The Artists
The creative team
Writer, director, musicians, and designers building the world of Dorsey.
- Book, Music & Lyrics
Dave Lemieux
Dave LeMieux's work bridges theatrical storytelling, film, and large-scale musical performance. With a career centered on stories of moral leadership, faith, and cultural identity, he creates collaborative works designed for substantive engagement in large-format live venues. Dave is the writer of At the Table with Dr. King (readers theater and short film), celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The project has toured internationally and partnered with the U.S. State Department, including a 2018 tour of Israel and a 2024 film distribution initiative in India. Internationally, Dave has led musical cultural exchange tours in Russia, Ethiopia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, using music as a bridge for cross-cultural and interfaith dialogue. His songwriting has been recognized with Gospel/Inspirational Song of the Year honors from SongwritingU (2021). His artistic focus is on writing and producing collaborative stories of substance—works that engage with questions of leadership, democracy, justice, and spiritual conviction while inviting audiences into meaningful reflection. He lives in Castle Pines, Colorado, with his wife, where he continues developing new theatrical and cinematic projects.
- Director
Schele Williams
Schele Williams is an award-winning director, author, and cultural leader committed to cultivating work that centers authentic representation onstage and off. Williams made history by becoming only the second Black woman to direct a Broadway musical. Her Broadway directing credits include the 50th-anniversary revival of The Wiz and its national tour, as well as The Notebook and its national tour, co-directed with Michael Greif. The cast recordings of both productions received Grammy nominations. Her other Broadway credits include Motown: The Musical (associate director), Rent (actor and associate choreographer), and Aida (Nehebka, original Broadway cast). Williams also directed Disney’s revival of Aida and has directed at leading regional theatres and festivals across the country, including the Kennedy Center, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, New York Stage and Film, NAMT, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. Williams received the 2024 Founders Award for Excellence in Directing. A TEDx speaker and advocate for equity in the arts, she is a founding member of Black Theatre United and serves on the board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Williams is the author of the bestselling Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History, recipient of a 2022 Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor. Her next book, The Expert’s Guide to Being a Big, will be published in September 2028.
- Creative Consultant
Michael W Harris
Professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary in New York, began researching the Gospel Blues-Thomas A. Dorsey story after a chance meeting with Dr. Dorsey at a 1978 Black music conference. In 1982, Harris submitted that story for his Ph.D. in Music and American Church History from Harvard University. Revised and further researched, that story became The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church, published by Oxford University Press in 1992. At its core, the story consists of Dr. Dorsey’s unpublished autobiography, “The Thomas A. Dorsey Story,” along with 120 Harris interviews with Dr. Dorsey, his family, and members of the original gospel choruses in Chicago. Harris, with his wife, Linda, resides in The Bronx, New York.
- Executive Producer
Drew & Dane Productions
Drew Desky and Dane Levens are award-winning producers for theatre, web series, and film. Currently, they are producing the new Broadway musical Just in Time, the 20th anniversary production of High School Musical, and the long-running revival of Little Shop of Horrors (Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award, Outer Critics Circle Honor). They also produced the recent West End premiere of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Olivier nomination), the Broadway revival of Gypsy (Tony nomination) and led the original NYC and London productions of Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors (BroadwayWorld Best New Play, Clio Award for Best Social Media Campaign) and the world premiere of Rain and Zoe Save the World in London. They have also produced extensively off-Broadway, including Pageant (Drama Desk nomination), Application Pending (Drama Desk nomination), Who's Holiday! (Lortel nomination), and The Other Josh Cohen (Off Broadway Alliance nomination). Currently supporting Hadestown (Broadway and West End) and The Hunger Games on Stage (London). They have produced, executive produced, and supported developmental presentations of several plays and musicals.