Internationally acclaimed poet Claudia Rankine will lead a talkback with the audience and sign copies of her multiple award-winning book Citizen: An American Lyric following a performance of the Fountain Theatre's world premiere stage adaptation of the same name. Rankine will attend the performance on Sunday, Aug. 2 at 3 p.m., and the audience talkback and book signing reception will immediately follow.
Citizen: An American Lyric is a provocative meditation on everyday racism in America. Named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, NPR, New York Magazine, the New Yorker, Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Slate and Time Out New York among others, it is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, NAACP Image Award and PEN Open Book Award, and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the UK's Forward Prize for Poetry. The Fountain Theatre production is a spoken word dramatic collage made up of remarks, glances, seeming slips of the tongue - those did-that-really-just-happen-did-they-really-just say-that slurs that happen every day - as well as the larger incidents that become national firestorm. Fusing poetry, prose, movement, music and the video image, it was adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs and is directed by Shirley Jo Finney. The six-member ensemble includes Bernard K. Addison, Leith Burke, Tina Lifford, Tony Maggio, Simone Missick and Lisa Pescia.Videos