The ambitious tale of the origin of a suburb's racial integration in 1959 (in Act One) — and its legacy 50 years later (in Act Two) — began at Off-Broadway's Playwright Horizons in 2010. The title refers to the white neighborhood mentioned in Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking 1959 drama A Raisin in the Sun, about an African-American family busting the color barrier in a white Chicago suburb.
Pam MacKinnon directed the premiere. That staging was reconstituted earlier this year at Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and now settles into the Walter Kerr. (Independent regional productions have also surfaced since 2010, and the title played to acclaim in London, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Play).
Earlier this year, commercial producer Scott Rudin dropped his plans for a Broadway staging of the play, leaving its engagement in limbo until Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth stepped in to pick up the ball. (The Kerr is a Jujamcyn house.)
The 16-week limited engagement features the original New York City cast (the actors assume multiple roles): Crystal A. Dickinson, Brendan Griffin, Damon Gupton, Christina Kirk, Annie Parisse, Jeremy Shamos and Tony Award winner Frank Wood.
photo by Joan Marcus |
In Clybourne Park, "Norris imagines the history of one of the more important houses in literary history, both before and after it becomes a focal point in Lorraine Hansberry's classic A Raisin in the Sun," according to previous press notes. "In 1959, the house, which is located in a white neighborhood at 406 Clybourne St. in Chicago, is sold to an African-American family (the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun). Then in 2009 after the neighborhood has changed into an African-American community, the house is sold to a white couple. It is through this prism of property ownership that Norris' lacerating sense of humor dissects race relations and middle class hypocrisies in America."
Other plays by Bruce Norris include The Infidel (2000), Purple Heart (2002), We All Went Down to Amsterdam (2003 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work), The Pain and the Itch (2004 Jefferson Award) and The Unmentionables (2006), all of which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre. He is the recipient of the 2009 Steinberg Playwright Award, the Whiting Foundation Prize for Drama, and the Kesselring Prize, Honorable Mention.
The producers of Clybourne Park are Jujamcyn Theaters, Jane Bergere, Roger Berlind/Quintet Productions, Eric Falkenstein/Dan Frishwasser, Ruth Hendel/Harris Karma Productions, JTG Theatricals, Daryl Roth, Jon B. Platt, Center Theatre Group in association with Lincoln Center Theater.
Serving as understudies are April Yvette Thompson, Richard Thieriot, Brandon J. Dirden, Carly Street, Greg Stuhr.
Walter Kerr Theatre is located at 219 West 48th Street. Tickets range $50-$127 (premium seating ranges from $137-$199).
Tickets can be purchased via telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250. Visit ClybournePark.com.