Clybourne Park
Tickets and Information
SHOW INFORMATION
CURRENTLY CLOSED
Opened Feb 21, 2010
Closed Mar 21, 2010
Opened Feb 21, 2010
Closed Mar 21, 2010
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Visit the Clybourne Park website:
http://www.playwrightshorizons.org
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WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
In 1958, a white family moves out. In 2008, a white family moves in. In the intervening years, change overtakes a neighborhood. Bruce Norris's pitch-black comedy takes on the issues of gentrification in our communities, leaving no stone unturned in the process.
WHAT ARE CRITICS SAYING?
What are other members saying?
Clybourne Park is Worth a Visit
The connection to A Raisin In The Sun begins when Karl Linder tries to prevent a white family in Clybourne Park from selling their home to a black family. It?s implied, but never confirmed that this is the Younger family from A Raisin in the Sun. The selling price for the home is drastically reduced due to a family tragedy. Could the black family afford a home in Clybourne Park at a normal price? Can they maintain it? What about their eating, shopping and social habits? Fast forward many years later and the black family has moved out, the house is in a total state of disarray, and a white family moves back in as gentrification arrives in Clybourne Park. Thought-provoking issues are raised in this play, and I appreciated how the black couple disproved several ignorant misconceptions held by their arroogant white peers. Its said that playwright Bruce Norris leaves "no stone unturned" in this drama, yet I beg to differ. The stone he should have turned over was the one actually showing the black family living in the home instead of leaving the audience simply to hear about them. The piece was well acted and attention grabbing, despite the crude jokes in the second act which bordered on dysfunction. This play left me with much to think about, especially as I look around my own neighborhood. ?
Reviewed by pathouser
on Saturday, Mar 6th, 2010
RE:Clybourne Park is Worth a Visit
The connection to A Raisin In The Sun begins when Karl Linder tries to prevent a white family in Clybourne Park from selling their home to a black family. It?s implied, but never confirmed that this is the Younger family from A Raisin in the Sun. The selling price for the home is drastically reduced due to a family tragedy. Could the black family afford a home in Clybourne Park at a normal price? Can they maintain it? What about their eating, shopping and social habits? Fast forward many years later and the black family has moved out, the house is in a total state of disarray, and a white family moves back in as gentrification arrives in Clybourne Park. Thought-provoking issues are raised in this play, and I appreciated how the black couple disproved several ignorant misconceptions held by their arroogant white peers. Its said that playwright Bruce Norris leaves "no stone unturned" in this drama, yet I beg to differ. The stone he should have turned over was the one actually showing the black family living in the home instead of leaving the audience simply to hear about them. The piece was well acted and attention grabbing, despite the crude jokes in the second act which bordered on dysfunction. This play left me with much to think about, especially as I look around my own neighborhood. ?
Reviewed by pathouser
on Saturday, Mar 6th, 2010
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With his often-scathing new satire,
Clybourne Park, now getting a thrillingly crackerjack production at Playwrights Horizons, Bruce Norris once again proves he's no mere provocateur. No doubt, there will be plenty of post-show discussion about the themes of racism and social change that Norris explores in the play -- while simultaneously splitting open your sides -- but savvy theatergoers will also be talking about the playwright's gifts for ingenuity and craftsmanship.
The play is set in two acts -- the first in 1959, the second in 2009 -- in the same home in Chicago's Clybourne Park neighborhood. Both acts begin rather benignly, before Norris goes in for the sucker punch. Both also occasi[...]