First Look: Five Women Step Into Whoopi Goldberg’s Singular Theatrical World The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center Theater.

Double Tony Award winner Kara Young - Photos by Angela Marie Orellana 

 

First Look: Five Women Step Into Whoopi Goldberg’s Singular Theatrical World

The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center Theater.

Dominique Fishback, Kecia Lewis, Danielle Pinnock, Kerry Washington and Kara Young lead The Whoopi Monologues at Lincoln Center Theater.

Before Whoopi Goldberg became an Oscar winner, an EGOT and the unmistakable voice at the center of “The View,” she was an unknown performer standing alone on a Broadway stage, disappearing into a collection of funny, difficult and deeply human characters.

More than 40 years later, those characters have returned with five new voices.

Lincoln Center Theater has released the first production photos from The Whoopi Monologues, a reimagining of Goldberg’s groundbreaking 1984 solo show at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Written by Goldberg and directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Whitney White, the production stars Dominique Fishback of “Swarm” and “The Deuce”; Tony winner Kecia Lewis of Hell’s Kitchen; Danielle Pinnock of “Ghosts”; Kerry Washington of “Imperfect Women” and American Son; and two-time Tony winner Kara Young of Purlie Victorious and Purpose.

The original show established Goldberg as a theatrical force, using character, satire and direct audience engagement to explore race, beauty, disability, addiction and the people society too easily turns into stereotypes. The new production makes one major change: The material once performed entirely by Goldberg is now divided among an ensemble of five African American women.

That shift gives The Whoopi Monologues its central tension. The production is not asking its actresses to impersonate Goldberg. It is asking whether the characters she created can survive new bodies, voices and perspectives without losing their original nerve.

Director Whitney White leads a creative team that includes set designers Adam Rigg and Anton Volovsek of Studio Bent, costume designer Qween Jean, lighting designer Cha See, composer and sound designer Fan Zhang, video designer Hana S. Kim and hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis.

Goldberg’s original Broadway arrival shattered the traditional rules of solo performance. This new version tests what happens when one woman’s singular breakthrough becomes a theatrical inheritance shared by five.

The Whoopi Monologues is playing at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Tickets are available through Lincoln Center Theater.

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