Dominique Morisseau’s hard-hitting drama, Pipeline takes a deep look into the American educational system for underprivileged students. Nya is an inner-city high school teacher whose son, Omari, is educated at a private boarding school. She is desperate to give him opportunities that her students will never see and she is determined to fight for his future. When he gets into an altercation with a teacher, Nya and Omari are forced to deal with the reality of the pitfalls of a divided education system, the social prophecy that surrounds them, Omari’s sense of righteous rage, and the uncomfortable tensions within their family dynamic. Nya wants to save her son, but first she must confront her own choices as a parent.
The title of the play refers directly to the US ‘school-to-prison pipeline’, whereby underprivileged and disadvantaged students are funneled out of public education and into juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Pipeline guide sections
