Writer, Performer, and Tony-Nominated Director Whitney White brings The Case of The Stranger to life in this new and original song cycle.
With a score rooted in soul, jazz, R&B, and diverse geographical soundworlds, The Case of the Stranger takes its title from a passage in Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas Moore — 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 Whitney White, in-partnership with Maxim Pozdorovkin with 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.
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Pictured: Whitney White. Photo by Maxim Pozdorovkin
SPONSORS
Guild Hall William P. Rayner Artist-in-Residence
Principal Sponsor: Kathy Rayner in memory of her husband, Billy Rayner.
Guild Hall’s Learning + New Works programs are made possible through Vital Projects Fund, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Endowment Fund, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and additional support by Collegiate Gateway.
Additional support provided by Friends of Learning + New Works: Julie Raynor Gross, Stephanie Joyce and Jim Vos, S. Kutler Foundation, N. Glickberg, D. Glickberg, and J. Abrahams, Andrea and Jeffrey Lomasky, Peter Marino, Stephen Meringoff, and Eva Sandler.
All Musical Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.
Performing Arts programming is supported in part by funding from Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and Monica and Peter Tessler. Music Programming is supported in part by The Ellen and James S. Marcus Endowment for Musical Programming.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater: John and Joan D’Addario, Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Christine and Bill Campbell, Gabrielle and Gianpaolo de Felice, Lena Kaplan, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Michèle and Steve Pesner, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Jayne Baron Sherman and Deborah Zum, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, Leila Straus, Susi and Peter Wunsch, and Andrew Yuder and Kyle Glaeser.
