Clybourne Park

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Clybourne Park is a play by Bruce Norris . He wrote it in response to the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry . Clybourne Park features events that take place before and after Hansberry's play, loosely based on historical events. The play premiered in February 2010 at Playwrights Horizons in New York . The German premiere was on April 8, 2011 in the State Theater in Mainz . The play won the Pulitzer Theater Prize in 2011 and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2012.

action

1st act: 1959

The parents Bev and Russ, who mourn their deceased son, plan to sell their house. They previously lived in the white middle class area of ​​Clybourne Park in Chicago . Shortly before they move out, they receive a visit from their clergyman and their neighbor Karl Lindner with his deaf and pregnant wife. The neighbor informs Bev and Russ that their house has been sold to a black family. He asks them to cancel the contract, fearing that the community's values ​​could be undermined by black migrants. Bev and especially Russ argue against Lindner. In the argument, both couples repeatedly refer to Russ' and Bev's black housekeeper and their husband, who are both present. All four can hardly be a faux pas and duping them. Russ finally breaks the thread of patience and he throws everyone out of his house. He says that he doesn't care about his previous neighborhood because they treated his son Kenneth, who had returned from the Korean War , cruelly and heartlessly. Kenneth had committed suicide two years earlier by hanging himself in his room . The black family Youngers who want to move into the house is identical with the family Youngers from Hans Berry A Raising in the Sun . The neighbor Karl Lindner also appears in Hansberry's play.

2nd act: 2009

The same house 50 years later. The same actors appear in new roles. Over the past five decades, Clybourne Park has become a black neighborhood that is now to be gentrified again. A young white couple wants to demolish the house and build a new, larger house on the property. You are confronted with the neighborhood organization, which is committed to ensuring that the district retains its characteristic architecture. The neighborhood organization is represented by a black couple. The wife is the great niece of Mrs. Youngers, who moved into the house fifty years earlier. The two couples want to negotiate the construction project with their respective lawyers. The lawyer of the white couple turns out to be the daughter of Karl and Betsy Lindner. However, the discussion about architectural details of the new house quickly drifts into ethnic issues. Both sides do not save with racist resentment . The construction worker Dan interrupts the argument again and again because there are problems laying a line. During this work, he also finds a buried military chest containing souvenirs of Bev and Russ' son, including his farewell letter.

Dramatis personae

1st act / 2nd act

  • Bev: Mother / Kathy: Lawyer, daughter of Karl and Betsy Lindner
  • Russ: Father / Dan: construction worker
  • Francine: Housekeeper / Lena: Representative of the neighborhood organization
  • Albert: husband from Francine / Kevin: husband from Lena, representative of the neighborhood organization
  • Jim: Pastor / Tom: Lawyer / Kenneth: Son (war returnees and suicides)
  • Karl Lindner: neighbor / Steve: white house buyer
  • Betsy Lindner: deaf wife / Lindsey: white house buyer

Awards and nominations

Awards
Nominations
  • 2010 London Critics Circle for Best New Play
  • 2010 Evening Standard Theater Award for Best Play
  • 2011 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best Play
  • 2012 Tony Award for best theater director
  • 2012 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play - Jeremy Shamos
  • 2012 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Play - Daniel Ostling

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Clybourne Park, With Wood, Parisse, Shamos and More, Begins NYC World Premiere (accessed October 14, 2012). ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.playbill.com
  2. ^ Staatstheater Mainz: Clybourne Park (accessed October 14, 2012).
  3. ↑ Ray Bennett: Olivier Awards 2011: 'Legally Blonde,' Stephen Sondheim Dominate . In: The Hollywood Reporter , March 13, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2012. 
  4. ↑ 2011 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters, Drama and Music . In: The New York Times , April 19, 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2012. 
  5. ↑ Kenneth Jones: Clybourne Park, Matilda and Suchet Honored in London's Critics' Circle Theater Awards . In: Playbill , January 25, 2011. Archived from the original on October 19, 2012 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved October 14, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.playbill.com 
  6. ^ Charles Spencer: Evening Standard Theater Awards: a year to be proud of . In: The Telegraph , November 29, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2012.