BIO

Andrew Morton is an award-winning playwright and theatre-maker who creates socially engaged theatre with and for vulnerable populations. His work has been produced across Michigan, the United States, and internationally. Originally from the UK, Morton holds a Master of Arts in Community Arts from Goldsmiths College, the University of London. He is currently based in Detroit, where he is a project manager for TimeSlips Creative Storytelling and was recently named a 2020 Kresge Artist Fellow. Morton's next project, Sofa Stories, created with young people who have experienced homelessness, will premiere in multiple spaces in Detroit in 2021.

INSPIRED BY

Detroit
Mid-century architecture (specifically Mies van der Rohe)
Bike rides
Walking my dog
Nurses & caregivers
Britpop

EXPLORING:

I've been wanting to create a one-person play for a while now inspired by the life and career of a friend of mine who is an educator in Flint, Michigan who has lost a significant number of students to violence during her career. She is a writer herself and has often written about the experience of losing so many students (both on her and other students) and she and I have been in conversation for a while about how to take some of her writing/experiences to create a performance that explores the impact of trauma on educators in communities like Flint. This friend is also a white woman working in a majority black city/school district, so we feel whiteness should also play a large part in this piece. While the idea has existed for some time, I've yet to find a way to start the work and I'll admit the project often scares me, which I guess is even more reason to finally start it.

INSPIRATION FOR PROJECT:

My friend, Kelly Fields, and her life and work; the impact of primary and secondary trauma on both students and educators; the US education system in general.