The White Card: Here's Looking At You

Claudia Rankine’s
THE WHITE CARD
Regional Premiere
Directed by Talvin Wilks

Virginia and Charles are wealthy, white arts patrons with a keen interest in racial injustice. Over time they have acquired an impressive collection of contemporary art depicting the violence exacted against black Americans. Tonight, they are excited to host Charlotte, a black photographer on the verge of great renown, at a private dinner in their home. As the conversation ventures into our current political climate from the first champagne toast, it’s clear neither artist nor collector is what the other may have expected. With incisive wit, Rankine’s play turns the camera from the casualties to the collectors.

Purchase online or by calling 651.224.3180 Monday through Friday, from 10am-4:30pm.

Study Guide
Penumbra Theatre’s Study Guide Library is meant to provide patrons with in-depth reading material on the plays we present during our main-stage season. Download our free study guide at penumbratheatre.org/study-guides. The White Card Study Guide is curated by Minneapolis based artistic partnership Free Black Dirt.

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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Claudia Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; two plays including The White Card, which premiered in February 2018 (ArtsEmerson/ American Repertory Theater) was published with Graywolf Press in 2019, and Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue; as well as numerous video collaborations. Her next publication, Just Us, is a collection of essays forthcoming with Graywolf Press in 2020. She is also the editor of several anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind. In 2016, she co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute (TRII). Among her numerous awards and honors, Rankine is the recipient of the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artists, and the National Endowment of the Arts. She is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Yale University as the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

FEATURE STORIES
“’Genius’ Claudia Rankine shuffles a stacked deck with ‘The White Card’” via StarTribune
“Race, power and privilege at play in ‘The White Card’” via MPR News

REVIEWS
“Penumbra Theatre’s ‘White Card’ deals confidently in race and art” via StarTribune
“The White Card is challenging and frequently uncomfortable” via Pioneer Press
“The White Card at Penumbra Theatre” via Cherry and Spoon
“Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul is Playing The White Card” via The Stages of MN