THe white card, 2020
PENUMBRA THEATRE, Regional Premiere, Playwright Claudia Rankine, Director Talvin Wilks
Scenic Design Chelsea M. Warren, Assistant Set Design Nicole DelPizzo, Costume Design Mathew LeFebvre, Lighting Design Marcus Dilliard, Associate Lighting Design Smaida Mara Rizzotto, Projection Design Kathy Maxwell, Sound Design John Acarregui, Technical Director Zeb Hults, Scenic Charge Angelique Powers, Props Design Abbee Warmboe, Production Photographer Caroline Yang
OVERVIEW: The design is an upscale Tribeca Loft, at the home of a white family who collect black artist’s work. Scene 1 is a dinner party. Scene 2 takes place at the black artist’s studio. From the playwright: “If possible the audience surrounds the dinner party to enable audience members to also be looking at each other.” Scenic requirements include the audience within the stage picture, an all-white set, a dinner party, an unveiling of projected artwork, display of multiple famous black artist artworks, and a transformation to an artist's studio. On The White Card at Penumbra Theatre, I worked with director Talvin Wilks to transform Penumbra Theatre into an immersive environment with prominent canvases placed at eye level extending from the stage into the house and an entranceway through the audience. The story speaks directly to racial questions vital to our society today: Can we move beyond seeing racism as a black problem and see it as an American problem in which all races are impacted. What can we do to make change?
*see ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS & REVIEWS/FEATURES below
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS
REVIEWS/FEATURES
Star Tribune, Rohan Preston: “Jaw-dropping blind spots around privilege and race evince themselves throughout Claudia Rankine's heady but visceral 90-minute one-act, which made its regional premiere Thursday at St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre. The action takes place on designer Chelsea Warren's bright, white set that envelops much of the audience, making viewers party to the action.”
BWW Review, Karen Bovard: “Penumbra Theatre relied on the resources of the University of Minnesota's Theater Arts and Dance department (where director Talvin Wilks teaches) to build the strong set designed by Assistant Professor Chelsea M. Warren. It's an all white upscale modernist living room and dining room incorporating six projection surfaces where we see numerous paintings referenced in the play, from one of Rauschenberg's all white canvases (which 'looks remarkably different in differing light') through to works referencing Emmett Till, the Million Man March, and events in Ferguson, to name just a few.”
Play Off The Page, Mary Aalgaard: “When I first entered the theater, I noticed the stark white set (design by Chelsea M. Warren). Everything from the walls to the furniture was white, but what piqued my curiosity were the white rectangles on the walls. Are they windows? I wondered. The set feels like an urban chic apartment, like you’d see in New York City. Throughout the play, the images on those “windows” changes (projection design by Kathy Maxwell, lighting by Marcus Dilliard). They are pictures showing the artwork that Charles (Bill McCallum) and Virginia (Michelle O’Neill) collect and have hanging on their walls.”
Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Dominic P. Papatola: “Director Talvin Wilks’ staging is intense, propulsive and slyly in-your-face: Penumbra’s compact stage breaks the fourth wall with a runway that extends into the audience. In Chelsea M. Warren’s white-on-white scenic design, the framed art in the Spencer home bleeds off the stage and onto the walls of the auditorium.”