Collective Consciousness Theatre is the little theater in New Haven that is getting an increasingly bigger spotlight.

Presenting works in New Haven’s Erector Square, the professional theater company is building critical and audience buzz, including a big thumbs-up from New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who loved Marco Ramirez’s The Royale, which was presented last season.

The theater company was the first in the state to feature the work of Dominique Morisseau, a 2018 MacArthur Genius Grant recipient who is now one of the most-produced playwrights in the country.

When awarded her the MacArthur grant, the committee said, “Dominique Morisseau is a playwright whose works portray the lives of individuals and communities grappling with economic and social changes, both current and historical. With a background as an actor and spoken-word poet, she uses lyrical dialogue to construct emotionally complex characters who exhibit humor, vulnerability, and fortitude as they cope with sometimes desperate circumstances”

Six years ago, CCT was one of the first theaters in the country to produce Morisseau’s Detroit ‘67, set during the riots of the summer of 1967. Hartford Stage produced Detroit ‘67 two years ago. Long Wharf Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, and TheaterWorks Hartford have also produced various works by Morisseau.

But CCT has embraced the playwright’s work like no other in the state, producing three of her plays in the past five years.

“I’ve known Dominique for many years before she became one of the nation’s hottest playwrights,” says executive artistic director Dexter Singleton, who is also staging Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, which will run through Sunday, March 22. The cast features Amika Pettway, Stephen King, Betzabeth Castro, and Jason Phenix Hall.

Singleton, who started as an intern at Long Wharf Theatre before continuing as an actor, director, and arts educator, formed CCT with like-minded friends 13 years ago as an independent touring group for schools and communities on the East Coast.

Small, and Professional

It began presenting plays locally six years ago on the second floor studio at the arts center, earning critical praise and larger audiences with shows such as The Royale, Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, and Joel Drake Johnson’s Rasheeda Speaking. The theater has also presented the works of emerging playwrights such as Dave Harris, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Idris Goodwin. Last year was the first season with three full-scale productions.

It’s a theater company with a strong point of view as its name implies, offering a shared consciousness on issues of race, class, and culture. It describes itself as “a community-based professional theatre company dedicated to social change through performances, workshops and community conversations.”

Though its budget is but a sliver of what New Haven’s two Tony Award-winning theaters have, Singleton says the group has managed to attract top Equity professionals mixed with exceptional local talent.

“We love to have writers we introduce to Connecticut, black and brown playwrights mainly, female playwrights, and writers who have a strong message that connects to the New Haven community,” Singleton says. “Because we’re so small and operate on a shoe-string budget there have been some people who think of us as a community theater and we’re not that. We feel in the last six years we’ve established ourselves as one of the best professional small companies in the state—and one of the best in the country.”

Coming Up, Some Conversations

In the ’80s, I was the rock and roll writer for The Hartford Courant, so it’s a special treat that Michael Alago—a gay, Puerto Rican kid from Brooklyn who at 22 in the late ’70s became a major A&R record executive—will be “in conversation” with me on Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at Hartford’s Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford.

Alago famously signed Metallica and went on to work with Tracy Chapman, the Misfits, Cyndi Lauper, White Zombie, Nina Simone, and John Lydon, among others. Alago’s memoir I Am Michael Alago: Breathing Music. Signing Metallica. Beating Death was just released. He was also the subject of the 2017 documentary Who the F—- Is That Guy?: The Fabulous Journey Of Michael Alago.

There will be a book signing following the talk, which will be from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Tickets are $10.

It’s part of a casual series of talks called “A Little Harmless Fun.”

The series will also feature two new artistic directors of Tony Award winning theaters—Hartford Stage’s Melia Bensussen and Long Wharf Theatre’s Jacob G. Padron—on Thursday, April 16.

I’ll also be speaking with author Joyce Maynard on Wednesday, May 27.