The Whitney Album
The Whitney Album

The
Whitney
Album

by Jillian Walker
directed by Jenny Koons

May 31 2023 - July 2 2023

01 Sweat is the physical residue of labor.
02 Sweat is also guilt? Shame?

03 Unworthiness in the form of beads?

04 Sweat is hunger—deliberate and able to cool you down a bit, while you try to forget this world not made for you quite.

05 But the suffering ends

06 When dying isn’t the end of the story

07 I think  –  I

08 think there is a story beyond.

09 And maybe Nippy knows that, too.

—THE WHITNEY ALBUM

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  • Helen Shaw, The New Yorker

    “when Walker sings her ethereal compositions…she rings the room like a bell. The final, song-filled twenty minutes are ecstatic and reparative.”

  • Naveen Kumar, The New York Times

    The Whitney Album is an “evocative” “celebratory” “persuasive…an especially soulful, high-concept record!”

  • Hayley Levitt, Theatermania

    “enthralling…one of the warmest theatrical experiences in New York City…charts a course from the head to the heart in prose, verse and song.”

  • David Finkle, New York Stage Review

    “Walker is so enthralling a celebrant that she could be invoking and celebrating anything, and spectators would fall in line.”

Cast

Jillian Walker

Stephanie Weeks

Ben Jalosa Williams

Creative Team

Jillian Walker

Playwright

Jenny Koons

Director

Peiyi Wong

Set Designer

Jojo Siu

Costume Designer

Oona Curley

Lighting Designer

Ben Jalosa Williams

Sound Designer

Rhys Roffey

Props Designer

amani meliyah

Associate Director

Nia O. Witherspoon

Process Priestess

abigail jean-baptiste

Dramaturg/Archivist

shiku thuo

Stage Manager

Earon Chew Nealey

Wig and Makeup Designer

Ebony M. Burton

Associate Lighting Designer

Sera Bourgeau

Associate Costume Designer

Shaina Yang

Assistant Set Designer

Maya T. Weed

Assistant Set Designer

Supporters

The Whitney Album was initially commissioned with generous support from Jody Falco & Jeffrey Steinman. The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation provided additional support for the commissioning and development of the play. This production is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts. Jillian Walker was the 2020-2021 Tow Playwright-in-Residence at Soho Rep. Special thanks to the Axe-Houghton Foundation for supporting the 99¢ Sunday performance on June 11. Production fees for playwrights at Soho Rep are generously sponsored by The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation.

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Jun 11
Whitney Album

Jun 18
Whitney Album

Jun 25
Whitney Album