Kerry Washington had a realization while listening to an NPR interview with Pedro Pascal. He casually started quoting “Surfer Girl,” an unforgettable character from Whoopi Goldberg’s groundbreaking one-woman show, first performed in 1984. Washington couldn’t believe it.
“I was like, ‘Holy s#^$,’” she told EBONY.
For Washington, it was another reminder that The Whoopi Monologues has had a massive effect on generations of artists and audiences. With Simpson Street reviving the production at Lincoln Center, Washington wants us to start recognizing Goldberg by one of her most overlooked titles: playwright.
Long before she ever imagined starring in the production (in that iconic Surfer monologue), Washington was a little girl wearing out her VHS copy of Goldberg’s Direct from Broadway. She memorized the dialogue and became “obsessed” with Goldberg’s storytelling. That’s why she’s ready for it once again to have massive appeal.
“There are also so many stages all over the world that would benefit from this work,” Washington said. “The writing is so extraordinary, the storytelling is so important, that it also needs to be canonized and put on the shelf with our other great American plays.”
Goldberg’s original one-woman show is often remembered for her performance. This revival shifts the focus back to the writing itself. Instead of one performer carrying the entire production, The Whoopi Monologues is now an ensemble piece starring Washington alongside Danielle Pinnock, Dominique Fishback, Kara Young and Kecia Lewis, under the direction of Tony nominee Whitney White.
“I’m excited for the world to get to know Whoopi as a playwright,” White said. “I remember growing up watching her; it was like watching a superhero. As Black women, we are told where we cannot go, what we cannot do and what jobs are not for us — she defied that.”
Goldberg’s writing brought to life characters who were often overlooked by others. “Each character is like a portrait of someone who could easily slip between the cracks—from a junkie and an immigrant Jamaican woman to a girl on the beach who’s had an encounter and doesn’t know what to do afterward. All of these are people you might not look twice at. Whoopi opens up their world, lets us experience their story, and then you can’t look away from their humanity.”
It’s that lingering impression that has made Goldberg’s monologues endure for more than four decades, and Washington agrees that the empathy in Goldberg’s writing remains its greatest gift.
“The real takeaway is that when you’re sitting in the audience hearing from a person that you normally might walk past, or avoid eye contact with, or assume you have nothing in common with, you realize that everybody has a story and has that main character energy that we talk about,” she said. “I want every audience member to walk away knowing I need to see it in myself and I need to see it in everyone I come in contact with to honor each other’s full humanity.”
It’s a realization they both hope lingers long after the curtain falls. “Everybody has a little bit of surprise in them,” said White. “Everybody’s story has something in it that could change your life and help you be a better person if you’re patient enough to listen.”
The Whoopi Monologues opens at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City on July 13.