EXCLUSIVE: Tony winner Adrienne Warren is set to star in and executive produce Dreamland, a period drama series in development at Peacock from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Written and executive produced by Eric Haywood (Law & Order: Organized Crime), Dreamland explores the world of Black Wall Street, the legendary African-American business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s segregated Greenwood community. Set in 1915, the series avoids depicting the well-known deadly massacre that took place several years later. Instead, it explores the daily lives, interpersonal relationships, and class struggles of Greenwood’s residents — all taking place in the shadow of an oil boom that ignited long-standing tensions between the city’s white, African-American, and displaced Native American populations.
Warren and Haywood executive produce with Kapital’s Aaron Kaplan and Brian Morewitz. Hannibal Johnson, a member of the Tulsa Community Foundation and author of the books “Images of America: Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District” and “Black Wall Street: From Riot to Renaissance in Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District,” serves as a creative consultant. Jessie Abbott is overseeing for Kapital.
Dreamland stems from Warren’s one-year development deal with Kapital. This marks her third series collaboration with the company following the ABC limited series Women of the Movement and Hulu’s current limited series Black Cake, in which she also stars.
Haywood previously served as co-executive producer for NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime and Manifest, Starz’s Power and Fox’s Empire. Last season, he developed Billionaire Class, a class warfare drama for Fox. He is repped by Damato Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Warren can currently be seen in the Netflix film Rustin. She recently co-starred opposite Viola Davis in Gina Prince Bythewood’s The Woman King. Warren won the Tony, Drama Desk, Antonyo and Outer Critics Circle awards for her performance as Tina Turner in Broadway’s Tina, The Tina Turner Musical. She originated the role in the West End production, earning her Olivier, Evening Standard and Joe Allen Award nominations. She also received a Tony nomination for Broadway’s Shuffle Along. Warren is repped by Perennial Entertainment and Peikoff Mahan.