by J.T. Rogers
directed by Guy Reyes
presented by Starry Night Entertainment

with Rebecca Brooksher, John Dossett, and Michael Shulman

at The Atlantic Theatre - Stage 2

This was the first play that Perry Street general managed that we did not also produce — and was the inaugural producing effort from the marvelous team at Starry Night Entertainment. They have since gone on to be major producers or investors in a number of hugely successful Broadway and West End shows. J.T. Rogers would go on to write Blood and Gifts and the 2017 Tony Award winning play, Oslo.

White People is a controversial and darkly funny play about the lives of three ordinary Americans placed under the spotlight: Martin, a Brooklyn-born high powered attorney for a white-shoe law firm in St. Louis, MO; Mara Lynn, a housewife and former homecoming queen in Fayetteville, NC; and Alan, a young professor struggling to find his way in New York City. Through heart-wrenching confessions, they wrestle with guilt, prejudice, and the price they and their children must pay for their actions. White People is a candid, brutally honest meditation on race and language in our culture.

The critics gave the show some glowing notices:

“The country has finally elected a black president yet remains a very long way from resolving its issues about prejudice, as “White People,” by the playwright J. T. Rogers, demonstrates… The play succeeds best in displaying how people can unwittingly exhibit bigotry even when they mean well. The actors, directed by Gus Reyes, are impressive, especially Ms. Brooksher, whose anger conceals a fragile helplessness.” – The New York Times

“Rogers is that rarest of creatures: an American playwright with a social conscience and the desire to make damning connections between human psychology and ideology.” – Time Out New York

“The strength of White People, particularly in director Gus Reyes’ tight and swift production, is that it takes a volatile subject and never tries to dictate emotion or force a reaction.” – BroadwayWorld.com

“Michael Shulman…as the well-intentioned but conflicted Alan is outstanding. His speech patterns, body language, and energy create a unique character whom you care about and with whom you can identify.” – — NYTheatre.com