Clybourne Park

There were a few empty seats and we haven't heard much about this play, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. Maybe not much. But it turned out to be thoroughly enjoying. It was shocking, funny and a great day at the theatre.

This play is an extension of the play, "A Raisin on the Sun", which coincidentally is playing in Hollywood at the Geffen Theatre. That classic play is about the Younger family in 1959 who saves and struggles to move out of the Chicago Projects. They are able to do so because of the Life insurance check the mother Lena receives when her hard working husband passes away. They put a down payment on a house in Clybourne Park, an all white neighborhood.

Karl, a member of the Clybourne Park neighborhood "welcoming committee" tries to buy them out to avoid having a colored family move in, affecting the quality and value of their neighborhood.  In the "A Raisin in the Sun", the family declines even though they are tempted.  As the hopeful end of the play, the moves to their new life in their new home. 

Now enters Clybourne Park. It  is a play that is in two parts. The first part takes place in 1959 and the 2nd part in 2009. Both parts take place in the home of Bev and Russ, the couple who had sold their home to the Younger family.  Bev and Russ are in the midst of moving boxes being helped by their Black house maid, Francine. Karl and his deaf pregnant wife visits them, supposedly right after visiting the Younger family.  Karl tries to convince Bev and Russ to use a loop hole not to sell the house to the Younger family.

The next act takes place in the same home, but in 2009. This time the actors who play Karl and his deaf wife, now play the new owners of the house. They are sitting with the actors who had played the Black house maid, Francine and her husband in the 1959 scene.  The roles are switched and they are now part of the neighborhood association. 

Both couples are accompanied by lawyers. The issue is that Karl and his wife want to remodel the home and it will be a few feet higher than any other house in the neighborhood. Francine doesn't want to lose the sense of history the neighborhood has to offer that she and her family experienced since her Aunt Lena moved in back in 1959.

The 2009 Karl uses the same argument that he used with the Lena Younger and her son Walter.  In 1959, Karl had tried to convince them that they would not be happy in a neighborhood of people who were not the same.  They don't like the same things, different culture and for example, they wouldn't be able to eat the things they liked because they wouldn't be able to buy them at the local Gelman's grocer. Francine's husband, who dropped by to pick her up said deadpan, he would not be happy if Gelman's didn't sell chitlins or pigs feet.  It was funny that in the 2009 scene, they said Gelman's was now the location for Whole Foods.

Back to 1959.  Bev and Russ want to move and escape the reminder of the tragedy that begins to unfold. Their son had returned from the Korean War and was accused of committing war atrocities. As a result of the shame, he commits suicide. The neighborhood shy away from Bev and Russ.  So the last thing they want to do is stay in that house to help neighbors who didn't really help them before.

Back to 2009.  Karl and his wife think that they are not welcomed because of racism, but Francine says the issue is the lack of the sense of style of the home they will be building.

This is a play that portrays the racism of the early years by otherwise very nice White people and how the Blacks at the time had to deal with it. It was also funny as it dares cross the line of political correctness. It is tragic, funny, thought provoking and unique in the way the actors portrays different roles in the two eras within the play.

We would not only see it again, we would see it again later that day. It got a standing ovation from us.