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Kerry Washington is returning to the stage in The Whoopi Monologues, Lincoln Center Theater’s new reimagining of Whoopi Goldberg’s show. This project marks a full-circle moment for the Emmy-winner, who first performed the material as a kid in what were some of her earliest acting experiences.
“I used to quote the show walking around my house, and I was saying very inappropriate things,” she recalled during a visit to Late Night with Seth Meyers. Washington first saw the show on HBO when she was 9 or 10 years old, following its run on Broadway. “But my mom was like, ‘Well, you know what? This is for acting and I want you to be inspired.”
In recent years, the actress has been staying busy with film and television projects, with this marking her first major stage project since Broadway’s American Son in 2018. She admits that returning to live theater is a “terrifying” prospect.
“When you do film and television, you can say, ‘Oh, cut, let’s start again.’ You can’t do that in the theater. You have to really be in the moment. And when you mess up, you have to cover it. And you just have to not mess up, also! So it’s very exciting.” Because the production also requires audience interaction, Washington points out that “no two nights will be the same.” Check out the full interview now.
The Whoopi Monologues begins performances on Tuesday, July 7, with an official opening night set for Monday, July 13 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Written by Whoopi Goldberg and directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Whitney White, The Whoopi Monologues will star Emmy Award Nominee Dominique Fishback (“Swarm,” “The Deuce”), Tony Award winner Kecia Lewis (Hell’s Kitchen), NAACP Image Award Winner Danielle Pinnock (“Ghosts”), Emmy Award-winning producer and Golden Globe-nominated actress Kerry Washington (“Imperfect Women,” American Son), and two-time Tony Award® winner Kara Young (Purlie Victorious, Purpose), with Kai Heath, Denise Manning, and Pavar Snipe rounding out the cast as understudies.
In 1984, then unknown monologist Whoopi Goldberg premiered her provocative, thought-provoking one-woman show on Broadway, torching the rulebook of traditional solo performance in one of the most electrifying debuts of the era. Now, the trailblazing work returns, reimagined for a new generation led by a remarkable ensemble of 5 women bringing Goldberg’s unforgettable characters back to the stage. Funny, vivid, and deeply human, these nuanced portraits feel as fresh and irresistible today as they were over 40 years ago.
