Whitney White's 'The Case of the Stranger' at Guild Hall

Writer, performer and Tony-nominated director Whitney White brings “The Case of the Stranger” to life on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. at Guild Hall in a new and original song cycle

With a score rooted in soul, jazz, R&B, and diverse geographical sound worlds, “The Case of the Stranger” takes its title from a passage in Shakespeare’s “Sir Thomas More” — one of the earliest known pleas for a compassionate refugee policy. The piece explores themes of identity, migration and the power of unexpected kinship.

Created by White, in-partnership with Maxim Pozdorovkin and music direction by Ben Covello, this song cycle brings White’s signature style to the forefront, emphasizing the raw power of voice and sound in an intimate, deeply resonant experience.

“The Case of the Stranger” was developed as part of the 2024 Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence program. This performance is presented in-association with Little Island.

Whitney White is an Obie and Lilly Award-winning director, actor and musician based in Brooklyn. In addition to being a Tony Award nominee, she is a recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing award, an artistic associate at the Roundabout and part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Her original musical “Definition” was part of the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab; her four-part musical exploration of Shakespeare’s women and ambition is currently under commission with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the U.K.

She has developed work with Manhattan Theatre Club, The Public Theatre, Ars Nova, The Drama League, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, The Lark, The Movement, Jack, Bard College, NYU Tisch, Juilliard, Princeton, SUNY Purchase, South Oxford, Luna Stage and more. White was a staff writer on Boots Riley’s “I’m a Virgo” (Amazon, Media Res).

White is a believer in collaborative processes and new forms. Her musical discipline is rooted in indie-soul, and rock. She is passionate about Black stories, reconstructing classics, stories for and about women, genre-defying multimedia work and film.

Tickets for Whitney White in “The Case of the Stranger” are $29 to $86 at guildhall.org. Guild Hall is at 158 Main Street in East Hampton.