DETROIT, Mich.–Detroit Public Theatre (DPT) has announced that it will have a permanent home in Midtown here.

The local theater, which has already built a national reputation— a play it commissioned Birthday Candles premieres on Broadway in March starring Debra Messing — will make 3960 Third Avenue its home, bringing a new regional theatre to the area. The goal: to serve the community while providing a place for local and national artists to employ their craft.

DPT was founded in 2015 by theatre veterans Courtney Burkett, Sarah Clare Corporandy and Sarah Winkler. The women were joined in leadership in November by Detroit native and nationally esteemed playwright Dominique Morisseau, whose Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations reopens on Broadway this fall. A 2018 MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Morisseau —who has been involved with DPT as an adviser before DPT was founded —now serves as DPT Executive Artistic Producer.

DPT also launched its capital campaign today. Having raised $2 million in its quiet phase, DPT is now appealing to funders and individuals to help it raise the remaining $3 million it needs to open next spring. The theater reaches more than 10,000 audience members each year, employs seven full-time staff (and will be hiring more) and hires myriad artists and technicians annually. In addition, the participants of its Shakespeare in Prison program claim that it helps them connect with their humanity.