“Recent events have placed the topic of racism firmly in focus once again. The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles is addressing this issue with the new play ‘Citizen: An American Lyric,’ playing through Sept. 14.
“The production was adapted by Fountain Theatre’s co-artistic director Stephen Sachs from the acclaimed Claudia Rankine book of the same name”… “Her book, ‘Citizen: An American Lyric,’ was a winner of the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry and a finalist for criticism.
“Sachs had spent more than a year looking for the right production ‘to add the Fountain Theatre’s voice to the national conversation about race,’ because he felt the company could contribute something artistically to the discussion. After reading reviews of Rankine’s book he bought it, and as he read through its pages, Sachs quickly realized that ‘her’s was the voice that I had been looking for.’
“Sachs chose to use only Rankine’s words in his script and approach the process of turning it into a play by thinking of it as a piece of music in terms of solos, duets, trios and an ensemble. The result is an examination of race and racism through vignettes and snapshots employing prose, poetry, movement, music and the visual image”… “Sachs hopes that after seeing ‘Citizen: An American Lyric,’ audience members will question their own responses to race and racism.”
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