In 1949, Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood is gentrifying. Blue, a troubled trumpeter and the owner of Paradise Club, is torn between remaining in Black Bottom with his loyal lover Pumpkin and leaving behind a traumatic past. But when the arrival of a mysterious woman stirs up tensions, the fate of Paradise Club hangs in the balance. Paradise Blue is the first production of Obie Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau’s Signature Residency. Directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (The Piano Lesson, Jitney), it is a thrilling and timely look at the changes a community endures to find its resilience.
"Critics' Pick! Powerful and exciting! A truthful portrait of human suffering, awakening, and transformation in a gritty, changing city."
- Sara Holdren,
New York Magazine
"Four stars! Haunting!"
- Raven Snook,
Time Out New York
"A nearly perfect production!"
- Frank Scheck,
The Hollywood Reporter
Paradise Blue is generously supported by the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater.
Special thanks to Time Warner Foundation, Inc., The Michael and Betty Rauch Fund for Residency 5, and The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust for their generous support of the Residency 5 Program.
Dominique Morisseau’s Residency 5 is generously supported, in part, by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.