by Bruce Norris
September 8–22, 2012
Previews: Sept. 6–7
Johnson Theater, TPAC
Tennessee Rep presents Clybourne Park
It is said that home is where the heart is. But Clybourne Park—a “buzz saw sharp comedy” which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play—questions that in ways that are every bit as provocative as they are entertaining.
Picking up where Lorraine Hansberry left us in A Raisin in the Sun, a white community in 1950s Chicago splinters over the black family about to move in. Fast-forward to our present day, and the same house represents very different demographics. Jokes fly and hidden agendas unfold as two vastly different generations of characters tip-toe the delicate dance of social politics, pitting race against real estate at the crux of two seminal events. These hilarious and horrifying neighbors pitch a battle over territory and legacy that reveals how far our ideas about race and gentrification have evolved... or have they?
Copeland Says
“I read Clybourne Park before it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and knew that Tennessee Rep had to do produce this scathing comedy. I later saw it at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, which only confirmed my zeal for this play.