Jurnee Smollett To Join Off Broadway Cast Of ‘The Whoopi Monologues’

Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country, Smoke) will join the company of The Whoopi Monologues, the Off Broadway reimagining of Whoopi Goldberg’s groundbreaking solo show, beginning Tuesday, August 4.

Smollett will be taking over for Kerry Washington, who plays her final performance in the role on Sunday, August 2.

Lincoln Center Theater announced the casting today. The Whoopi Monologues began performances on Tuesday, July 7, and officially opened on Monday, July 13 at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

Smollett, perhaps best known for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, recently starred opposite Taron Egerton in the Apple TV+ series Smoke. On stage she appeared opposite Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams in the 2014 revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip To Bountiful in Los Angeles and Boston.

The Whoopi Monologues revival, in which an ensemble of actors portray the characters initially played by Goldberg in her one-person Broadway show, is written by Goldberg and directed by Whitney White. In addition to Washington, the current cast includes Dominique Fishback, Kecia Lewis and Kara Young.