Biography

Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an award-winning author, playwright, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston. Mouton was the librettist for HGO-commissioned world-premiere chamber opera Marian’s Song (2020), written with composer Damien Sneed. She is the author of Newsworthy (2019), which was translated into German, Black Chameleon (2023), and an upcoming children’s book, Hush Hush Hurricane. Honored as part of the Houston Business Journal’s 2021 list of 40 Under 40, she has been a contributing writer for Glamour, Texas Monthly, Muzzle, and ESPN’s Andscape. She’s penned stage works including She Who Dared (Chicago Opera Theater, 2025) and Future of Dreams (Kennedy Center, 2025). Some of her other works are Atlanta: 1906 (Atlanta Opera) and On My Mind (Opera Theater St. Louis). Serving as playwright/director, Mouton produced The World’s Intermission, commissioned by Performing Arts Houston (Jones Hall), and Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson (Stages Theater), a choreopoem which made the cover of the New York Times Culture section. Her memoir, Black Chameleon (2023), which was awarded the Carr P. Collins award for Best Nonfiction through the Texas Institute of Letters (2024), examines Black womanhood through afro-futuristic mythology. Mouton later adapted stories from Black Chameleon into an HGO-commissioned Storybook Opera title, Lula, the Mighty Griot (HGO 2022), and an independent short film, Headache & Heartthrob (2023). She is a former Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture who is currently curating and leading an immersive art exhibit dedicated to Black Maternal Health entitled The Call Me Mother Experience.