020
I really want to see this performed, but even as just words on the page, these characters leave deep impressions.
The entire play is set in the break-room of a Detroit auto-plant’s factory floor. Four characters across three different generations respond differently to news of their plant’s imminent closure.
But... because the play is set in 2008–the same year that Detroit was at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis—the whole play seems eerily anachronistic. “Weren’t all the auto factories closing way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s?” “How could this *still* be a thing?” But it’s the resulting cognitive dissonances that make the play so striking and so powerful.
Yes, this is still happening, and, yes, isn’t that haunting?
The entire play is set in the break-room of a Detroit auto-plant’s factory floor. Four characters across three different generations respond differently to news of their plant’s imminent closure.
But... because the play is set in 2008–the same year that Detroit was at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis—the whole play seems eerily anachronistic. “Weren’t all the auto factories closing way back in the ‘60s and ‘70s?” “How could this *still* be a thing?” But it’s the resulting cognitive dissonances that make the play so striking and so powerful.
Yes, this is still happening, and, yes, isn’t that haunting?
August 1, 2018
Really looking forward to working on this show in the fall! A solid four-hander in Morisseau's Detroit play series.
May 19, 2022
WOWWWWW what a story!!!! This was so good!!!
October 12, 2022
that was beautiful. i love humans.
November 27, 2024
Very excited to get started working on this show. Stage managing, opening Feb 6th @ The Station Theatre.
Read
April 13, 2025UNIONS FOR ALL
May 21, 2022
Better than the first two plays in the trilogy, I think, but suffers from some of the same limitations, flat, and superfluous characters, and "on the nose" dialogue. Are people really that self-aware and direct? Felt inauthentic and preachy. Writers call this "telling and not showing." I enjoyed the emotional arc between Reggie and Faye, who in my arrogant opinion, carried the story. Great ending regarding selflessness, sacrifice, and love (agape).
If you're reading the trilogy - take note - all the dialogue sounds the same; which is problematic since people spoke differently in 1949 vs. 1967 vs. 2008.
A decent play, but don't expect August Wilson - not even an iota.
If you're reading the trilogy - take note - all the dialogue sounds the same; which is problematic since people spoke differently in 1949 vs. 1967 vs. 2008.
A decent play, but don't expect August Wilson - not even an iota.
February 10, 2024
Having read the play twice over a few months period, the second time definitely landed on me.
What I enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, about Dominique Morisseau’s work is that even though her plays are predominantly centred around certain issues pertaining to the black experience (racism, poverty, elitism/colurism); these issues don’t become the main focus or overshadow the characters individuality.
A major cry among black people, is for wanting stories about black people just living and experiencing life, not having story after story about them having to overcome issues, selling drugs, being stuck in poverty or being a single parent . I think Dominique’s plays encapsulate this want, because all of her characters are striving towards something in-spite of where they’ve come from, not because of. It’s more of an afterthought the struggles they’ve been through, as opposed to it being the sole reason they exist.
Skeleton Crew shone the light on generational differences in attitudes towards labour unions, ambition and expectation but also the idea of family and ‘doing what’s right’, even if that means you potentially get hurt in the process. It’s a play about doing what you need to do to survive, not in a grand way of going out in a blaze of glory, selling drugs or turning to prostitution; but in a more stripped back and real one, of sleeping on a sofa, taking each day as it comes and never giving up hope.
What I enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, about Dominique Morisseau’s work is that even though her plays are predominantly centred around certain issues pertaining to the black experience (racism, poverty, elitism/colurism); these issues don’t become the main focus or overshadow the characters individuality.
A major cry among black people, is for wanting stories about black people just living and experiencing life, not having story after story about them having to overcome issues, selling drugs, being stuck in poverty or being a single parent . I think Dominique’s plays encapsulate this want, because all of her characters are striving towards something in-spite of where they’ve come from, not because of. It’s more of an afterthought the struggles they’ve been through, as opposed to it being the sole reason they exist.
Skeleton Crew shone the light on generational differences in attitudes towards labour unions, ambition and expectation but also the idea of family and ‘doing what’s right’, even if that means you potentially get hurt in the process. It’s a play about doing what you need to do to survive, not in a grand way of going out in a blaze of glory, selling drugs or turning to prostitution; but in a more stripped back and real one, of sleeping on a sofa, taking each day as it comes and never giving up hope.
July 21, 2026
6.23.2026 -- Began play
- Very good and funny so far. I imagine the characters as Michael Jackson's siblings: Jermaine as Dez, Rebbie as Faye, Janet as Shanita and Marlon as Reggie. Michael does the stage directions.
-- These lines were funny to me when I read them in the voices of Jermaine and Rebbie acting out 😅
6.26.2026 -- In the AM read more of the play - second sitting
6.30.2026 -- Finished play
- It was fun reading it the way I did in my head, but I don't have much to say about it. The vocabulary and style is very urban, but it's a subject I have no real interest in, so it's hard to critique. I enjoyed it, it was a quick and easy read.
- Very good and funny so far. I imagine the characters as Michael Jackson's siblings: Jermaine as Dez, Rebbie as Faye, Janet as Shanita and Marlon as Reggie. Michael does the stage directions.
"Dumb-ass white boys come over from Windsor and Ohio to stand in front of those empty plants and take pictures like it's some kinda cabaret step and repeat? Heard that be the last picture they ever take. Some of them jokers never make it back out. "
"So much rust on that car -- look like it got a disease. Lesions everywhere."
-- These lines were funny to me when I read them in the voices of Jermaine and Rebbie acting out 😅
6.26.2026 -- In the AM read more of the play - second sitting
6.30.2026 -- Finished play
- It was fun reading it the way I did in my head, but I don't have much to say about it. The vocabulary and style is very urban, but it's a subject I have no real interest in, so it's hard to critique. I enjoyed it, it was a quick and easy read.
January 28, 2022
Fusing the lives of these characters through a gritty, grounded, and personable woman is truly remarkable work by Dominique Morrisseau. I am trully enthralled by the characters and their distinct lives and how it's connected to the production plant job. I left the play feeling like everyone had a satisfied ending and I could see their futures with the words and actions they left on the page. Another one of a kind by Dominique Morriseau.
October 20, 2025
It wasn't bad, but it was anticlimactic. There's only four characters and they're each developed pretty well and distinct from one another. Their interactions are what made this enjoyable to read and probably more so if it were performed. Maybe I was just speeding through it, but nothing really stuck with me from the ending. The characters changed some of their perspectives, but not in a super astounding way. Things just happened and everyone just seemed ok at the end I don't know
May 25, 2022
This is such a hauntingly and beautifully sad and hopeful play. Pulling no punches Morisseau's no holds-barred writing and real people are hard to turn away from, and the raw emotions are a sucker punch in the gut. Morisseau is such a stunningly important writing in the same vain as August Wilson and Lynn Nottage.
December 13, 2024
One of my favorite plays!! I think all of the characters are so well fleshed out and the story is so heartbreaking. It really speaks to work families and how when you work with people for an extended period of time, you all become a family and look out for each other. The writing was superb and it makes me really want to see it live!
April 7, 2026
Really funny but also full of weight. I’m too young to remember much of the 2008 recession but you can feel it in every character how it slowly creeps up at them; every rumor and factory closure was an unavoidable reminder that it’ll hit them eventually. And when your job’s gone, where do you go next, when everyone is trying to do the same?
February 14, 2018
This play is a breath of fresh air. The play is truly realistic in the sense of the drama it presents on stage and the aesthetics it presents. The characters are rounded. They are real people. They breath like we do. It's also nice to see a play about the black working class.
May 13, 2024
I loved reading this play!! The magical realism and depth of the characters were so beautifully woven into the story. There is so much that can be gained from reading works that shine a light on specific settings such as this. I would love to see this play staged!
May 9, 2017
Excellent play!
June 23, 2018
I cried reading this, and cannot wait to see it in a few weeks.
September 3, 2018
Play script.
April 13, 2020
such a great play
this reminded me so much of August Wilson's work
i think he would like Dominique Morisseau's work
this reminded me so much of August Wilson's work
i think he would like Dominique Morisseau's work
March 25, 2021
A smart, tight read, particularly the sound of it. Not completely sure about the ending, though.
July 27, 2021
A soaring, searing play that is both intimate and universal.
February 5, 2022
A beautiful play about hard work during hard times. Tells you more about what has happened to the people in Detroit than a lot more explicit commentary.
March 31, 2022
A student is doing this for a final project in play analysis. Hadn't read it or seen it.
June 13, 2022
Saw a live performance of Skeleton Crew on Broadway on February 12 at the Manhattan Theatre Club - loved it, especially Joshua Boone as Dez!
December 4, 2022
At first, this play reminded me of Lynn Nottage's SWEAT. But by the end, it seemed more spiritual, somehow.
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April 16, 2024Poet of a generation
August 31, 2024
Almost as moving to read as it was to watch.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews