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Clybourne Park spans two generations fifty years apart. In 1959, Russ and Bev are selling their desirable two-bedroom at a bargain price, unknowingly bringing the first black family into the neighborhood (borrowing a plot line from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun) and creating ripples of discontent among the cozy white residents of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by a young white couple, whose plan to raze the house and start again is met with equal disapproval by the black residents of the soon-to-be-gentrified area. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same, fifty years on? Bruce Norris’s excruciatingly funny and squirm-inducing satire explores the fault line between race and property.
Clybourne Park is the winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play.
“Superb, elegantly written, and hilarious.” —John Lahr, The New Yorker
“Courageous…Norris’s elegantly structured play nails marital tensions as much as it does racial disharmony in an evening of ebullient provocation.” —Lyn Gardner, The Guardian
Clybourne Park
CHARACTERS
ACT I (1959)
ACT II (2009)
Note: In the original production, the actor playing Jim and Tom also played the role of Kenneth. In some subsequent productions a separate actor was hired to play the role of Kenneth alone.
Copyright © 2011 by Bruce Norris
Anonymous
Posted May 17, 2013
WOW
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.CeramicsRW
Posted July 10, 2012
A Raisin in the Sun has been one of my favorite books (plays) of all time. Clybourne Park is not really a sequel, but a new look at the turbulent 1950's and the struggle for equality. Clybourne Park is told from a white couples point of view as they are preparing to move out of Clybourne Park in Chicago. I loved this play as much as I fell in love with A Raisin in the Sun. Also, it has a surprise at the end. Read this one - you'll be glad you did. It is in "Play" script - not a novel, but a great read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.M_Allar
Posted November 30, 2011
Every few years a play is written which is truly important. This is one of those plays.
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Overview
Clybourne Park spans two generations fifty years apart. In 1959, Russ and Bev are selling their desirable two-bedroom at a bargain price, unknowingly bringing the first black family into the neighborhood (borrowing a plot line from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun) and creating ripples of discontent among the cozy white residents of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by a young white couple, whose plan to raze the house and start again is met with equal disapproval by the black ...