Citizen: An American Lyric

by Claudia Rankine, adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs

Directed by: Catherine Ming T’ien Duffly
Assistant Director: India Hamilton
Dramaturg: Samiya Bashir
Stage Manager: Aoife Hough
Sound Designer: Sharath Patel
Costume Designer: Jenny Ampersand
Costume Shop Manager: Alissa Warren
Set Designer: Peter Ksander
Lighting Designer: Peter Ksander
Video Designer: Peter Ksander
Scene Shop Manager: Rusty Tennant
Community Outreach: Serena Offenbaker

Diver Studio Theatre, , Portland OR
November 3-4 and 9-11 2017

Poster by Peter Ksander
Photos by Chelsea Petrakis

Citizenis an urgent, boundary-crossing work of prose, poetry, and visual imagery written by groundbreaking American poet, Claudia Rankine. The stage adaptation stayed true to the text and examined the ways racism pervades daily life in America, from highly visible news accounts to the daily microaggressions that render certain citizens invisible in our culture.The performance engaged in a powerful and poetic way some of the micro and macro ways racism accumulates in the body.

We held multiple post-show talkbacks to give audiences a space to talk together about their reactions after the performance.

There was also a pre-show event showcasing the poetry performances of Samiya Bashir’s class,"Poetry in and through Performance,” which drew on oral,lyrical, musical, dramaturgical, and(post)modern traditions, exploring approaches to poetry in performance.

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