THE STORY: A searing, poetic riff on race in America, fusing prose, poetry, movement, music, and the visual image. Snapshots, vignettes, on the acts of everyday racism. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams, online, on TV—everywhere, all the time. Those did-that-really-just-happen-did-they-really-just-say-that slurs that happen every day and enrage in the moment and later steep poisonously in the mind. And, of course, those larger incidents that become national or international firestorms. As Rankine writes, “This is how you are a citizen."
“Emotional…always engaging and exceptionally timely...The work, in short, has gotten under my skin, which is a testament to its power.” —Los Angeles Times.
“…powerful…takes a cold, hard look at more subtle, possibly even subconscious, acts of racism…can’t be forgotten…stunningly evocative…Citizen is good theatre.” —Talkin’ Broadway.
“…a transcendent theatrical experience. Rankine’s perceptions contain an astonishing universality…It sears while being light on its feet, delivering devastating jabs with grace…” —Stage Raw.
“Citizen grips the intellect, inflames the conscience and strikes at the soul.” —Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
“Citizen aims for a tone of sweet lyricism and discomfiting grace that asks us to listen openly and honestly to stories of our fellow human beings.” —Star Tribune (MN).
