Church Hill Theatre’s production of Clybourne Park opened on September 9 and will run weekends through September 25. Although inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s classic A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park is most definitely a play about NOW. It is a biting and sometimes funny punch in the gut that deserved and won both the Pulitzer and Tony awards for Best Play.
In Act 1, which takes place in 1959 before A Raisin in the Sun, a white couple leaving their middle-class Chicago neighborhood for personal reasons has accepted an offer from a Black family, the Youngers (the protagonists in Hansberry’s play). Worried white neighbors intervene, concerned about integration and property values. The audience is left wondering just how great a neighborhood Clybourne Park really is, as prejudices and misconceptions threaten the status quo.
L to R: John Hodgson, Anthony Daly, Matt Folker, and Cynthia Bayne rehearsing Act II of Clybourne Park
Fifty years later, in Act 2, Clybourne Park is solidly Black but changing again, as gentrification has made the location newly desirable. When a white couple is thwarted from razing the Younger house to build a mini-mansion, cordial discussions rapidly turn to racial and sexist invective. The old prejudices and misconceptions have not really disappeared with time.
The excellent cast deals comfortably with truly uncomfortable themes, saying out loud what usually stays politely unsaid. Since the play bridges the past and present, most actors play two roles. Jon Hodgson portrays Russ and Dan; Christine Kinlock is Bev and Kathy; Simone Collins plays Francine and Lena; Gary Tucker is Albert and Kevin; Matt Folker plays Karl and Steve; Cynthia Bayne portrays Betsy and Lindsay, and Anthony Daly plays Kenneth and Eddie Vance is Jim.
L to R: Simone Collins and Gary Tucker rehearsing Act I of Clybourne Park
Clybourne Park is directed by Michael Whitehill, assisted by Kathy Jones, Steve Atkinson, Sylvia Maloney, Debra Ebersole, Rachel Gwin, Doug Kaufmann and Tom Rhodes.
Performances are at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for members, and $10 for students. Reservations may be made on the CHT website: https://www.churchhilltheatre.org or by phone at 410-556-6003. Audiences are reminded that the play contains strong language.
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