<div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)"><br>•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br><br>'<b>CLYBOURNE PARK'…a Pulitzer Prize view of neighborhood integration and gentrification</b><br><br>Roy Berko<br>(Member: Cleveland Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association)<br>
<br>Have
you ever wondered, after seeing a play, what might have happened to the
characters or even the physical structure in which the story is set,
before the play began or after it ended? Bruce Norris’s ‘CLYBOURNE
PARK’ does exactly that.<br><br>Flash back to 1959, where, at the
conclusion of Lorraine Hansberry’s ‘A RAISIN THE SUN,’ the black Younger
family is about to move into the all-white Clybourne Park area of
Chicago. Before the move, fearing the lowering of housing costs and
white flight, the neighbors sent Karl Lindner, a bigoted community
leader, to offer the Youngers money for not finalizing the deal. As it
turned out, Lena, the matriarch of the family, refused the offer and the
Youngers moved to a house numbered 406. <br><br>(Side note: the story
parallels the plight of Hansberry’s family. In 1937 her father bought a
home in Chicago’s segregated Washington Park area. The restrictive
covenants were challenged, resulting in a legal case (Hansberry v. Lee,
311 U.S. 32). The Hansberry family won the suit, and lived in the
property, which now has National Landmark Preservation status.)<br> <br>(Enter
Norris) Act 1 of ‘CLYBOURNE PARK’ takes us back to 1959, into the
house numbered 406, several days before the Youngers are to move in.
Bev and Russ, the owners of the property, are grief stricken. Their
son, Kenneth, who was accused of war crimes, had committed suicide in
his bedroom. The family, which has been ostracized, decided to sell the
house. We are never sure whether they sold to a black family to get
back at their neighbors, or, as they state, were “unaware of the race of
the new owners.” Lindner, the bigoted character from RAISIN, comes
to plead with Bev and Russ to withdraw from the deal. After an emotional
confrontation in front of a group of neighbors, the sellers refuse.
(Exit Norris.)<br><br>(Re-enter Norris). The second act of CLYBOURNE
PARK takes place in 2009. The same actors as in Act 1, playing
different characters, are present. There is conflict as to whether the
house, in what is now becoming a gentrified community, will be sold,
leveled and a new structure built by a white family. African American
Lena and her husband represent the local neighborhood association, and
mention that her Great-Aunt moved her family to that house in 1959. (It
is probably not by chance that the young lady has the same name as her
Great-Aunt.) Racism enters as the blacks, who have rebuilt the
neighborhood, don’t want white suburbanites to buy and change the
character of the houses, many of which have been rebuilt to mirror their
historical past.<br><br>Does the viewer have to know all of the
intertwining stories in order to appreciate the Norris play? No, but it
does add a psychological jolt to realize that we are watching the
blending of ideas of two great playwrights. It is also eye-opening to
realize that Hansberry, whose ‘RAISIN IN THE SUN’ is considered the
seminal black civil rights play, did not win a Pulitzer Prize for her
script, but Norris did for his. One can only wonder if gender and race,
subjects of both scripts, was a factor in Hansberry’s denial decision
by the Pulitzer committee.<br><br>I found the Broadway production of the
play fascinating, nicely balancing the powerful message with well
developed natural humor. The Cleveland Play House production is good,
but under the direction of Mark Cuddy, there are disconnects. Some
characters are realistic, others developed as caricatures. The pacing
doesn’t build to the emotional climaxes. The development somewhat sets
aside the serious nature of segregation, problems caused by
regentrification, prejudice, and the language of hate. All of these
are in Norris’s writing, but not always strongly present on stage.<br><br>Part
of the issue may be a lack of clarity as to what type of play this is,
which sets the path for the pacing and character development. In the
before-the-play talk the moderator indicated the play was a “farce.”
Farce is defined as, “a light dramatic work in which highly improbable
plot situations, and often slapstick element are used for humorous
effect.” If this is the focus which director Mark Cuddy used, I can
understand why I found the production somewhat lacking. The Broadway
version was developed as a realistic drama with wickedly comic
interludes which came naturally from the language of the play. <br><br>Norris,
who is an actor as well as a playwright, writes characters that live.
The language and intentions are clear. The plot is probable. It could
have been happening today in Cleveland’s Tremont, Ohio City or the
Forest Hill area of East Cleveland/Cleveland Heights. <br><br>All the
actors play dual characters. One in the 1959 era, another in 2009.
This requires the actors to develop two clearly differentiated
personages. <br><br>Remi Sandri is compelling as the father who is
still grieving for his now-dead son. His inner rage at both the suicide
of the boy and the virulent treatment towards his son by the neighbors,
is clearly evident. The writing arch which allows him, as the second
act workman, who finds a buried trunk in the backyard, to open a letter
found inside, and read aloud the dead son’s suicide note, is
heart-wrenchingly developed. <br><br>On the other hand, both as his
wife and a lawyer, Roya Shanks comes off affected, portraying
characters, not real persons. Which, may be the issue with others in
the cast who, I thought didn’t dig deeply enough into the motivations
behind the real people they were portraying and, instead, gave the
veneer of these people. <br><br>Bruce Norris says that his hopeful
audience response to the play upon exiting the production is, “I don’t
know what’s right anymore. I used to think I knew what was right, but
I’m not sure I do.” Hopefully, the audience will grab enough from the
CPH production to satisfy Norris’s goal.<br><br><i>Capsule Judgement:
Pulitzer Prize winning ‘CLYBOURNE PARK’ is an emotionally moving and
thought-provoking script that effectively highlights the still present
distrust between members of different races. It does that while
inserting enough natural humor to keep the audience engaged. It gets an
acceptable, but not spellbinding production at CPH. It’s a significant
play worth seeing.</i><br><br>‘CLYBOURNE PARK’ continues at the
Cleveland Play House’s Allen Theatre through April 13, 2014. For
tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to <a href="http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com">http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com</a><br><br><span style="color:rgb(0,0,255)">••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••</span><br><br><br></div>