Fortunes of the Moor

Shakespeare's Othello concludes with Desdemona's kin planning to "...seize upon the fortunes of the Moor...." Fortunes of the Moor supposes Desdemona, disowned by her father, takes refuge at a convent and gives birth to a son. After the Venetian victory in Cyprus under Othello's command, Desdemona leaves their infant son at the Venetian convent and joins Othello in Cyprus.

The play is set in Othello's home village where an African griot tells the story. Othello's family journeys to Venice to find Othello's son and raise him as their own while Desdemona's kin connive to claim Othello's fortune by deceit, kidnapping and murder.

Barbara and Carlton Molette, Dramatists Guild members since 1971, began playwrighting collaborations with ROSALEE PRITCHETT, premiered in 1970 by Atlanta’s Morehouse-Spelman Players and produced in New York by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1971 and in 2017 for their 50^th anniversary season and also produced by the Free Southern Theatre, several university theatres and published by Dramatists Play Service and in the anthology Black Writers of America. They received the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Playwright’s Award for PRUDENCE in 2005, the Black Theatre Network’s Lifetime Membership Award in 2012, the National Black Theatre Festival’s Living Legend Award and the Ethel Woolson Award for LEGACY in 2013 and the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival’s Legend Award in 2016. They co-authored two non-fiction books, Afrocentric Theatre and Black Theatre: Premise and Presentation. They have also authored numerous articles individually and collaboratively.

DR. B. S. BLACK, a musical in collaboration with Charles Mann was produced in 1976 by Theatre of the Stars and Just Us Theatre at Atlanta’s Peachtree Playhouse with Samuel L. Jackson in the title role with additional productions in Washington, D. C., Houston, and Memphis. Atlanta’s Morehouse-Spelman Players premiered NOAH'S ARK (published in the anthology Center Stage) and BOOJI. New York’s Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop premiered FORTUNES OF THE MOOR with additional productions by Ghana’s National Theatre Company, Chicago’s ETA Creative Arts, and Brown, Ohio State, Western Michigan, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut universities. Miami’s M Ensemble premiered OUR SHORT STAY. The Connecticut Repertory Theatre premiered PRUDENCE. PRESIDENTIAL TIMBER premiered at Houston’s De Luxe Theater after readings at the National Black Theatre Festival, New York’s New Federal Theatre, Bowie State University at the Kennedy Center and New Life Productions in Columbia, SC. Atlanta’s New African Grove Theatre premiered LEGACY.

Premieres of their ten minute plays include OUT OF TIME at New York’s Turtle Productions, MOVE THE CAR at North Carolina’s Warehouse Performing Arts Center, TEE SHIRT HISTORY at Atlanta’s Essential Theatre, A FOND FAREWELL at West Virginia’s Greenbrier Valley Theatre, LAST SUPPER and KIN SHIP at Houston’s Fade to Black Festival.

Barbara J. Molette (B.A., Florida A. & M. U.; M.F.A., Florida State U.; Ph.D., U. of Missouri), Professor Emerita and former English Department Chair, Eastern Connecticut State U.; Director of Arts-in-Education Programs, City of Baltimore; Administrative Fellow, Mid-Missouri Associated Colleges and Universities and faculty at Spelman College, Texas Southern U. and Baltimore City Community College where she was also Director of Writing Across the Curriculum.

Carlton W. Molette (B.A., Morehouse College; M.A., U. of Iowa; Ph.D., Florida State U.) Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Arts and Africana Studies, U. of Connecticut; faculty at Spelman College, Florida A.&M., Howard, Atlanta and Texas Southern Universities; Division of Fine Arts Chair, Spelman; School of Communications Dean, Texas Southern; Dean of Arts and Sciences, Lincoln (MO) and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Coppin State.