''White Noise'' is a 2019 play by

Suzan-Lori Parks Suzan-Lori Parks (born May 10, 1963) is an American playwright, screenwriter, musician and novelist. Her 2001 play ''Topdog/Underdog'' won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002; Parks was the first African-American woman to receive the award for d ...

. It premiered at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

in New York.

Characters

The central characters are two

woke ''Woke'' ( ) is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and Racial discrimination, discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social ineq ...

interracial couples, good friends since college. *Leo, a black artist and insomniac. He has tried a

white noise machine A white noise machine is a device that produces a noise that calms the listener, which in many cases sounds like a rushing waterfall or wind blowing through trees, and other serene or nature-like sounds. Often such devices do not produce actual wh ...

to help him sleep, and describes himself as "the fractured and angry and edgy black visual artist." *Dawn, a white liberal lawyer. Something of a "

white saviour The term white savior is a critical description of a white person who is depicted as liberating, rescuing or uplifting non-white people; it is critical in the sense that it describes a pattern in which people of color in economically under-develo ...

". *Ralph, a white and wealthy writer. *Misha, the black host of the YouTube show ''Ask a Black.''

Plot

Leo, out walking one night, is assaulted by police. To regain a sense a safety, he asks his friend Ralph to buy him as a slave for forty days, positing that he will be safer as a white man's property. Ralph, initially terrified of being white, male and straight, agrees. Their new relationship corrupts Ralph and releases his inner "whitey", and he joins a club exclusively for whites. In the second act, Ralph makes Leo wear a slave collar.

Productions

The 2019 debut at The Public Theater in New York was directed by

Oskar Eustis Oskar Eustis (born July 31, 1958) has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.Daveed Diggs Daveed Daniele Diggs (born January 24, 1982) is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jeffer ...

as Leo, Zoe Winters as Dawn,

Thomas Sadoski Thomas Christian Sadoski (born July 1, 1976) is an American stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for his roles as Don Keefer in the HBO series '' The Newsroom'' and as Matt Short in the sitcom television series ''Life in Pieces''. ...

as Ralph and Sheria Irving as Misha. A 2021 London production at the

Bridge Theatre The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as execut ...

was directed by

Polly Findlay Polly Findlay is a British theatre director, who won the Olivier for Best Entertainment in 2011 for Derren Brown's Svengali. She has directed seven productions for the National Theatre, and four for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she is ...

, and included

Ken Nwosu Ken Nwosu is a British actor. Education and career Nwosu graduated from Drama Centre London in 2013. Theatre His work in theatre include the roles of Oswald in a 2016 ''Ghosts'', BJJ in '' An Octoroon'' in 2017 and Leo in ''White Noise'' in 202 ...

as Leo, Helena Wilson as Dawn, James Corrigan as Ralph and Faith Omole as Misha. One change between the New York and London productions is that while in the 2019 production the characters hang out in a bowling alley, their hang out is a shooting range in 2021. 2021 reviewers have noted that the play brings to mind the 2020

murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...

, though it premiered the year before. An early 2022 production at the Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C. was directed by Reginald L. Douglas. It included RJ Brown as Leo, Katie Kleiger as Dawn, Quinn Franzen as Ralph and Tatiana Williams as Misha. There were significant changes made from the 2019 production, more than 20 minutes were cut.

Reception

2019

Theater critic

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

said "Though ''White Noise'' runs a full three hours, and skids on some of its plot twists, it doesn’t feel long. By its end, you may marvel at how many forms, faces and exploitative uses of racial identity it has covered. ... 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 Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

s reviewer gave the play four out of five stars, saying it "finds arksat her most realistic, which is fun in some ways and frustrating in others. It’s a pleasure to hear her vital, playful intelligence shoved into the mouths of contemporary, recognizable characters and then exasperating when those characters behave implausibly." Theater critic

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yor ...

, in a mostly negative review, found the play lacking compared to some of Parks' earlier work.

2021

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' gave the play four out of five stars. ''The Independent'' said that while the scenario is massively implausible, the play "is undercut with a fatalism about a culturally required wokeness that only goes surface-deep, that’s rapidly shrugged off like a heavy coat when things get too heated. It’s grim, brilliantly perceptive, and lets no one off the hook." According to ''The Daily Telegraph'', "its ambitious scope of ideas ensures that the play is funny, challenging, audacious and profoundly unsettling. Three hours seldom passed so quickly." ''The Guardian'', the newspaper ''i'' and the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' gave the play three out of five stars, one reviewer saying that "even when neither the story nor the characters are believable, this is still a propulsive drama with pace, plotting and a deadly magnetism, and its greatest triumph lies in the virtuosity and vigour of its astonishing cast." ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' gave the play two out of five stars. The reviewer said that while the play is extremely well acted, "Parks demands three hours of your time, and in return offers a rambling piece constructed around a ludicrous premise."

Awards

* 2019

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

, playwriting. * 2019

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newspa ...

, outstanding new off-Broadway play.

References

{{reflist

External links

''White Noise''
at Bridge Theatre
Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks Handles Heavy Themes In Racial Drama ''White Noise''
2019

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

interview
Daveed Diggs, Thomas Sadoski & Suzan-Lori Parks Discuss The Public's Play, ''White Noise''
video from 2019
White Noise , Interview with ''White Noise'' Movement Director Jade Hackett
video from 2021
Rousuck's Review: Suzan-Lori Parks' "White Noise" at Studio Theatre (DC)
2022 review at

WYPR WYPR (88.1 FM) is a public radio station serving the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. Its studio is in the Charles Village neighborhood of northern Baltimore, while its transmitter is in Park Heights. The station is simulcast in the Fred ...

Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks Off-Broadway plays Obie Award-winning plays Plays about race and ethnicity Fiction about interracial romance