White Noise

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

White Noise

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 2m

Suzan-Lori Parks

Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks's new play about race, friendship and our rapidly unraveling social contract.

Image: 2019 Public Theater Production (Joan Marcus)

White Noise

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 2019 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

Details

Summary
Long-time friends and lovers Leo, Misha, Ralph and Dawn are educated, progressive, cosmopolitan and woke. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides extreme measures must be taken for self-preservation.
History
White Noise premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater on March 20, 2019. Directed by Oskar Eustis, the production featured Daveed Diggs, Sheria Irving, Thomas Sadoski and Zoë Winters.
Keywords
Performing Groups

LEO – early 30s, of African descent
DAWN – early 30s, of European descent
MISHA – early 30s, of African descent
RALPH – early 30s, of European descent

  • Time Period Present Day
  • Setting A thriving city. The present.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)

Media

Critics Pick! “Enthrallingly thought-packed.” – The New York Times

“Sharp, zingy and oozing a darkly witty energy... a propulsive drama with pace, plotting and a deadly magnetism.” – The Guardian

NYT Critic's Pick. “Enthrallingly thought-packed! In burrowing deep into what one character calls 'the worm hole' of how we talk – and think – about race, Ms. Parks isn’t cutting anyone any slack. Herself included.” – The New York Times

“The brilliance of Suzan-Lori Parks's eviscerating new play White Noise is that underneath the finely crafted, often sharply funny apparent realism of its surface, its roots stretch deep away into archetype.” – Vulture

“Excellent! White Noise is both a thought-provoking and thoughtful examination of racism, and the vexed politics of race and identity that have tested interracial relations personally and politically to so many breaking points.” – The Daily Beast

“Scalding... the tension [Parks] builds as she unfolds her arguments has you leaning forward in your seat... The play never stops working as fierce, gripping drama.” – WhatsOnStage

“Provocatvie and Erudite.” – The Stage

“Shocking, funny, challenging... a sprawling, expressionist work.” – Evening Standard

Photos

  • White Noise

    Image: 2019 Public Theater Production (Joan Marcus)

  • White Noise

    Image: 2019 Public Theater Production (Joan Marcus)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance

Scripts

Available Formats:
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Authors

Suzan-Lori Parks

Suzan-Lori Parks

Named one of Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” in 2002 Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her Broadway hit Topdog/Underdog.

A MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, she has also been awarded gr ...

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