Long hailed as a safe place where artists can stretch and hone their craft, Penumbra is also known as a safe place for patrons to explore the corrosive influence of racism and its social consequences. Penumbra's workshops help other institutions create similar spaces within their communities. Our workshops celebrate human difference, recognize cultural nuance and invite everyone to participate in the creation of something none of us could do alone.
In a workshop environment, Penumbra's ensemble community ensures that all voices are recognized, respected and empowered. Participants engage with provocative content in a powerful and intimate mode, stimulating creativity, courage and commitment.
Book Your Own RACE Workshop
In 2007, the Science Museum of Minnesota premiered the exhibit RACE: Are We So Different? The exhibit drew more than 245,000 people during its five-month run at the Science Museum, including more than 66,000 students, most of them middle- and high-school-ages. Penumbra Theatre was invited to curate workshops to deepen the impact of the exhibit, providing a safe space for reflection, dialogue and action around issues of race and social justice. The sold out workshops were met with great enthusiasm.
"I learned to be unafraid to confront my sometimes misguided perceptions and challenge myself to change them."
"We may not be able to change other people, but we have the power to change ourselves."
"I learned I’m not too old to learn."
"It was both difficult and satisfying to listen to the experiences people shared, and to share my own. It was deeply impactful to connect faces—of new and old acquaintances and friends—to the inequalities and prejudices that I already knew existed in the world."
"What I walked away with from the RACE Workshop with was the realization that one of the greater things that people have in common is that we all care for someone. This general emotion of love and caring is something that connects us no matter where we live in the world."
"I’ve done a lot around anti-racism education and work. There was a different end to this. Usually people leave thinking, ‘yeah, but what can I do about this?’ Penumbra offers an opportunity to walk out and do something."
Penumbra Theatre Company now offers the workshop as an opportunity to engage
in dialogue in your community. For more information or to book a RACE workshop
please email Benjamin Hanna at
In 2008, Penumbra partnered again with the Science Museum of Minnesota to present a series of workshops to extend the impact of the remarkable exhibit Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race. The workshops encouraged thought, dialogue and action in response to a "killing culture" that denies human empathy and defies moral reasoning.
In 2007, the 
Confronting the Killing Culture
